The document outlines strategies for increasing startup success through continuous customer interaction, emphasizing the need for effective interviews to understand customer needs rather than features. Key tips include creating clear use cases, validating needs through probing questions, and collecting qualitative data by observing real cases. It also highlights the importance of leaving the building to engage with potential customers in various settings.

1. Increase Startup Success
Using continuous customer interaction to make great products
Tim O’Connor
Startup Weekend @ Dev Bootcamp - San Francisco - 9.21.12
www.linkedin.com/in/timoconnornhg
@tmaoconnor
tmaoconnor@gmail.com
ucharya

2. Very few new
launched
products
succeed
despite tons
of R&D and
armies of
smart people

3. Startups are hard

4. We want to
increase
everyone’s chance
of success this
weekend

5. How come so many smart
teams miss the mark?

6. IDEAS
LEARN BUILD
Lean
Startup
Cycle
DATA CODE
MEASURE
Poor customer involvement
before and after Build

7. Got Segway? Result of poor
customer involvement

8. IDEAS
Tomorrow
Tonight LEARN BUILD
Lean
Startup
Cycle
DATA CODE
MEASURE
Tomorrow
Tonight we’ll cover
interviewing to learn needs

9. 7 tips to increase your odds
of interview success

10. 1. Create a clear
use case and
problem
hypotheses /
guesses to
validate

11. Clear hypotheses / guesses
Who is the customer
What is the problem
What is the need
What might satisfy them
Why would they buy
What do they currently do
And so on...
rit Isis
l
i ca
Th
C

12. Validating the wrong thing
creates products like this

13. 2. Do interviews to validate
needs/problems not features

14. I want 400 watts of
surround sound

15. I want it to sound like
I’m in the stadium

16. 3. Number one shortcoming of
interviews is failing to probe

17. Probing takes skill and
persistence

18. Interviewers favorite words
Why
Can you explain
Could you share

19. Interviewers favorite
technique - 5 whys
Ask why 5 times when something
unexpected happens
Find the CAUSE not the symptom
Once you think you have the cause
ask another why

20. Types of Probing Questions
“What” questions focus on happenings: “What events led up to...?”
“How” focuses on the way things happen. “How do you currently...?”
“Why” questions search for reasons . “Why is it that...?”
“Could” are open-ended. “Could you conceive of an example of...?”
“Describe” questions open up the environment for the product: “Please
describe that situation”
Other types of questions:
“Are,” “do,” “can,” are often the clue to a closed-ended question -
more desirable to say: "Can you think of a case when?”
er is
lat th
A long pause can be a question in itself
ad
Re

21. Aq Mo
ua nt
riu er
m ey
9.
12
4. Observe real cases to get
natural baseline

22. Before we had these

23. We had these. How come
YELLOW?

24. Purpose of observing
Concentrate on real cases, not hypothetical
scenarios
Visits are for collecting qualitative data as
opposed to quantitative data
Gain a 360-degree view
Take advantage of chance
Trust your intuition
Allow customer (interviewee) to guide the
er is
lat th
discussion
ad
Re

25. 5. Be aware of the Lake
Wobegon effect

26. pleasure
W
fac he
es re
Pl at are
ac th t
We forget pain and ampify
e e he
on H h
Ea app app
r t ie y
h? st

27. Questions to find the truth
What was it like when
What disappointed you
What would you change
What delighted you
What is your friends experience

28. 6. Get out of the building as
there aren’t any facts here

29. Lots of places to find people
Go to the use case (gym, bank, restaurant...)
Call friends and family (but not Mom or Dad)
Walk down Chinatown, ride a bus, hop a taxi, go
to Fisherman’s Warf, go to the Cable Car line
Post a request on Hacker News, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, related social site
Offer to buy a coffee to a person standing in line
Tell them what you are up to - people are
curious and like to help others
er is
lat th
Just be natural and confident - have fun
ad
Re

30. Remember
you are Not
the use case

31. ? ?
7. Two teams

32. ? ?
Problem Team
Talk to use case and
get feedback
all weekend long
Solution Team
Find the
minimum solution
for a given problem

33. ?
INTERVIEWER
• Conducts interview
• Builds rapport
• Executes discussion guide
• Writes observations
NOTE TAKER
• Takes verbatim notes
• Doesn’t interrupt
Problem Team OBSERVER
Have clear roles and • Soaks up impressions
practice • Listens “between the lines”
before heading out • Backstops the moderator
• Writes observations

34. Look For Images
“Is a verbal, impressionistic characterization of
the customer’s feedback
What life is like for them
What motivates them
How do they resonate with the problem and needs
How do they resonate with the hypothesis
How do they deal with the problem today
What other problems did they raise
er is
lat th
ad
Re

35. Remember
we all have
our biases, so
switch the
roles around

36. pl ws
om vie Tomorrow
e
IDEAS
et
C ter
In
LEARN BUILD
Lean
Startup
Cycle
DATA CODE
MEASURE
We’ll help you turn interviews
into needs to design around

37. e
ot ot
yp
IDEAS
Pr G
ot
LEARN BUILD
Lean
Startup
Cycle
DATA CODE
MEASURE Tomorrow
We’ll help you on techniques
to get prototype feedback

38. Increase Interview Success
Summary
1. Create a clear use case and problem hypotheses / guesses
to validate
2. Do interviews to validate needs/problems not features
3. Number one shortcoming of interviews is failing to probe
4. Observe real cases to get natural baseline
5. Be aware of the Lake Wobegon effect
6. Get out of the building as there aren’t any facts here
7. Two teams
ucharya

39. We are here to help
Let’s have some fun
Let’s do something meaningful
ucharya