📖 Book
✓ Link checked
Paid
Beginner
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.
From
momtestbook.com
by Rob Fitzpatrick
~130 pages
- 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 →
✍️ Essay
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Free
Beginner
Why we picked it
The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for judging whether your idea is a real problem or a solution in search of one.
From
paulgraham.com
by Paul Graham
~20 min read
- Live in the future and build what's missing.
- The best ideas look like bad ideas at first (schleps and hard-to-explain).
- Start with problems you have, in a domain you actually know.
Open
paulgraham.com →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked
Free
Intermediate
Why we picked it
Marty Cagan draws the line cleanly: if you are going to fall in love, fall in love with the problem, not the solution, and get feedback before you get attached. A short, senior take on keeping the problem central all the way through discovery. From one of the most respected voices in product.
From
Silicon Valley Product Group
by Marty Cagan
~6 min read
- Stay attached to the problem, not any one solution
- Get critical feedback before you fall in love with an idea
- Be willing to throw the solution away and keep the problem
Open
svpg.com →
📄 Article
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Free
Intermediate
Why we picked it
Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer use the product, then track the share who say 'very disappointed'. Under 40 percent means keep working. A test you can run on an idea long before you scale it.
From
First Round Review
by Rahul Vohra
~20 min read
- The 40 percent 'very disappointed' benchmark for product-market fit.
- Segment to your high-expectation customers and build for them.
- Make the fit score a metric you improve quarter by quarter.
Open
review.firstround.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked
Free
Beginner
Why we picked it
The cleanest distillation of the one framework that turns a customer chat into a relationship instead of a survey. The three rules (talk about their life not your idea, ask about the past not hypotheticals, and chase real commitments of time, reputation, or money) are exactly how you get an early customer to tell you what nearly stopped them from buying and who else you should talk to. Rekhi is a product leader, so the examples are operator-grade, not book-report fluff.
From
Sachin Rekhi's Blog
by Sachin Rekhi
10 min read
- Never pitch your idea in the conversation; ask how they handle the problem today and what it costs them, so praise can't lie to you.
- The strongest signal is a commitment that costs them something: a trial, an intro to a colleague, or a pre-order.
- 'Would you buy this?' teaches you nothing; 'walk me through the last time you dealt with this' surfaces the real story and the referral.
Open
sachinrekhi.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked
Freemium
Intermediate
Why we picked it
Steve Blank's argument for searching for a business model before building one, the get out of the building philosophy in short form. It contrasts the old write a plan and build in secret approach with testing hypotheses on real customers. A crisp, credible piece to send anyone who thinks planning can substitute for talking to people.
From
Harvard Business Review
by Steve Blank
15 min read
- No business plan survives first contact with customers.
- Get out of the building and test your assumptions with real buyers.
- Favor experiments and customer feedback over elaborate up front plans.
Open
hbr.org →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked
Freemium
Intermediate
Why we picked it
Jackson breaks fit into levels and asks how acute the problem is, how reachable the audience is, and how differentiated your answer needs to be, which lines up neatly with judging an idea. It gives you a shared vocabulary for whether your idea is worth deeper investment. Read it for a structured way to grade an idea across problem, audience, and value.
From
Lenny's Newsletter
by Todd Jackson (First Round Capital)
about 20 min read
- Grade the problem's severity and how reachable the audience is
- Fit comes in levels, so know which one you are aiming for
- A precise, painful problem for a defined group is the strong case
Open
lennysnewsletter.com →
📄 Article
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Free
Intermediate
Why we picked it
Intercom's Jobs-to-be-Done writing shows how to ask what customers are hiring your product to do, which forces you to describe the problem in their words instead of yours. It is practical for teams that are past their first few interviews. A free collection of their best posts on the topic.
From
Intercom
by Des Traynor, Intercom
~short book, free
- Focus on the job, not the customer type
- Describe the problem in the customer's own words
- Features should follow the job, never lead it
Open
intercom.com →
Why we picked it
A step by step process for taking an idea to something people want without building the wrong product first. Maurya's mantra, love the problem not your solution, keeps your first MVP focused on testing risk rather than shipping features. Practical if you want interview scripts and a repeatable order of experiments instead of theory.
From
Ash Maurya (O'Reilly)
by Ash Maurya
~336 pages
- Rank your assumptions and test the riskiest one first
- Love the problem, not your solution
- A one page model beats a long plan for an early idea
Open
oreilly.com →
📄 Article
Free
Intermediate
Why we picked it
Maurya names the exact failure in this question: founders ask what problems their solution can solve instead of what problems customers actually have. A short read on how to flip that and discover the right problem before you commit. Blunt and practical.
From
Love the Problem (Medium)
by Ash Maurya
~8 min read
- Do not start from your solution and reverse into a problem
- The first problems you list are usually the wrong ones
- Discover the problem before you try to validate anything
Open
medium.com →
