What Customer Workarounds Can Reveal About Your Business Model

2026-05-21 · Source: HBR CMS · Field: Business & Management — Corporate Strategy & Leadership, Project & Product Management · Depth: Intermediate, medium

Summary

Customer workarounds, such as account sharing or stitching third-party tools, signal a "business model void" where a company's offering no longer aligns with customer access, usage, and payment preferences. This void progresses through three stages: customers perceiving a mismatch, engineering their own solutions, and eventually, competitors stepping in. For example, Michelin's 2000 shift to "selling tire performance" created a void, which it closed in 2020 with Michelin Connected Fleet, now serving over a million vehicles. Similarly, GitHub Copilot's 2021 per-seat model led to developer workarounds, a gap exploited by Cursor, which achieved \$500 million in annualized revenue by mid-2025 with usage-based pricing. Companies must detect and map these workarounds, build a diversified portfolio of business models, and continuously monitor these signals. Netflix's response to a Q1 2022 loss of 200,000 subscribers by addressing password sharing resulted in 325 million paid memberships by the end of 2025 and an additional \$1.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2025.

Key takeaway

For Product Managers or Consultants evaluating market fit, customer workarounds are critical signals, not just annoyances. You should actively detect and map these informal solutions, as they reveal pre-validated demand and willingness to pay for new business models. Ignoring these "business model voids" risks competitors capitalizing on opportunities you missed, as seen with Cursor's success against GitHub Copilot. Proactively diversify your monetization strategy to align with how customers truly want to access and pay for value.

Key insights

Customer workarounds reveal "business model voids" and pre-validate new monetization opportunities.

Principles

• Workarounds are R&D for future business models.
• A single business model limits potential.
• Timing is crucial for closing voids.

Method

Detect friction and workarounds, then map them to distinct user segments and their willingness to pay. Build a customer-centric portfolio of business models, then monitor continuously.

In practice

• Identify billing exceptions and unofficial tool usage.
• Chart workarounds to understand user segments.
• Diversify monetization beyond a single model.

Topics

• Business Model Voids
• Customer Workarounds
• Monetization Strategy
• Product Portfolio
• Pricing Models
• Market Sensing

Best for: Entrepreneur, AI Product Manager, Product Manager, Consultant

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by HBR CMS.