Thread · ~5 min read

Top Questions to Ask Customers During Their Interviews

Indie Hackers Free Beginner

Once you've found someone willing to talk, this thread collects the actual questions other founders use, crowdsourced from people running interviews right now. It's a fast way to build your own question list without starting from a blank page. Use it alongside The Mom Test's rules so the questions you borrow stay honest ones.

  • Ask about the last time they dealt with the problem, not hypotheticals
  • Follow up on any strong reaction instead of moving to the next question
  • End by asking who else they know with the same problem
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The question it answers

  1. Where do I find people to interview when I have zero audience?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. A short, practical field guide to customer discovery: who to talk to, how to find them, and how many. Pairs perfectly with The... talkingtohumans.com Book · ~80 pages (free PDF available) Talking to Humans Giff Constable
  3. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  4. The foundational text of customer development, 'get out of the building' started here and became the backbone of the Lean... steveblank.com Book · ~370 pages The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win Steve Blank
  5. A UX-research leader (ex-Uber Eats, BetterUp) gives founders a concrete three-step discovery process, including how to recruit... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read A founder-friendly playbook for early customer discovery First Round Review (Jeanette Mellinger)
  6. The standard modern playbook for keeping discovery continuous so roadmap decisions stay grounded in real customer input, not... Product Talk Book · ~240 pages Continuous Discovery Habits Teresa Torres
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