MEPX
Chapter 3 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Ideas
  2. 2Testing the idea
  3. 3Talking to customers
  4. 4Building the first version
  5. 5Product-market fit
  6. 6Funding
  7. 7Runway and burn
  8. 8Founders and early team
  9. 9Growth
  10. 10An honest picture

Chapter 3 of 10

Talking to customers

Interviews that produce information.

How to ask

Ask about their last experience of the problem, what they tried, what it cost them and what they do now. Past behaviour is data; predicted behaviour is imagination.

  • Never pitch during a discovery interview.
  • Five deep conversations beat fifty survey responses.

Who to ask

Talk to people with the problem now, not friends and not enthusiasts for your idea. The ones who tried and gave up are especially informative.