This document provides an overview of customer discovery, a framework for validating a target market through customer needs. It discusses how most startups fail because they do not validate assumptions with customers before building products. The document then outlines steps to conduct customer discovery, including defining customer personas, illustrating pain points, designing market segmentation, building an interview pipeline, structuring interviews, and beginning to cultivate an acquisition strategy. The overall goal is to help startups build better businesses faster by learning directly from customers.

1. How to Integrate
Customer Discovery

2. Acquired learning:
2010-2017
Product & Technology Strategy
2006-2009
Application Architect
2003-2005
Interactive Game & Application Developer
1998-2002
Design & Web Development Anthony Cintron
Co-Founder, CEO
Co-Founder at Take the Interview, Inc.
Former Co-Founder, President & CTO at Resoomay, Inc.

3. is a market research
platform designed
for real startups.
What does this mean to you?
We help tech startups build better businesses, faster
through the framework of customer development.

4. What is Customer Discovery?
Customer Discovery is a framework for validating your target
market with the most relevant solution based on
your customers’ needs.

5. 133m startups each year
Approximately 1.35%of them are tech related (1.78m worldwide)
.05%reach the funding stage (90-100k tech startups)
50,000 of those startups receive funding in the US (from Angel Investors)
~4,000of them reach VC rounds (as of last January)

6. Most tech startups fail to validate their target consumer
before developing their product. This leads to invalidated
assumptions integrated into their product
development, marketing and sales.
40% of startups fail within the first 12 months of
conducting business
90% of startups fail within the first 5 years of
conducting business

7. “Everyone has a plan
until they get punched
in the face”
- Mike Tyson

8. How do I Start
Customer Discovery?

9. • Define your persona and all attributes which
defines your customer
• Illustrate pain-points customers are
experiencing from an alternative solution
• Visualize thoughts and emotions when they
are interacting with an alternative solution
Design your market segmentation1

10. OpenStile.com Journey Mapping, July 2016

11. Searching your target buyer.
Industry
Advertising & Marketing
Finance & Financial Services
Food & Beverages
Government
Nonprofit
Health Care & Pharmaceuticals
Job Function
Accounting/Auditing
Business Development
Health Care Provider
Management
Product Management
Sales
Sales
B2B
B2C
Inside Sales
Outside Sales
Example: B2B prospecting strategy for approaching
Health Care Providers within the Health Care & Pharmaceuticals industry.

12. Start building a pipeline of potential customers
• Tap into your social media network
• Ask people if they can introduce you to two
additional people
• Write a brief description of what you wish
to accomplish from your customer
interviews
• Categorize your pipeline into
segmentations
2

13. Manage your pipeline in a structure
that can be easily maintained.
Use the data to track, and build
reports which relate to your leads.

14. Create goals and objectives
• Create a short statement about the future
of your business
• Define 2-3 realistic objectives that
describe steps you need to take to obtain
your goal
• Set up appropriate activity metrics
• Hold yourself and your peers accountable
3

15. Track goals and measurable
objectives. Evaluate your findings
so you can make refinements to
your development as you are
progressing.

16. Structure your interview
• Prepare 30 mins before your interview
• Structure and standardize your questions
• Interviews should only be 30-45 minutes
• Record your interviews
• Reach out to your customer 1-2 hours
prior to confirm they are able to make the
call
4

17. Questions should be open-ended
No more than 6-8 questions (per segment)
Group questions into high-level problems needing to be solved
Avoid using AND/OR
Tips on creating questions

18. Begin cultivating an acquisition strategy
Before you feel confident in your acquisition strategy, you may need to run 2-3 Customer
Discovery projects.
Each Customer Discovery project should include 1-2 segmentations. Your customer interviews
should be no less than 10 per segment project.
5
Customer Discovery
Segment
Segment
Project

19. You may contact us at acintron@untangl.co
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