Talking to Humans: The Art of Customer Discovery

@NYUEntrepreneur
Talking to Humans:
The Art of Customer Discovery
2B. Story

@NYUEntrepreneur
Why are we here?
Share ideas, tips, tricks and
secrets on how to best do
customer discovery

@NYUEntrepreneur
Faster IS better, but it’s complicated!

@NYUEntrepreneur
“You can’t just
ask customers
what they
want and then
try to give that
to them.”
4

@NYUEntrepreneur
“New ideas come
from watching
something,
talk(ing) to people,
experimenting, !
asking questions "
and getting out of !
the ofﬁce!”

@NYUEntrepreneur
The Business Model Canvas
Revenue Streams
Channels
Customer SegmentsValue PropositionsKey ActivitiesKey Partners
Key Resources
Cost Structure
Customer Relationships
Designed by: Date: Version:Designed for:
designed by: Strategyzer AG
The makers of Business Model Generation and Strategyzer
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
strategyzer.com
What are the most important costs inherent in our business model?
Which Key Resources are most expensive?
Which Key Activities are most expensive?
is your business more
Cost Driven (leanest cost structure, low price value proposition, maximum automation, extensive outsourcing)
Value Driven (focused on value creation, premium value proposition)
sample characteristics
Fixed Costs (salaries, rents, utilities)
Variable costs
Economies of scale
Economies of scope
Through which Channels do our Customer Segments
want to be reached?
How are we reaching them now?
How are our Channels integrated?
Which ones work best?
Which ones are most cost-efficient?
How are we integrating them with customer routines?
channel phases
1. Awareness
How do we raise awareness about our company’s products and services?
2. Evaluation
How do we help customers evaluate our organization’s Value Proposition?
3. Purchase
How do we allow customers to purchase specific products and services?
4. Delivery
How do we deliver a Value Proposition to customers?
5. After sales
How do we provide post-purchase customer support?
For what value are our customers really willing to pay?
For what do they currently pay?
How are they currently paying?
How would they prefer to pay?
How much does each Revenue Stream contribute to overall revenues?
For whom are we creating value?
Who are our most important customers?
Mass Market
Niche Market
Segmented
Diversified
Multi-sided Platform
What type of relationship does each of our Customer
Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them?
Which ones have we established?
How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
How costly are they?
examples
Personal assistance
Dedicated Personal Assistance
Self-Service
Automated Services
Communities
Co-creation
What Key Activities do our Value Propositions require?
Our Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenue streams?
categories
Production
Problem Solving
Platform/Network
What Key Resources do our Value Propositions require?
Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships?
Revenue Streams?
types of resources
Physical
Intellectual (brand patents, copyrights, data)
Human
Financial
Who are our Key Partners?
Who are our key suppliers?
Which Key Resources are we acquiring from partners?
Which Key Activities do partners perform?
motivations for partnerships
Optimization and economy
Reduction of risk and uncertainty
Acquisition of particular resources and activities
What value do we deliver to the customer?
Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve?
What bundles of products and services are we
offering to each Customer Segment?
Which customer needs are we satisfying?
characteristics
Newness
Performance
Customization
“Getting the Job Done”
Design
Brand/Status
Price
Cost Reduction
Risk Reduction
Accessibility
Convenience/Usability
types
Asset sale
Usage fee
Subscription Fees
Lending/Renting/Leasing
Licensing
Brokerage fees
Advertising
fixed pricing
List Price
Product feature dependent
Customer segment
dependent
Volume dependent
dynamic pricing
Negotiation (bargaining)
Yield Management
Real-time-Market
Hypotheses & the BMC
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis
Hypothesis

@NYUEntrepreneur
More than half of
your assumptions
are wrong!
7

@NYUEntrepreneur
Your job is not to validate
your product….

@NYUEntrepreneur
Your job is not to validate
your product….
It’s to validate the
problem and how best to
solve it?

@NYUEntrepreneur
Customer Discovery
u Apply the scientiﬁc method to
business model development
10
Modify
hypothesis
Observe
phenomena
Formulate
hypothesis
Test
hypothesis
via rigorous
experiments
Establish
theory
based on
repeated
validation of
results

@NYUEntrepreneur
Customer Discovery
u Apply the scientiﬁc method to
business model development
PIVOT!
Observe
phenomena
Formulate
hypothesis
Test
hypothesis
via rigorous
experiments
Establish
theory
based on
repeated
validation of
results
You are here
____
v

@NYUEntrepreneur
Talk to >50 People!
u  GOTB: The #1 lesson of this class
u  Within ﬁve days
u  You must gain insight into your
customer & market
u  You are doing pattern recognition…
Must have suﬃcient data points to see
u  It works…It is proven

@NYUEntrepreneur
Who do you want to learn from?3A. Who Do You Want To Learn From (Inked)
13

@NYUEntrepreneur
Meet People You Don’t Know
u  People you know will be nice and tell
you what you want to hear
u  Those interviews are possibly harmful
u  Let other teams use people you know
u  People you don’t know have no
relationship to protect…Only they will
tell you the truth

