Customer interview presentation at Lean Startup Machine Amman-Jordan. Describe best practice, what to do, what not, where to find your customers and what to ask them, as part of customer discovery process (Cus_Dev & Lean Startup methodology)

1. Customer Interview
Lean Startup Machine - Amman
12-14 March 2015
Ibrahim Faza

2. About Me
Ibrahim Faza @ifaza1
Entrepreneur, Investor & startup adviser
Cofounded companies in Mobile payment,
Apps, Social news and IT fields.
Founding team of two telecom startups.
Founding Seed fund manager @ KAUST
Mentor, coach & judge.
Telecom Engineer

3. Turn your idea into experiment
Step 1
Define Your
Hypothesis
Step 2
Plan Your
Experiment
Step 3
Run Your
Experiment
Define
your
customer
problem
solu1on
Hypothesis
What
are
your
core
assump1ons,
riskiest
assump1on,
success
criteria
&
experiment
type
1.Explora1on
-­‐>
Understand
problem
2.Pitch
-­‐>
Measure
demands
3.Concierge
-­‐>
Deliver
customer
expecta8on
Step 4
What did You
Learn?
Pivot
or
Persevere

4. Why to interview customers?
• Start
with
interviews
in
case
of
high
uncertainty
• Help
finding
insights
about:
• Customers
pain.
and
how
big?
(Are
you
#1,
#2
or
#50?)
• Know
your
customer
deeply
• Validate
assump8ons
/
remove
bias

5. What’s the point?
It’s
Not
• About
pitching
or
selling
• Surveys
or
Focus
groups
• Conversa8ons
with
your
colleagues
and
friends
It’s
all
about
• Learning,
and
Tes1ng
your
hypotheses
Must
be
conducted
by
founders,
Can’t
be
outsourced

6. Preparation
Have
a
purpose
and
a
plan
–
Know
who
you
are
mee8ng
and
why
–
Have
a
list
of
ques8ons
–
Prac8ce
your
Interview

7. Find Your Customers
Where
to
find
your
customers
–
Get
out
from
your
comfort
zone
–
Start
in
the
middle
–
Go
aRer
players
#'s
2-­‐4
who
want
to
be
#1
–
B2B
/
B2C
–
Random
people
in
your
customer
segment
–
Use
contact
list,
linkedin,
Social
media
–
Strangers
in
Streets,
Malls,
Coffeeshops
…

8. Doing Customer interviews
Be
transparent
and
authen1c
-­‐ Pick
an
informal
place
-­‐ Get
Comfortable
and
set
a
relaxed
tone
-­‐ Let
them
know
you
are
here
for
learning,
not
selling
-­‐ Come
prepared
to
listen
&
learn
-­‐ Be
open
to
insights
-­‐ Take
notes
/
Record

9. Not Doing in interviews
Don’t
follow
your
biases
-­‐ Selling
is
not
allow
-­‐ Don’t
talk,
Listen
-­‐ Don’t
influence,
Encourage
-­‐ Don’t
look
for
valida8on
of
your
biases,
be
open-­‐minded
-­‐ Don’t
talk
about
your
solu8on
Don’t
show
slides,
Don’t
show
a
demo,
Don’t
pitch!

10. Death by Demo
Death
by
Demo
(Video)
hbps://vimeo.com/76390080
Understanding
the
Problem
(Video)
hbps://vimeo.com/76173388

11. Ask Right Questions
•
Ask
open-­‐ended
ques1ons:
you
do
not
want
yes/no
answers.
Ask:
What?
Why?
Why
not?
Not:
Is?
Are?
Would?
•
Ask
about
the
past,
present
Not
the
future
•
Ask
behavioural
ques8ons
first.
What
do
they
do?
What
are
their
problems?
How
do
they
currently
address
them?
•
Finish
with:
What
did
I
forget
to
ask?
Who
else
should
I
speak
with?
Can
you
make
an
introduc8on?

12. 3-Way Interview
1. What
is
your
biggest
problem
[in
the
related
area]/?
(Context)
2. Tell
me
about
last
8me
you
dealt
with
this
problem
(Story)
3. What
is
your
ideal
solu8on
for
it?
(Solu1on)

13. Back inside the Building
Validate
/
invalidate
you
hypothesis
• Customer
pain
• Know
your
customer
deeply
• Understand
their
day
• Uncover
how
customers
think
and
behave
• Know
their
interests
and
interac8ons
• Communicate
your
learning
with
the
team
• Look
for
insights
and
unexpected
surprises
• Find
paberns

14. Finding Patterns
Finding Patterns (Video)
https://vimeo.com/87301903

15. Q & A

16. Thanks