I had written off pellet grills for a long time, thought they were a tool for someone who didn't actually want to put in the work of BBQ. Too automated, too easy, lacking craft. Then I ran one at a competition at which I needed to reproduce the same results with multiple overnight cooks — for 14 hours. Total game changer.
What changed my mind was not the convenience, it was the control. Pellet grills allowed me to hold consistent, precise temperatures while I was more concerned about meat quality, seasoning, or timing, rather than tending to coals at a competition at 3 a.m. I learned I was confusing work with skill. The greatest pit masters use convenience to their advantage to achieve the result they desire instead of ballooning their ego.
Now I recommend them to the burnt ends grilling customers that are serious about achieving results, not just the romance of smoking meat. Sometimes the tools that you laugh at turn out to be the tools that make you better, if you are humble enough to let them prove you wrong.
Brian Gunterman, CEO & Founder, DDR BBQ Supply
Many aspiring users think that to evaluate a product, they have to be a master of a single channel, like the user interface. They focus on measuring aesthetics. But that's a huge mistake. A product's job isn't to be a master of a single function. Its job is to be a master of the entire operational system.
The product I initially disliked was a specific OEM Cummins Turbocharger diagnostic software. I disliked it because the interface was complex and outdated (a Marketing failure). This taught me to learn the language of operations.
The change in opinion occurred when I was forced to use the software for a critical, heavy-duty fleet repair. I realized the initial complexity was actually a necessary Operational Depth. The software's structure forced the technician to follow every diagnostic step, reducing human error to zero. The "ugly" interface was actually a highly efficient operational checklist.
The impact this had on my approach was profound. It changed my perspective from being a good marketing person to a person who could lead an entire business. I learned that the best product interface in the world is a failure if the operations team can't deliver on the promise of accuracy. The best way to be a leader is to understand every part of the business.
My advice is to stop thinking of a product as a separate feature. You have to see it as a part of a larger, more complex system. The best products are the ones that can speak the language of operations and whose creators can understand the entire business. That's a product that is positioned for success.
Illustrious Espiritu, Marketing Director, Autostar Heavy Duty
The product that I think of is my smart water bottle. I initially hated the whole idea behind the product because it seemed like an unnecessary gadget. As a busy working professional, I believed I was more than capable of keeping myself hydrated without a shimmering, glowing bottle reminder. It seemed gimmicky to me for people who prefer to overcomplicate a simple daily task.
My opinion changed once I received one as a gift and made a commitment to use the product for a full week. The application showed hard data that my own assessment was wrong, as I was consistently dehydrated by the time I hit midday. After several weeks of tracking and hitting my daily goals, I remembered that in the afternoons, I felt a tangible increase in my energy levels and my focus on work improved as well. I grew to love the product because it used simple data and resolved a productivity problem I didn't even know I had.
Katie Breaker, Director of Sales & Marketing, Birdieball
For me it was benches in the living room. For the longest time I thought they didn't belong there. A bench felt too plain, too functional, something for a dining table or maybe the garden, not the place where people gather.
But then I noticed how people actually used them. A bench against a wall on a normal day. Pulled into the middle when more guests arrive. Tucked under a window with cushions for reading. It was never fixed, always shifting with the home. That flexibility changed how I saw them.
Now I see benches as one of the easiest ways to make a living room feel open and adaptable. At Eyda we design and sell benches too, and I've noticed they are always the first pieces people sit on when they visit. Maybe because they feel less formal and more welcoming.
It reminded me of what we believe at Eyda: the best pieces are the ones that move with your life instead of standing still.
Sahil Gandhi, Co-Founder & CMO, Eyda Homes
When I first started my company over a decade ago, I thought WordPress was just glorified blogging software that serious businesses shouldn't touch. Coming from a background building custom solutions, I saw it as limiting and amateur compared to coded-from-scratch websites.
My perspective completely shifted when I realized the SEO advantages were undeniable. WordPress sites consistently outranked our custom builds because of the platform's inherent search optimization structure and plugin ecosystem. When we rebuilt our e-commerce business on WordPress, we saw immediate improvements in load times and search visibility.
The real game-changer was finding how much faster we could deliver quality results to clients. We reduced project delivery times by 40% while actually improving outcomes — clients were ranking higher and converting better than with our previous custom approach. Our conversion-focused WordPress redesigns started generating that 200%+ traffic increase we now consistently deliver.
Now WordPress powers virtually every site we build. What seemed like a step backward in sophistication turned out to be the foundation for helping local businesses consistently hit Google's first page and achieve those 300%+ marketing ROI results our clients see today.
Damon Delcoro, Founder, UltraWeb Marketing
I'll be honest, I wasn't an early fan of Slack. We already had email. We already had texting. Did we really need another channel where people could bug me at all hours? I resisted it for months.
Then one day, a project that usually took us weeks wrapped up in three days, and the only difference was we'd run it entirely through Slack.
