MVP Step 3: Customer Development Interviews… (for introverts)

FYI, the full series can be found here.

So you may be thinking “I can just do a survey, same thing!”

But not really, though a survey scales better, the quality of insight that you get when doing a face-to-face or over-the-phone interview is far better.

I got stuck at this for the longest time. My biggest fear (being an introverted nerd) was talking to people I don’t know. I kept thinking to myself, “Why the hell will they tell me their opinions for free?”. Then I’ve finally figured out how to get past this thinking.

My course of action was to find a group of people (forum/Facebook group) who are also trying to validate their idea and ask them “Would anyone want to do a 2-way idea validation interview? You can interview me for 10 min (or I’ll give you feedback on whatever you want to show me) and after that, I’ll interview you.” — this way it is mutually beneficial.

You can also reach out to people individually as well.

One objection you might be thinking is that “these people aren’t my target group”. To that I say, if you’re just starting out, you’ll need practice interviewing, so just do a few of these until you get comfortable, obviously if they are your target group, that’s great!

The main point is to offer them some help with something for 10 minutes.

When they respond, I’d DM them with my calendly link.

As for me, I posted a request on a private Facebook group with others who are also looking to do the same thing. If you’re introverted like me, this (asking for an interview) is the hardest part of the process. Sense your fear, and do it! The worst that can happen is that they ignore it.

It took me a long time to actively go and seek interviews (due to fear)- another way to help you get over this hurdle is to join a group where others are doing the same things as you (for accountability).

The rest is just following a script and having a one on one conversation as you go along.

What my interview script looks like

Of all the resources I’ve read, the one that gets to the point quickest (and gives a clear outline) is “Running Lean” by Ash Maurya.

I’ve adapted the script found in Running Lean and put my own spin on it. My outline is as follows, you may have differing opinions though:

Set the general context

• My solution solves a pain point around consuming online articles, but before I get started let me ask you a few questions.

Ask them the ‘survey’ questions

My questions are somewhat related to my solution, but don’t reveal what my solution is. You can ask 2+ questions at a time if they are somewhat related.

• [What solutions are they currently using?] I’d like to know if you keep a reading list of online articles — if so, where do you keep them? how do you find your articles?
• [Ask them a question about their preferences, but somewhat related to your solution] What type of articles do you like reading?

Tell your story for more context

• [When I joined this demographic], [describe your problem] — E.g. When I started trying to do a side business, I became overwhelmed with the amount of content I had to read.
• [List 3 pain points that you have that your solution might solve without mentioning your solution]
• Ask “What resonated with you the most?”

Show a Demo

• Now you can show your solution (or tell your idea if you don’t have anything to show yet) — you don’t have to show every feature of your solution, just the main one. Ask them how they could see themselves using it and they will name some features.
• Explain how your solution solves each of the pain points you’ve listed above.

Talk about pricing

• “The last thing I want to talk about is pricing.”
• Don’t ask “how much do you want to pay?”, instead, say “would you pay $X/month for this service?”

Referrals

• I’m not comfortable with asking for referrals from strangers as I know I wouldn’t be comfortable giving contact details of my friends, so instead I ask if they can think of any friends or family or coworkers that might be interested in this service.
• This shows me how likely they are to recommend the solution to others.

Right now, I’ve done 2 interviews, and have a few more scheduled… looking to do 8 more… Each time, it gets easier.

(btw, if you’re interested in doing a mutual customer validation interview with me, shoot me a message and we can work out a timeslot).

Special thanks to Spencer Fry (Founder of Coach) for being the first person to run through my customer development interview!

That’s all for now! Subscribe to my interest list if you are interested in the solution I’m building.

Please remember to ❤ the article! Then leave a comment if anything resonated with you or if you have differing opinions.

Thanks!