Start Product Work With Research, Not Features
Start Product Work With Research, Not Features
My path into product went through life science, digital marketing, consulting and an MBA. The common thread was research: understanding a market, a customer or a sales network before deciding what to change. I still start most product work the same way.
Look at what customers already do
Before suggesting anything new, it helps to understand the current behaviour. At CATKing Educare that meant reading YouTube analytics to see where viewers lost interest. In product, it means studying how customers move through a journey today and where they stop.
Learn from the market around you
Competitor research is not about copying. It shows what customers have come to expect, and where there is room to do something better. Working with UI/UX designers on these studies gives both quantitative and qualitative insight into what customers value.
Turn findings into a model people can use
During my consulting internship at EY, the research only mattered once it became a model that sales teams could act on, with training to go with it. Product research works the same way. A finding has to turn into a clear priority on the roadmap, or it stays a slide.
Keep the research going
Research is not a phase that ends when building starts. Iterative feedback, through Agile reviews and testing, keeps the team close to what customers actually need as the product changes.
Where AI fits
In the Curious PM cohort I saw how much faster AI tools make the reading part of research: summarising feedback, comparing competitor features, drafting a first view of a market. The judgement about what matters still has to come from the team, and from talking to customers directly.
Poorvi skipped presentations and built real AI products.
Poorvi Nigam was part of the August 2026 cohort at Curious PM, alongside 24 other talented participants.