Lovability: How to Build a Business That People Love and Be Happy Doing It

Love is the surprising emotion that company builders cannot afford to ignore.

Genuine, heartfelt devotion and loyalty from customers — yes, love — is what propels a select few companies ahead. Think about the products and companies that you really care about and how they make you feel. You do not merely like those products, you adore them.

Consider your own emotions and a key insight is revealed: Love is central to business. Nobody talks about it, but it is obvious in hindsight.

Lovability: How to Build a Business That People Love and Be Happy Doing It shares what Silicon Valley-based author and Aha! CEO Brian de Haaff knows from a career of founding successful technology companies and creating award-winning products. He reveals the secret to the phenomenal growth of Aha! and the engine that powers lasting customer devotion — a set of principles that he pioneered and named The Responsive Method.

Lovability provides valuable lessons and actionable steps for product and company builders everywhere, including:

• Why you should rethink everything you know about building a business
• What a product really is
• The magic of finding what your customers truly desire
• How to turn business strategy and product roadmaps into customer love
• Why you should chase company value, not valuation
• Surveys to measure your company's lovability

Brian de Haaff has spent the last 20 years focused on business strategy, product management, and bringing disruptive technologies to market. And in preparation for writing this book, he interviewed well-known startup founders, product managers, executives, and CEOs at hundreds of name brand and agile organizations. Their experiences, along with headline-grabbing case studies (both inspiring successes and cautionary tales), will help readers discover how to build something that matters.

Much has been written about how entrepreneurs build innovative products and successful businesses, but the author's message is original and refreshing. He convincingly explains that there is a better path forward — a people-first way grounded in love. In a business world that has increasingly emphasized hype over substance and get-big-at-any-cost thinking over profitable and sustainable growth, it's time for a new recipe for company success.

Insightful, thought-provoking, and sometimes controversial, Lovability is the book that you turn to when you know there has to be a better way.