In episode 6 of the Product Awards Series, Ubiety Techologies CPO Nacho Andrade interviews Earkick Co-Founder Herbert Bay. The conversation revolves around quality product development. That includes the company’s mission and approach to building a digital companion in the form of an assistant in your ear. Earkick prioritizes privacy-focused data usage and aims to differentiate itself from other AI models. The company emphasizes understanding customer problems, achieving product-market fit, and maintaining a high standard of quality. They employ metrics like the Product-Market Fit (PMF) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) to track and improve their product. Earkick values customer feedback, actively iterates based on user input, and considers every touchpoint with the product and brand as part of the overall experience.

Subscribe to the Product Talk podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and catch every conversation with leading product executives. Episodes in the 2023 Product Awards Series drop on Fridays.


Show Notes

  1. Herbert Bay is the co-founder of Earkick, a digital companion in the form of an assistant in your ear.
  2. Earkick aims to provide high-quality, privacy-focused data. And differentiate itself from other AI models like Chat GPT in terms of data usage and privacy.
  3. The target market for Earkick initially includes enterprise customers focusing on workplace mental health.
  4. Earkick offers a tool that allows employees to have a companion to talk to and share their experiences and concerns. Aggregated data is used to provide insights to the employer to improve mental health within the company.
  5. The product stands out by focusing on privacy, data quality, and assisting companies. Identifying and addressing sources of trouble within their teams.
  6. The Earkick team prioritizes understanding customer problems, solving real issues, and maintaining a high standard of quality for their product. They have a minimal meeting culture to allow more focus on building an excellent product.
  7. Earkick maintains a balance between shipping high-quality products and shipping quickly. They do this by having a zero meeting culture and removing features that are not performing.
  8. The company emphasizes the importance of understanding customer problems and solving them effectively to achieve product-market fit.
  9. Herbert Bay mentions the Product-Market Fit (PMF) metric introduced by Raul Vora, co-founder of Superhuman. It is a key tool in their product development process.
  10. The PMF metric involves assessing how users would feel if they could no longer use Earkick. They use their feedback to identify target audiences, double down on popular features, and introduce new features based on user needs.
  11. Earkick utilizes both NPS (Net Promoter Score) and PMF metrics to track and improve the quality and market fit of their product.
  12. The company has prioritized feedback collection and continuous iteration from the early stages. And it incorporates user feedback into their product development process.
  13. Earkick also provides attractive perks such as paid time off and monetary rewards for taking consecutive vacations. This fosters a positive and motivated work environment.
  14. Earkick is not impacted by the trend of increased verticalization and specialization in product categories. Their focus is on solving customer problems rather than competition.
  15. The company emphasizes the importance of loving the customer and understanding their problems over falling in love with a specific solution.
  16. Herbert Bay highlights the need to let go of solutions that don’t solve the problem effectively, even if they are personally loved by the team.
  17. Bay sees customer complaints as valuable feedback and an opportunity to improve the product and create satisfied customers.
  18. The success of Earkick is attributed to effectively solving customer problems and providing better quality and customer support than the competition.
  19. Earkick values the entire customer experience. Considering every interaction with the product and brand as part of the overall product.
  20. Herbert Bay shares his passion for products like his MacBook, which enables the Earkick team to create amazing things. And his Garmin dive watch and bike, which bring joy and functionality to his life.
About the speaker
Herbert Bay Shortcut: Save & Organize, CEO Member
About the host
Nacho Andrade Ubiety Technologies, Inc., CPO

Nacho is an Evangelist for all things product, advocating for innovation, diversity, and building amazing products. Nacho has spent over 10 years in product roles ranging from startups to enterprise in industries like education, healthcare, finance and gaming.

Provide your rating for this post
If you liked this post, please use the buttons to the left to share it with a friend or post it on social media. Thank you!

Leave a Reply

Read more

Product Awards Series: Pando Founding CEO on Building a Better Future of Work

In episode 5 of the 2023 Product Awards podcast series, Barbra Gago speaks with Nacho Andrade on building a better future of work.

Product Awards Series: Bloom CEO on Mental Health after the Pandemic

The 11th episode of the 2022 Product Awards series features the CEO and co-founder of an innovative mental health app.

Product Awards Series: Hootsuite SVP of Product on Sizing the Opportunity

In number 9 in the 2022 Product Awards series, Darren Guarnaccia explains that in prioritization, sizing is everything.

Sign-in / Register for Free

Don’t be left behind in your career. Join a growing community of over 500K Product professionals committed to building great products. Register for FREE today and get access to :

  • All eBooks
  • All Infographics
  • Product Award resources
  • Search for other members

Coming soon for members only: personalized content, engagement, and networking.