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Prayag Narula
Co-Founder at Marvin
Prayag Narula is the Co-Founder and CEO of Marvin, an AI-powered user research platform that helps companies understand their customers and build customer-centric products and cultures.13 Marvin is designed to centralize, organize, analyze, and share insights about customers.1 Narula and his brother created Marvin in 2020 to improve product and market research.2 The company launched in February/March 2022 and has thousands of users.24
Narula has a Master's in Human Centered Design from UC Berkeley's School of Information.1 He has authored over a dozen research papers in the fields of HCI, User Centered Design, Artificial Intelligence, Crowdsourcing, and Computer Networks.1
Before Marvin, Narula was the CEO of LeadGenius, a venture-backed start-up in Berkeley.1 He guided it to raise over $30 million in venture funding and grow to hundreds of employees.2 He also worked as a researcher at the University of Helsinki in Finland.1
Narula was also a Graduate Student Instructor at the University of California, Berkeley.3 Additionally, he was a Researcher at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and a Development Engineer Embedded Systems at KritiKal Solutions.3 He was also a Research Intern at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and an Intern at Gemalto.3
Highlights
The role of the UX researcher has changed.
My co-founder and I get (probably) outsized credit for Marvin feeling like a “research platform built by researchers.” It is a product that is “well-researched.”
The truth is everyone in our company is expected to operate as a researcher. No matter their role.
THAT is the real reason it feels like it’s made for our customers. We’re all listening and responding to user needs in real time.
There is a free flow of customer feedback across the entire company.
So finding information has become easier — for everyone.
Not just researchers.
Product, sales, marketing, support, and customer success teams are all talking with users. Whether we admit it or not, they are conducting a type of user research.
Traditionally, each function then collects and stores its own customer data. This decentralization of insights creates a missed opportunity.
Unless someone (or some system) connects the dots.
This is where the role change comes into play:
I think UX researchers should take the lead in centralizing this customer data.
When researchers advocate for a free flow of customer information, you help connect the dots across the entire business.
You can shift your priorities to business-critical insights and analysis, delivering 10X the value (in the same amount of time).
Here’s an example:
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A major bank centralizes all customer feedback into a repository that’s built with AI capabilities
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All customer-facing teams can search and find relevant research in real time
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Through smart workflows with Zendesk, any user can run thematic analysis to uncover common pain points across thousands of support tickets
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The product team can verify their road map is on the right track
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A researcher now has a jumping-off point to conduct deeper, more strategic research
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Even better, all teams have access to more data than before, leading to fewer gaps in understanding the customers
A free flow of information is the key to building a product that feels like your customers designed it for themselves.
It’s your role to take what customers are saying and turn it into actionable insights that are visible and accessible to your whole company.
The modern UX researcher is a “truth speaker” — not simply an information seeker. Do you agree?
If you think there is more to this, then I am all ears.
And if you like what I said, you will probably love what we do at heymarvin.com. Come and chat with us.
UX researchers rarely get a seat at the exec table.
But management consultants who conduct research do. And they get paid a lot of $$ to do so.
Here’s why:
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Consultants know exactly what the C-Suite values and can immediately up-level the research conversation: “Here’s what this research means to the business. Here’s what it means to the industry.”
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Consultants understand the power of storytelling. They present their findings clearly, concisely — and with a direct connection back to the company’s bottom line.
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Consultants understand the value of benchmarking. They set the global context for the C-Suite and showcase how the company is performing against others.
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Consultants understand that nothing is obvious. They share all relevant research, even when it might seem self-evident to an inside researcher.
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Consultants move fast. Very fast — time is money. When a CEO hires a firm like McKinsey, they want the results ASAP to influence time-sensitive decisions..
Let me be clear. Consultants aren’t smarter than researchers. They’re both equally talented — and both roles are equally important.
But most consultants have an MBA that taught them how to talk to executives. They were given the authority early in their careers to tell large companies what to do.
Imagine what we researchers could do if we had that same confidence… I’ve seen it happen.
Here are the 7 skills they all used to get a seat at the executive table:
- Focus on business impact in every research project
- Prioritize speed & pragmatism over intense methodology
- Become a storyteller and share compelling narratives backed by data
- Embrace data visualization to represent your research findings
- Command the room by owning your experience and skills
- Build credibility and influence by prioritizing relationship-building with stakeholders
- Look beyond user experience — dig into research questions that affect the entire business
What do you think? Am I way off?
Or better yet — tell me what skills consultants should steal from UX teams ⤵️
If you liked this post, you’ll probably like what we’re doing at heymarvin.com, too.
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
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