I started seeing my team's personalities in the little GIFs they'd drop in between serious updates. I saw quieter employees speaking up more because typing a quick thought felt less intimidating than speaking up in a crowded meeting.
It clicked for me then. It was lowering the barrier to sharing ideas. And when ideas flow faster, projects move faster. Now I can't imagine running a team without it.
Nir Appelton, CEO, Adorb Custom Tees
In 2019, I deleted the Pterodactyl Panel 48 hours after installing it. I had spent eight years working with game servers via SSH and using custom bash scripts. Adding an additional layer seemed wasteful. My 4GB VPS was not up to handling the overhead, so I reverted to terminal commands and never looked back.
The situation changed when I joined three Minecraft communities within one month in 2021. My working process was interrupted when I had to manage 47 server instances using terminal windows. I put Pterodactyl on its own box and everything was different. I could allow access to server owners without having to compromise root credentials. The automatic backup system restored a damaged plugin in just a few minutes, as opposed to the six hours I would have spent restoring the plugin manually. It is currently running throughout all our multi-server environments at Ghostcap. Client uptime went from 94% to 99.2%. It is the tool that I initially rejected, but it solved problems that I was unwilling to acknowledge I had.
Michael Pedrotti, Founder / Tech Entrepreneur, GhostCap
The product that I did not like at first was an electric pressure washer. I thought it was heavy, just a waste of water and no more effective than a hose. However, my opinion changed the first time I used it on a 600 square foot patio that would normally have taken me over an hour to scrub. The pressure washer did the job in less than 20 minutes and left the stone surface looking even brighter because it had removed deep stains that the brush could not even reach. I was surprised at the efficiency of the machine because it actually used less water than I expected. Most models put out about 1.5 gallons of water per minute, while a garden hose can put out more than 5 gallons. This means that I was cleaning faster but also reduced water use by more than half.
Johannes Hock, President, Artificial Grass Pros
I'll admit, I initially disliked automated chatbots. As someone building a pet care company rooted in human trust, the idea of replacing human interaction with scripted responses felt cold and impersonal.
But as our user base grew, I realized that automation doesn't have to replace empathy — it can enhance it when used correctly. Once we redesigned our chatbot to sound less robotic and more like a friendly pet concierge, it became a powerful tool. Instead of blocking real conversation, it helped pet parents get instant answers at odd hours and directed urgent cases to real humans faster.
What changed my opinion wasn't the tool — it was how we designed it. Technology isn't the enemy of warmth; misalignment in intent is.
Skandashree Bali, CEO & Co-Founder, Pawland
The one product I initially couldn't stand but grew to rely on completely was the ultra-concentrated, plant-derived chemical solutions. When we started exploring sustainable options, I was deeply skeptical. In the commercial cleaning world, there's this old, bad habit of equating a harsh, chemical smell with a successful clean, and these new plant-based concentrates lacked that immediate, strong scent. I worried my clients would think we hadn't done a proper job. Additionally, the precise dosing required seemed like a hassle, and I was certain my team would either waste the expensive product or underclean.
The change came purely from hard data and watching my team. The concentrates proved to be an enormous cost-saver. Once we trained the team on the pump systems, we realized how much product we had been wasting previously. But the real game-changer was realizing the operational efficiency and staff safety. These formulas delivered equal, if not superior, cleaning power without the lingering toxic fumes. This meant our clients could re-enter their offices much faster without a chemical hangover, and my staff were working in a far safer environment every day. It compelled me to abandon outdated thinking and prioritize objective performance and safety over the traditional customer perception of what "clean" smells like.
Joshan Anwar, Contracts Manager, LZH Cleaning Group
The product that I used to hate so much was smart home lighting systems, specifically the early integrated switches that seemed to require a complicated Wi-Fi setup. As a traditional service electrician, I loved the reliability of a good old hardwired system because the early systems were so frustrating when customers were experiencing internet connection problems and had to call because of that. My business prides itself on providing easy, reliable, and guaranteed power solutions to our clients in Sydney, so the introduction of unnecessary tech products at home, when we work so hard to protect the promise of integrity in our brand, was counterintuitive to us.
My perspective changed entirely when the major manufacturers began to simplify hardware and offer dependable, local mesh networks, without relying on shaky client home Wi-Fi. In 2022, we brought on a trusted brand, and our install times dropped over 35%, and our callback connection rates are nearly zero. I now love selling smart lighting products because the systems are now providing real, measurable energy savings and convenience to the clients, and they love the dependable, cutting-edge tech.
Jason Rowe, Director & Founder, Hello Electrical
I initially disliked productivity apps that gamified work. It felt childish — points, streaks, badges — like something that belonged in a video game, not in a professional workflow. But over time, I started noticing how small progress markers changed how people stayed engaged through long projects. The visual feedback loop, even something as simple as a daily streak counter, kept teams consistent. In a way, those little dopamine hits turned consistency into habit, which in business translates to measurable output. I grew to appreciate that efficiency doesn't always have to feel serious to be effective.
