Superhuman's secret to success: Ignoring most customer feedback, manually onboarding every new user, obsessing over every detail, and positioning around a single attribute: speed | Rahul Vohra (CEO)

Rahul Vohra is the founder and CEO of Superhuman. Prior to Superhuman, Rahul founded Rapportive, the first Gmail plug-in to scale to millions of users, which he sold to LinkedIn in 2012. He is also a prominent angel investor, and his fund has invested $50 million in over 120 companies, including Placer, Supabase, Mercury, Zip, ClassDojo, and Writer.

What you’ll learn:

• The unexpected insight about virality Rahul gained from LinkedIn’s head of growth.

• Why Rahul restructured his entire executive team to spend 60% to 70% of his time on product, design, and marketing instead of the typical CEO responsibilities.

• The counterintuitive approach to finding product-market fit using a methodical system inspired by Sean Ellis, and how this algorithmically determines your roadmap.

• How manually onboarding every user (Superhuman had 20 full-time people doing this at peak) created superfans and allowed engineers to focus on product rather than onboarding flows.

• The “Single Decisive Reason” framework for making better decisions by avoiding collections of weak justifications.

• How Superhuman’s AI features have evolved to create a truly intelligent email experience that works while you sleep.

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Find the transcript at: www.lennysnewsletter.com

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Where to find Rahul Vohra:

• X: x.com

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com

• Email: Rahul@superhuman.com

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: twitter.com

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Rahul and Superhuman

(05:00) The most pivotal moment in Rahul's career

(07:01) The secret to virality

(11:02) Superhuman’s product evolution and core values

(13:32) Overcoming slowdowns at scale

(18:06) Time management and meditation

(27:35) The role of a president

(30:56) Attention to detail

(43:00) Finding your unique position

(47:32) The power of manual onboarding

(52:37) Mastering product-market fit

(59:33) Game design in business software

(01:05:35) Contrarian pricing strategies

(01:09:29) Leveraging AI

(01:15:40) Transitioning to enterprise solutions

(01:19:08) The Single Decisive Reason framework

(01:22:32) Conclusion and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• Superhuman: superhuman.com

• Rapportive: techcrunch.com

• Elliot Shmukler on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com

• What Are ‘Whales’ in Video Games: gamerant.com

• Figma: www.figma.com

• Notion: www.notion.com

• Loom: www.loom.com

• How to use Team Comments to reimagine email collaboration: blog.superhuman.com

• Rajiv Ayyangar’s post on X about Superhuman: x.com

• Transcendental Meditation: www.tm.org

• Laurent Valosek on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com

• Peak Leadership Institute: www.peakleadershipinstitute.com

• Ed Sim’s website: edsim.net

• Adelle Sans: fonts.adobe.com

• Comic Sans: en.wikipedia.org

• Greenfield project: en.wikipedia.org

• Why Mailbox died: www.theverge.com

• Bill Trenchard on X: x.com

• How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product-Market Fit: review.firstround.com

• Using the Sean Ellis Test for Measuring Your Product-Market Fit: medium.productcoalition.com

• Sean Ellis on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com

• The original growth hacker reveals his secrets | Sean Ellis (author of “Hacking Growth”): www.lennysnewsletter.com

• The Trouble with Rewards: www.kornferry.com

• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): www.lennysnewsletter.com

•  Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter: en.wikipedia.org

• AI-powered email for high-performing teams: superhuman.com

• Linear’s secret to building beloved B2B products | Nan Yu (Head of Product): www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Single Decisive Reason: decision-making for fast-scaling startups: blog.superhuman.com

• Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com

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Recommended books:

• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: www.amazon.com

• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: www.amazon.com

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.