Adjacent User Theory for Parents
Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast
Your child today is not your child in six months - and if you keep parenting for who they were, you'll lose them.
At Instagram, Bangaly noticed something strange: users who were skeptical of the platform in February would say 'Instagram is my everything' by October. The product hadn't changed - the USERS had. He called this 'adjacent user theory': understanding not just who uses your product today, but who COULD use it if you adapted slightly.
In hypergrowth, your user base changes faster than you can track. In parenting, your 'user' changes constantly too. The baby who needed to be held all the time becomes a toddler who needs to explore. The toddler who wanted your constant attention becomes a preschooler who needs independence. The kid who told you everything becomes a teen who needs privacy.
Bangaly's advice: you have to 'be them, watch how they use the product, talk to them, and literally see what they're doing in real time.' In parenting: observe who your child is becoming, not who they were. Notice the adjacent version of your kid - the one who's about to emerge. Parent for that child.
If you keep optimizing for the old user, you'll lose the new one.
PM Theme: Adjacent user theory / market evolution
Parenting Theme: Adapting to developmental stages
“When you're in a hypergrowth product, it's really, really important to understand who your users are today... but then also to understand who is the next user? Who is the user who could be using this product, but for some reason it doesn't work for them.”Bangaly Kaba · 01:04:21
“You have to be them, you have to watch how they use the product, you have to talk to them, and then have to visit them and literally see what they're doing in real time.”Bangaly Kaba · 01:06:02