As it turns out, what changed my mind was watching how those same tools improved accountability without adding pressure. When work feels like progress instead of punishment, people show up with more energy. The same is true for leadership — you get better results when you make progress visible, even in small doses. That perspective shifted how I viewed software, motivation, and even leadership structure itself. Believe it or not, what once seemed like distraction became a silent driver of momentum.
Guillermo Triana, Founder and CEO, PEO-Marketplace.com
I took two years to fight MemoQ. A client in the pharmaceutical sector in 2018 coerced us and compelled us to abandon Trados halfway through the project since their whole operation was based on MemoQ, and I was enraged. The interface was incomprehensible, the preview window was misleading to me, and remapping shortcuts could not be done to fit the way I work. All the work took twice as much time, and I blamed the software for making me slow.
Then we were hit with a 50,000-word medical device manual, which had to be done in 8 language versions within three weeks. That deadline revealed what MemoQ is capable of. Live preview eliminated one full day of formatting corrections that we would otherwise need to make upon delivery. Auto-propagation was 60 percent faster than hand edits. We finished on time and did not have to clean up the normal nightmare. Anything above 10,000 words is now run through MemoQ since the time savings cannot be ignored. A brutal deadline is sometimes the only way to measure the value of some tool. I was mistaken about it, and my projects work better since I acknowledged that.
Danilo Coviello, Founding Partner & Digital Marketing Specialist, Espresso Translations
Initially, I had my doubts about Drift due to the belief that chatbots turned the interactions with customers into robotic exchanges. Once we added it to our SEO FAQs and trained it to speak in our voice, the dialogues caught me by surprise as they seemed very natural. Visitors started to get quick and accurate answers to their inquiries regarding our services, and this enhanced their experience and increased their time spent on the site.
After polishing the playbooks and routing logic, Drift began identifying high-intent visitors in minutes and sending them directly to our sales team. Qualified leads increased by 42 percent, and demo bookings increased by 31 percent in just over three months. This information demonstrated that AI chatbots do not displace human relationships; on the contrary, they facilitate them in more intelligent directions. Drift turned out to be one of the most trusted tools in our conversion system for SEO.
Adam Yong, SEO Consultant / Founder, BrandPeek
I dismissed Notion as a toy. This is the case with me as everything as a CEO and lawyer is about structure, and therefore having a blank page was not a good idea. This is what happened to my mind when we were wallowing in 5,000 papers. Our ancient tools made information heaps that were not connected, which killed our planning capabilities. So I watched one of my colleagues manage the entire case out of a single Notion dashboard. It provided a clear picture that our other software could not provide.
So now my headquarters in practice is Notion. It is the place where I combine my legal thinking and business sense. On my part, I developed a client system that reduced administrative time by 30 percent, making me get to the actual legal task sooner. I believe that the greatest thing is that it is not just a filing cabinet. It is a place where I can connect a piece of a contract description to a business risk and create a picture of a client that a regular folder could not possibly create.
Marcus Denning, Senior Lawyer, MK Law
I was not fond of e-readers such as Kindle initially since I liked to hold a book in my hand. I enjoyed the feel of it and flipping the pages, and a screen was not the same. This changed when I took one on a long journey. I really wanted to travel light, and I could have loaded hundreds of books on it while still putting it in my bag without filling it.
Having used it more, I could observe how helpful it was. I could adjust the font size, read in the dark, and highlight sections that I liked without a pen. The screen was soft on my eyes, almost like reading a page.
Now, I am a regular user of my Kindle. It simplifies the process of reading, and I can carry with me as many books as I wish wherever I go. I am not concerned with a lack of material to read.
Yad Senapathy, Founder & CEO, Project Management Training Institute (PMTI)
I used to dislike CRM systems because they felt clunky and overcomplicated. But once I saw how they streamlined follow-ups and made customer journeys visible across a team, my view completely changed. In a service business like storage and removals, having every interaction in one place transformed how we managed relationships. It turned from a headache into an everyday essential.
Nicholas Gibson, Marketing Director, Stash + Lode
I did not initially like online education platforms. They appeared to be very impersonal and unstructured, particularly in practical fields like HVAC or welding. The primitive ones were superficial and difficult to operate. This has been enhanced over time with trade programs becoming more interactive as well as data-driven. Schools began to provide virtual simulations, live workshops, and definite career ladders which connected students with local apprenticeships.
I became appreciative of the flexibility and output-focused online trade education. It allows working adults to earn certifications without resulting in the loss of income and quality time with family. Today, I am a witness to thousands of students succeeding annually at Best Trade Schools using online and hybrid learning formats that were unimaginable ten years ago. This change shows that both accessibility and structure are compatible when the platforms are practical training oriented.
Online learning is a valued phenomenon in my life nowadays since it enables individuals to pursue high-paying careers faster and with less financial obligation.
Doug Crawford, President & Founder, Best Trade Schools
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