I once read of Gary Erickson, the Founder and former CEO of Clif Bar, who did an annual 12hr+ bike-ride during which he exclusively ate Clif Bars.
His reasoning? To truly understand his product he had to live it, push it to its limits, and experience it as his customers did. This principle of firsthand testing is essential to every startup. I loved the challenge, the fun of Gary’s annual race so at NextWork we’ve adopted a similar philosophy, and it’s proven invaluable to both our product and team.
Why Test Your Own Product?
For startups, testing your product isn’t just about quality assurance—it’s about building empathy with your users, uncovering blind spots, and innovating through lived experience. While user feedback is critical, nothing compares to stepping into the shoes of your audience. It forces you to confront the pain points, inefficiencies, or surprises that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
Testing your product also reinforces your team’s commitment to the vision. It’s one thing to talk about the product; it’s another to be the product’s user. When you test, tweak, and reimagine together, you strengthen both the offering and the team behind it.
The NextWork 12 Hour Hackathon
At NextWork, we took this ethos to heart during our end-of-year project hackathon. For 12 hours straight, Natasha and myself immersed ourselves in a single goal: use NextWork for 12 hours straight. It wasn’t just about testing features—it was about stress-testing our assumptions, our workflows, and our user experience.
We came out of it with a huge list of tweaks and adjustments that we wanted to make. It proved to be so valuable that next year, we’ll get the entire NextWork team - from engineers, to marketing, to designers - to complete the challenge too.
The Takeaway
Startups live and die by their products. To create something truly remarkable, you need to understand it inside and out. Testing your product constantly—not just as a developer or founder, but as a user—is what builds beautiful product experiences.
Whether it’s a 12-hour bike ride fuelled by your own energy bars or a day-long hackathon, the principle remains the same: great products are born from connection, not assumption.
