Idea: 11
Sunday, 11 January 2015
By. Francis Pedraza
Anyone
Frustrated by how hard it is to find diverse people to interview for customer development or market research? Two words. Interview. As in, available for a video call within 72 hours. Anyone. As in, any type of person. That is: any location, profession, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, personality type, hobby, sport, political party, religion, education, family, background, or known preference. Construction worker in San Francisco. Chef in Paris. Race car driver in Kansas. Soccer mom in Seattle. Game of Thrones fan in Madrid. Libertarian classical musician in Moscow. Taxi driver in Jerusalem. Small business owner in Kenya. Female Turkish Christian Democrat in Germany, who loves pasta. Gay ENTJ Buddhist Kiwi in Sydney. Interview anyone. http://interviewanyone.com (Yup)
I want this to exist. So that I can ask people about their problems and perspectives. Can you imagine the uniqueness of an idea that might come out of a brainstorm session with a fisherman from Norway? Actually, I can’t imagine. And that’s the whole point. Being able to connect with people that are way, way outside of my network. Network? Heck, outside of my whole reality. Now that is valuable, on so many levels. Especially to a savvy entrepreneur or marketer. We live in a magical, diverse world full of eclectic, idiosyncratic people. Yet the products and services that we see around us often don’t reflect that. They feel flat and bland. Maybe because of how surprisingly difficult it is to conduct customer development or market research? Maybe…?
Pricing
Dynamic
Guess on distribution:
— 25%: under $25 / hour
— 25%: between $25 — $100 / hour
— 25%: between $100 — $250 / hour
— 25%: $250 and up
Experience
- Interface has search variables (tags, categories, toggles etc.) on left-hand column.
- Profiles are anonymized to prevent circumvention.
- So photo masking and no names until after a booking.
- Calls to action are “Book now”, in which case you book and schedule time immediately
- Or “Queue for later”, to book and schedule several interviews simultaneously
Initial Target Market
Supply is the primary risk — can you quickly and cost effectively recruit all these diverse people? — but demand, less so. From IDEO to Google to Apple to Unilever to political campaigns to branding consultants to advertising agencies to most startups — it seems there would be a lot of potential customers, if the supply is there. Although I can see possible entertainment, romantic, cultural and academic uses, still expect primary use to be for customer development and market research.
Uses
- Designing a product or service?
- Improving an existing one?
- Getting feedback on an idea, advertisement, or brand?
- Seeking insight into real-world people, behaviors, perspectives and problems?
Research
Similar products: Clarity.fm (on-demand business advice), GLG (high-end expert network)
Other links: Market Research Startups on AngelList, Customer Development Resources on Google, Setting up customer interviews on Quora, “How does IDEO find people to interview for its needfinding studies?” on Quora, “95 Ways to find your first customer” (blog post), “How to find customers to interview” (blog post), “How do I set up customer interviews?” (blog post)
