Talking to users

The product ideas or features do not come from late-night coding sessions or relaxing on a lazy Sunday. The best founders talk to their customers throughout the lifetime of the company. Most importantly, they talk to the customers even before thinking about the product or any feature. Then they keep talking to them even after the product is launched. The source of ideas is the customers.

We tend to think that modern software products have emerged during a hackathon project or having a random conversation with a friend. Rather, many of the founders had been observing the problems themselves whether they were dealing with the problem personally or knew people who were facing difficulties. Those handling a problem are the best source of accurate information. So, talk to them and understand the problem.

You may find users on platforms such as Reddit, Linkedin, Twitter, or in your network. You should definitely talk to the people you do not know since they are going to be honest while your coworker may be hesitant to provide honest feedback. You can approach them by sending messages whose tone varies based on the platform or relationship. It is better to invite them to a short video session that helps you build rapport with them.

During the video interview, make sure you are not talking about your product let alone attempting to sell your product. Instead, just listen to how they handle the problem, what they feel, and why it is important for them or their company. It is not their job to tell you what to build, or how to solve it. These are your jobs; finding solutions and prioritizing them. To elicit more honest information, ask open-ended questions like:

1. tell me how you do x today.
2. what is the hardest thing about doing x
3. why is it hard
4. how often do you have to do x
5. why is it important for your company to do x
6. how do you do how do you solve this problem

You will rarely get the most information with a single question, so use a follow-up question like:

1. what do you mean by that
2. can you tell me more about that?
3. why is that important to you?

After the meeting, you should synthesize your learnings, organize them and create a solution hypothesis. Start sketching an MVP. Then go back to those people or include new people to get feedback, to understand how they feel about it.

Source of notes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1iF1c8w5Lg