I have a small business, too, and this made me think of the importance of building and sustaining relationships with clients by doing good work. Each project I do for a client is not just a one-time, finished-and-it's-done assignment; it's a building block in my relationship with that client. In order to keep clients coming back, I have to think from a "built to last" perspective. I suppose most small-business people do--particularly those of us who are very small service providers.
>1) When built-to-sell startups get customers, they aren't really interested in listening to them to improve the product – the company is supposed to be sold anyway.
I don't agree entirely with this one. For a company to be able to sell, first it needs to have customers around or else how will attract buyers?
I pretty much agree with you that a company needs to have customers to attract. (Although I bet there are examples where the product didn't have that many customers, and the company was bought for the idea or the people on the team.)
What I'm suggesting is that, like the developer of my apartment complex, if the company isn't in it for the long haul, they may not pay attention to improvements or feedback customers are suggesting. The company may figure they're going to get acquired soon, so if some of the customers just stop using the product, they can still be claimed as users...
Glad to hear you have that perspective. Especially with project work, keeping clients happy so they come back to you for the next project is key. Maybe you should've managed that apartment complex!
