How to Talk to Users
by Eric Migicovsky (YC) · read the original
The Pebble founder's YC Startup School talk on user interviews: why founders should talk about the user's life instead of their idea, the five questions that work at any stage, and how to weigh what users do against what they say.
- 1
Talking to Users Is a Founder Job
User interviews cannot be delegated at the early stage. The person building the product has to hear users firsthand.
- 2
Talk About Their Life, Not Your Idea
Don't ask people about your idea. Ask about their life and their problem. Opinions about your product are polite noise; their actual behavior is data.
- 3
Ask About the Past, Not the Future
Facts about the past beat speculation about the future. Get them telling stories about what actually happened, and mostly shut up.
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The Five Great Questions
Hardest part, last time, why hard, what have you tried, what don't you love about it. Five questions, and the answer to number four tells you if the business exists.
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Idea Stage: Finding and Interviewing First Users
At the idea stage, interviews are pure problem discovery. Recruit from wherever the problem already lives, keep it casual, and capture notes immediately.
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Prototype Stage: Find the Best First Customers
Use prototype-stage interviews to score prospects: cost of the problem, frequency, and budget. Pick first customers whose problem is expensive, frequent, and funded.
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Launched: Interview to Find Product-Market Fit
Post-launch, measure fit: track the share of users who'd be very disappointed to lose you, and iterate toward 40% using their own words.
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Watch What They Do, Not What They Say
Compliments are free and worthless. Commitments (money, time, reputation) are the only reliable measure of whether the pain is real.