ThoughtSpot
In this do you even resonate episode: Thoughtspot
This week: ThoughtSpot (volunteered by Jon Kowieski).
Their ICP: Head of Data type of folks.
Overall results:
Clarity: 3.9/5
Interest in demo: 3.5/5
It's a very nice site, super snappy too.
What users really loved: breakdown by target user. They have different sections for business leader, data analyst, product builder. They also dance around promises that the market would want, but it's too unclear for their ICPs to know for sure.
In the video review I go through more stuff, but these are the 3 key areas they need to improve on:
1. Differentiation.
Quote from their ICP: "makes me curious how this yet another BI tool is differentiated in this very crowded marketplace."
It looks similar to other 'self-service' or low-code/no-code BI tools. How is this different or better than Looker/Power BI/Tableau/SiSense etc?
They do seem to have differences, but they lead with a little vague, too much me-too messaging. In a mature market like this, they need to lead with a differentiated value.
2. Skepticism about certain claims
They throw around words like "AI", "instant", and "30-day trial" - and the data folks are cautious. They've seen a lot of hype and are wary of such language.
"Data tools are always sold as very simple (like this), but typically for any analysis truly required by a company to make business decisions or monitor performance, some more advanced manipulation or capabilities are required."
"Instantly...I don't like that promise. The headline is too salesy as is the supporting title. Nothing happens in an instant. No tool can answer "any" business question."
"The whole "Use search and AI" note - most data professionals who actually use AI are turned off by this as this is just marketing babble."
The solution is to use specificity over generic terms.
3. Clarity
People have *a ton* of questions. When your ICP reads through everything and they still have questions, you have a problem.
Step 1. Identify all the unanswered questions, prioritize.
Step 2. Make the answers obvious or at least easy to find.
