Understand your customers

Talk to real users, define who you're for, and read the market clearly.

What founders use for understand your customers, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. A roundup of concrete advice from Indian investors and mentors, and the standout point for this question is direct: founders... YourStory Article Idea Validation: 20 Startup Tips From the TiE Bangalore Mentor Clinic YourStory
  2. Traynor's rule that you should never ask for feedback you are not prepared to act on is exactly the discipline the short answer... Intercom Blog Essay · 8 min read 3 rules for customer feedback Des Traynor
  3. This is the companion piece that explains why the context around a piece of feedback (who said it, when, and in what mood)... Intercom Blog Article · 7 min read The when and where of product feedback Des Traynor
  4. Doshi tells a visual, concrete story about a team that built for a problem customers said they had, but that was never actually... X (Twitter) Thread · 5 min read Destined to Fail: A B2B Product Management Story Shreyas Doshi
  5. April Dunford wrote the modern playbook on positioning, and this exercise is the fastest way to see how target customer... aprildunford.com Essay · 10 min read A Product Positioning Exercise April Dunford
  6. Kyle Poyar writes for people running go to market at growth stage B2B companies, so this piece is useful once your ICP needs to... Growth Unhinged Essay · 12 min read ICP marketing done right Kyle Poyar
  7. This is a clean, no nonsense definition written for enterprise founders, distinguishing ICP (the company), buyer (who decides),... Unusual Ventures Field Guide Article · 8 min read What is an ideal customer profile? Unusual Ventures Field Guide
  8. Lincoln Murphy is one of the people credited with popularizing the term ideal customer profile in SaaS, and this framework goes... Sixteen Ventures Article · 25 min read Ideal Customer Profile Framework Lincoln Murphy
  9. The full book behind the Bullseye essay above, with nineteen traction channels laid out and worked examples of testing them... Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares Book · ~200 pages Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers Gabriel Weinberg, Justin Mares
  10. Krish Subramanian describes trying to serve all customers early on, losing the specific insight Chargebee was actually built... YourStory Article · ~10 min read How Chargebee stayed focused before expanding customer segments YourStory
  11. The foundational marketing text on owning a specific position in a specific customer's mind rather than trying to be relevant... Al Ries and Jack Trout Book · ~200 pages Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind Al Ries, Jack Trout
  12. Revella more or less codified the term "buyer persona" for B2B, and this free manifesto is her own definition, not someone... Adele Revella, Buyer Persona Institute Essay The Buyer Persona Manifesto Adele Revella, Buyer Persona Institute
  13. A clean, direct side by side of the two terms our question is about, written for people who actually have to use both in a... Total Product Marketing Article ICP vs. Buyer Persona: What's the Difference? Total Product Marketing
  14. Close built its whole early sales motion around a narrow ICP, and this guide gives you the actual firmographic fields (company... Close Article How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile for B2B Leads (ICP Guide) Close
  15. Graham lays out why the users who need you most, not the ones who are easiest to please, are the ones worth building for. It... Paul Graham Essay What I've Learned from Users Paul Graham
  16. Blank argues that market definition, not just customer interviews, is the step founders skip, and that getting it wrong is what... Steve Blank Essay How to Find a Market? Use Jobs to be Done as the Front End of Customer Discovery Steve Blank
  17. A direct argument for why the customer is not always right for you, with a framework for deciding which accounts are quietly... Harvard Business Review Article It's Time to Fire Some of Your Customers Anthony K. Tjan
  18. Lays out concrete criteria for recognizing a customer relationship that will not get better, so you are not relying on gut feel... Harvard Business Review Article When and Why to Part Ways with a Customer Lior Arussy
  19. Traynor breaks down knowing your customer into two concrete questions, who they are and how they decide, instead of a vague... Intercom Article Know Your Customers and How They Decide Des Traynor
  20. This lays out the bullseye idea explicitly: most durable products start at the center of a tight, specific market and expand... Reforge Article · 15 min read The 4 Growth Frameworks You Need to Build a $100M Product Reforge
  21. Written from the perspective of bootstrapped founders who do not have the luxury of burning cash to reach a broad market, this... Indie Hackers Article · 10 min read How to Identify a Micro-Niche That's Perfect for SaaS Founders Indie Hackers
  22. The clearest definition of what a persona actually is and is not, from the field that invented the term. It draws the line... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~10 min read Personas Make Users Memorable Nielsen Norman Group
  23. Written by a company that built its CRM specifically for SMB focused sales teams, this is blunt about what changes when your... Close blog Article · 15 min read SMB Sales Strategy: How to Sell to SMB Customers Close
  24. Blume pulled lessons from vertical SaaS companies that succeeded by narrowing to one workflow within one type of small... Blume Ventures Essay · 20 min read The Vertical SaaS Secret Playsheet Blume Ventures

Show the next 24

The questions

Talking to customers & user research 18

Learn the truth without leading the witness.

How do I talk to customers without them just telling me what I want to hear? 23 → What questions should I actually ask in a customer interview? 22 → How many customer interviews do I need before I trust the signal? 24 → Where do I find people to interview when I have zero audience? 24 → How do I run customer discovery as an Indian founder building for Indian users? 24 → All 18 questions in Talking to customers & user research →
Defining your ideal customer 18

Know exactly who you're for (and who you're not).

What is an ideal customer profile and how do I define mine? 24 → How specific should my target customer be when I'm just starting? 24 → What's the difference between an ICP, a buyer persona, and a target market? 24 → How do I know if I'm targeting the wrong customer? 24 → Should I focus on one customer segment or serve everyone who'll pay? 23 → All 18 questions in Defining your ideal customer →
Finding your niche / beachhead 17

Win a tiny market completely before going wide.

What is a beachhead market and why does everyone say to start with one? 1 → How do I pick which niche to go after first? 2 → Isn't picking a tiny niche going to limit how big I can get? 2 → How do I know when I've won my niche and it's time to expand? 1 → How do I find a defensible niche in a market full of big incumbents? 2 → All 17 questions in Finding your niche / beachhead →
Understanding the problem (JTBD) 17

People hire products to do a job, find the job.

What does 'jobs to be done' actually mean? 2 → How is JTBD different from features, personas, or user needs? 2 → How do I actually uncover the job my customers are hiring my product for? 3 → Who are my real competitors once I think in jobs to be done? 3 → How do I turn a job to be done into product and messaging decisions? 2 → All 17 questions in Understanding the problem (JTBD) →
Competitive & market research 18

Know the landscape better than the incumbents.

How do I research my competitors properly? 2 → What if my customers say they have no competitors, is that good or bad? 2 → What tools should I use to track competitors and market landscape? 2 → How do I position against a bigger, better-funded competitor? 2 → How do I size the market and figure out if it's big enough? 2 → All 18 questions in Competitive & market research →
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