Understanding customers' past problems and the tools they used to solve them can help explain the value of your product.
Customers don't buy the what, they buy the why, so understanding the problems they encounter can help explain the value of your product.
Customers' answers to why a past problem was hard may inform product marketing and sales copy, and asking if they have tried to solve the problem can help determine if it is a burning enough issue for them to be interested in the product.
Ask what tools people have used to solve group project problems in the past, such as using multiple computers in one room or setting up SFTP.
Talk to users to identify problems with existing solutions and create a better feature set for your early-stage company.
Figure out if people are looking for a solution to the problem and what the competition is, then identify what you don't like about existing solutions to create a better feature set.
Talking to users is useful to identify the problems with existing solutions and figure out the differences between them and a new solution.
To guide the journey of an early-stage company, execute an unbiased and detailed customer/user interview strategy, starting with yourself and then talking to friends and co-workers.
Introducing their product to firefighters in person and attending industry events to get feedback without a marketing budget was a successful strategy for this YC company.
Dropping by fire stations in person to introduce their product to firefighters worked great for a YC company in this batch.
Attend industry events and set up meetings with potential customers to get feedback without a marketing budget.
Capture as much information as possible in casual user interviews, being mindful of the other person's time.
McDonald's is the best potential customer for the new smoothie technology due to their large customer base and a warm introduction.
Identify the best first customer through user interviews by asking questions to extract numerical answers about the cost of the problem.
Startups should target problems that are encountered frequently, as customers will be more receptive to a solution and it will give more chances to know if the product is solving the problem.
Identify the best first customers by understanding how frequently they encounter the problem, and how large their budget is for solving it.
Ask customers questions to determine if they have the ability to solve the problem, visualizing the answers as overlapping Venn diagrams.
Create a spreadsheet with answers from user interviews to prioritize which customers to sell your product to first.
McDonald's is the best potential customer for the new smoothie technology due to their large number of stores and customers, and a warm introduction to their chief food officer.