The Customer Development Interview

Jason @EvanishProduct @KISSmetricsLean Startup Machine SF

The Structure

3. Solution

2. Problem

1. Person

The MVP House

The Structure – 1. Person

• Who are they? What’s their role?• How is your budget handled?• How do you find new products?• How much time do you spend on

[Task X]?

Goal: Get a baseline background of the person you’re talking to. Be broad.

Learn about them and their role in your industry.

The Structure – 2. Problems

• NOT about the problems you think they have.

• What are your top 3 challenges you face in your job or life related to [industry X]?

• If you could wave a magic wand…what would the solution be?

Goal: Get them to say the problem you want to solve is a problem they have (prefer unprompted)

Learn about the problems they recognize first.

The Structure – 3. Solution

• “That’s interesting” = Kiss of Death.• If they’re not anxious to use right

away, they’re not a key target. • Read body language, voice

inflection and energy level for signals of interest.

• Best reaction is actually following through after the meeting or calls.

Now you tell them about your product concept.

Goal: Discover if they’re interested in your solution and gather feedback.

Tips for making the most of Interviews1. Take good notes.2. Involve other team members.3. Be conversational. 4. Go off script.5. Ask to see any MVPs they’ve made/use.6. If they’re excited about something, ask if they’ll pay for it.7. Show them mockups or early concepts if you have them

and pay attention to their reactions/feedback.8. Always Follow up.9. End with an ask.10. Be open to new problems and opportunities!11. Summarize and review your notes with your team.

Where do you find people to interview?

10 – 20% Response Rate

The Best Place to Find Candidates:

30-40% Response Rate

Help not Sales

Manage Expectations

• Only 10-20% of those you reach out to will respond.

• Getting started is the hardest, then you can find the channels.

• Different target customers often are found in different channels.

Now what?• Interview in groups of 8-10

people per customer type.• Summarize notes and review

with others.• Look for common patterns

matching C-P-S (Customer – Problem – Solution).

• Compare to your high level metrics to see if anecdotes match data.

• Iterate if there’s no match.

Contact me…I’m happy to help.

On Twitter: @EvanishOther sites: About.me/Evanish Email: Evanish.J@Gmail.com

Further Reading - Books

The Lean StartupBy Eric Ries

Great high level overviewof all the principles of aLean Startup.

The Entrepreneur’s Guideto Customer DevelopmentBy Patrick Vlaskovits &

Brant Cooper

The Cliff Notes for LeanStartups; a must read for everyone on your team.

The Four Steps to theEpiphanyBy Steve Blank

The Bible of Lean Startups.Tough read, but excellentcontent.

Running LeanBy Ash Maurya

A practical guide to builda great lean startup fromthe creator of the lean canvas.

These books, especially 4 Steps, were key sources in creating this presentation & my learning of this methodology

Further Reading – Lean Related Blogs

• Steve Blank, Godfather of Lean Startups

• Ash Maurya, Practitioner and action-oriented

• Dave McClure, Investor, advisor, badass

• Andrew Chen, Metrics and Customer acquisition expert

Further Reading – Helpful Presentations

• The Customer Development Methodology – by Steve Blank

• Startup Metrics are for Pirates – by Dave McClure

• The Top 10 Reasons to not be a Lean Startup– By Patrick Vlaskovits & Brant Cooper

• How to recruit and interview potential customers – by Elizabeth Yin

• Minimum Desirable Product: Customer Development for the “Winner Take All” Web – by Andrew Chen