User feedback cannot be captured when there are no established channels of communication with the end users. This is an Achilles heel for enterprise software, when users are several layers removed from the purchaser of the product.
For one startup that was making an attempt in mobile social recommendation, I had identified a school faculty with students that would have been the perfect test candidates to provide on-going feedback. This initiative didn’t come to fruition from concerns of irritating users over half-baked features.
As many web applications now have widgets that make it easy to give feedback, I’m sensitive to the context in which it is solicited. A happy user can be content saying nothing, and a disgruntled user asked to comment, can be prone to only criticize.
If your startup needs help with this, contact me on Slack.