Article · ~short book, free

Understanding Jobs-to-be-Done

Des Traynor, Intercom · Intercom Free Intermediate

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.

  • 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

It answers 3 questions

  1. Is it a mistake to fall in love with my solution before I understand the problem?
  2. How do I turn a vague hunch that something is broken into a sharp, testable idea?
  3. As a solo technical founder who hates sales calls, how do I do user research without it draining me every week?

Read with it

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  3. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  4. The cleanest distillation of the one framework that turns a customer chat into a relationship instead of a survey. The three... Sachin Rekhi's Blog Article · 10 min read A Primer on Talking to Customers From Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test Sachin Rekhi
  5. 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... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
  6. The Zetwerk co-founder talks through choosing a hard problem in an Indian manufacturing market and when to trust customers... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · 40 min Importance of Founder Market Fit and When to Listen to Customers (ft. Amrit Acharya, Zetwerk) Prime Venture Partners
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