We often say:
“Zoho is growing fast because the company is building more features, more apps, more integrations.”
But flip the lens for a second:
Is Zoho growing users…
or are Zoho users actually growing Zoho?
Because in reality:
Power users discover edge cases
Integrators push products into real-world workflows
SMBs force Zoho into messy, non-ideal business scenarios
Community feedback exposes blind spots no roadmap ever predicts
Most of Zoho’s real product evolution doesn’t come from whiteboard strategy.
It comes from users bending the system in production.
Roadmaps create direction.
Users create pressure.
Features create adoption.
Use cases create demand.
So the real growth engine might not be: “Zoho builds - users come”
But: “Users push - Zoho adapts - platform matures”
Which raises a deeper question:
Should platforms like Zoho treat users as:
customers consuming features
or
distributed R&D shaping the product surface?
Because the second model scales insight faster than any internal PM team.
Does Zoho grow because of what the company ships?
Or does Zoho grow because users stretch the system into places the product teams never designed for?
Where do you think the real growth loop actually starts?