Customers & Research

How do I talk to customers without them just telling me what I want to hear?

A starting point

Stop pitching and start interrogating their past. Ask about what they actually did last time the problem hit, what it cost them, and what they tried, never 'would you use this?' or 'is this a good idea?', because everyone lies to be nice. Talk about their life, not your idea.

Go deeper

Watch

▶️ Video
Free Beginner

How to Talk to Users

On YC Startup Library by Eric Migicovsky (YC / founder of Pebble) ~25 min

Why we picked it

A YC partner turns 'talk to users' into a repeatable 5-question interview script you can use this afternoon. It's The Mom Test compressed into a lecture, perfect if you want the method fast before reading the book.

  • Don't pitch your idea, you'll bias every answer.
  • Anchor on the last time they hit the problem, and what they did about it.
  • If they've done nothing to solve it, the problem may not be painful enough.
Open ycombinator.com →

Read

📖 Book
Paid Beginner

The Mom Test

From momtestbook.com by Rob Fitzpatrick ~130 pages

Why we picked it

The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past behaviour, not your idea, so you can't be lied to. If a founder reads one thing before talking to a single customer, it's this.

  • Talk about their life, not your idea.
  • Ask about specifics in the past, not opinions about the future.
  • 'That's so cool, I'd totally buy it' is a compliment, not data, dig for commitment and evidence.
Open momtestbook.com →
📖 Book
Paid Advanced

The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win

From steveblank.com by Steve Blank ~370 pages

Why we picked it

The foundational text of customer development, 'get out of the building' started here and became the backbone of the Lean Startup. Steve Blank's own site is the primary source.

  • The biggest risk isn't building wrong tech, it's building something nobody wants
  • Customer discovery: test your hypotheses with real customers before scaling
  • Separate customer development from product development as parallel processes
  • Search for a repeatable business model before you try to execute one
Open steveblank.com →

People also ask

What questions should I actually ask in a customer interview? Ask about the past and the concrete, not the future and the hypothetical. 'Walk me through the last time you dealt with X', 'what's the hardest par... Beginner 3 resources → How many customer interviews do I need before I trust the signal? There's no magic number, you're done when you can predict roughly the next answer before they say it. In practice that's usually 15-30 conversation... Intermediate 2 resources → Where do I find people to interview when I have zero audience? Start with the person you already know who has the problem, then ask each interviewee for two intros. Go where the customer already hangs out, nich... Beginner 2 resources → How do I run customer discovery as an Indian founder building for Indian users? The frameworks are global but the field is local: Indian buyers often say 'yes, nice' to your face and never pay, so watch what they do, not what t... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I show a prototype to users without biasing their reaction? Hand it over, give them a goal, and shut up. Don't narrate or explain, watch where they get stuck, what they ignore, and what they say out loud. Th... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I talk to customers without getting false positives? Never pitch your idea in the interview, it invites polite lies. Ask about their real life and past behaviour: the last time they hit the problem, w... Beginner 3 resources →