Ideas & Opportunity

How do I run a customer interview without leading them to the answer I want?

A starting point

The whole game is to talk about their past, not your future. Ask what they did last time the problem came up, how much it cost them, and what they tried instead, and never pitch your idea or ask 'would you use this,' because both invite polite lies. If you leave an interview feeling great, you probably fished for compliments, a good discovery call often feels a little uncomfortable and teaches you something you didn't want to hear.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

2 resources 2 link-checked Watch Read

Watch

▶️ Video

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it If you cannot easily meet target users in person, every conversation you do get has to count, and cold outreach is worthless if you then ask leading questions. Rob Fitzpatrick, who wrote The Mom Test, walks through how to run a customer conversation that gives you real signal instead of polite lies. It is the natural companion to cold outreach: this is what to actually say once someone agrees to a call.

How to do customer interviews? | Rob Fitzpatrick, author of "The Mom Test"

On YouTube (Rob Fitzpatrick) by Rob Fitzpatrick ~20 min

Ask about the person's real past behavior and current workarounds, not their opinion of your idea, because opinions and hypotheticals will flatter you.
Keep your idea out of the early conversation so people cannot just tell you what you want to hear.
Dig into specifics: how they solve the problem today, what it costs them, and what happened the last time it came up.

Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Read

📖 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.

The Mom Test

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 →

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