Here’s what I want to see from every technology-driven product team:

Do you know your user? Not “this is the industry we’re targeting” or “this is for everyone!”, but who, specifically, are you thinking of? What is their life like? Why is this important to them? What is the problem that they have? How do you know that this is their problem?

Have you solved their problem? What is the outcome of using your product for that user? How does it meaningfully make life better for them — not ideologically or conceptually, but actually, in the context of their day-to-day? How do you know that you’re solving their problem? (How have you tested it? Who did you ask?)

Why are you the team to solve it? What makes you think your team has the skills, life experiences, and kinship with your user that will make you successful? How are you making sure you don’t have blind spots? Can you build it?

Is this product sustainable for the user? If you’re successful, what does their life — and the life of their community — look like? Are you removing equity or agency from them? Can they step away? How do you know what the downsides of your product might be for them, and how are you avoiding them?

Is this product sustainable for you? If you’re building something good, how are you making sure you can keep doing it, while ensuring you have the answers to all of the above? Are you excited enough about it to keep going when times get tough? Is there enough money?

In other words, I don’t want to see ideology or conceptual ideas first and foremost. I want to see that a team knows the people they’re solving a problem for, and has taken steps to make sure that they’re actually solving that problem, rather than building something and hoping for the best.

This is particularly true for efforts that are trying to push the web or internet forward in some technological way. These are important efforts, but understanding concretely how a real person will benefit — again, not ideologically, but in their day-to-day lives — is non-optional.

The way to get there is through speaking to people — a lot. You need to identify which assumptions you’re making and validate them. You absolutely can’t get through this by being the smartest person in the room or winging it; you are never absolved from doing the real work of understanding and working with the people you’re trying to help. Speak to your users; speak to experts; do your research; avoid just making stuff up.

It’s not about being smart, or building something that you’re excited about. It’s about being of service to real people, doing it well, and setting yourself up for long-term success.