@NYUEntrepreneur
What do you want to learn?4D. What Do You Want To Learn
17

@NYUEntrepreneur
What do you want to learn?
18
The Business Model Canvas
Revenue Streams
Channels
Customer SegmentsValue PropositionsKey ActivitiesKey Partners
Key Resources
Cost Structure
Customer Relationships
Designed by: Date: Version:Designed for:
designed by: Strategyzer AG
The makers of Business Model Generation and Strategyzer
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
strategyzer.com
What are the most important costs inherent in our business model?
Which Key Resources are most expensive?
Which Key Activities are most expensive?
is your business more
Cost Driven (leanest cost structure, low price value proposition, maximum automation, extensive outsourcing)
Value Driven (focused on value creation, premium value proposition)
sample characteristics
Fixed Costs (salaries, rents, utilities)
Variable costs
Economies of scale
Economies of scope
Through which Channels do our Customer Segments
want to be reached?
How are we reaching them now?
How are our Channels integrated?
Which ones work best?
Which ones are most cost-efficient?
How are we integrating them with customer routines?
channel phases
1. Awareness
How do we raise awareness about our company’s products and services?
2. Evaluation
How do we help customers evaluate our organization’s Value Proposition?
3. Purchase
How do we allow customers to purchase specific products and services?
4. Delivery
How do we deliver a Value Proposition to customers?
5. After sales
How do we provide post-purchase customer support?
For what value are our customers really willing to pay?
For what do they currently pay?
How are they currently paying?
How would they prefer to pay?
How much does each Revenue Stream contribute to overall revenues?
For whom are we creating value?
Who are our most important customers?
Mass Market
Niche Market
Segmented
Diversified
Multi-sided Platform
What type of relationship does each of our Customer
Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them?
Which ones have we established?
How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
How costly are they?
examples
Personal assistance
Dedicated Personal Assistance
Self-Service
Automated Services
Communities
Co-creation
What Key Activities do our Value Propositions require?
Our Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenue streams?
categories
Production
Problem Solving
Platform/Network
What Key Resources do our Value Propositions require?
Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships?
Revenue Streams?
types of resources
Physical
Intellectual (brand patents, copyrights, data)
Human
Financial
Who are our Key Partners?
Who are our key suppliers?
Which Key Resources are we acquiring from partners?
Which Key Activities do partners perform?
motivations for partnerships
Optimization and economy
Reduction of risk and uncertainty
Acquisition of particular resources and activities
What value do we deliver to the customer?
Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve?
What bundles of products and services are we
offering to each Customer Segment?
Which customer needs are we satisfying?
characteristics
Newness
Performance
Customization
“Getting the Job Done”
Design
Brand/Status
Price
Cost Reduction
Risk Reduction
Accessibility
Convenience/Usability
types
Asset sale
Usage fee
Subscription Fees
Lending/Renting/Leasing
Licensing
Brokerage fees
Advertising
fixed pricing
List Price
Product feature dependent
Customer segment
dependent
Volume dependent
dynamic pricing
Negotiation (bargaining)
Yield Management
Real-time-Market

@NYUEntrepreneur
Don’t Assume You
Understand the Problem!

@NYUEntrepreneur
What do you want to learn?
u  Do not sell! No demos! No presos!
u  You are there to learn!
u  Get stories, not speculation
u  Ask open-ended questions
u  Learn about their problems and how they
solve them today
u  Ask why? Then why? They why again!
u  Create a guide (not a script)
20

@NYUEntrepreneur
How do you ﬁnd interview subjects?5A. How Do You Find Your Interview Subjects (Inked)
21

@NYUEntrepreneur
How do you ﬁnd interview subjects?
u  At least one degree of separation
u  Learn to love LinkedIn
u  Make referrals happen
u  Get creative…recruiting hacks
u  Fish where the ﬁsh are…
u  …In the wild
u  Promise to be brief
u  Play the student/researcher card
u  Enterprise customers are people too!
22

@NYUEntrepreneur
How to ensure an eﬀective interview?6B. How To Ensure An Effective Session (Draft)
23

@NYUEntrepreneur
How to ensure an eﬀective interview?
u  Beware of conﬁrmation bias
u  Do it in person, one at a time
u  Get subjects to tell a story
u  Look for solution hacks
u  Understand their priorities
u  Follow your nose & drill down
u  Listen and STFU!
u  Have someone take notes
24

@NYUEntrepreneur
Pro Tips
u  Practice, practice, practice
u  NO email, focus groups or surveys
u  Don’t start with your dream customer
u  Being an entrepreneur means being
aggressive & persistent
u  Flatter subjects
u  Be transparent
u  Follow up/stay in touch
u  Write up key insights right away
25

@NYUEntrepreneur26
“It's grueling
listening to
customer
feedback. And
if it isn't, you're
probably "
doing it !
wrong."

@NYUEntrepreneur
Your Last >$100 Purchase
1.  Write description of item on top of page
2.  Find partner sitting next to you & swap
3.  Create interview guide: ~5 questions
u  Explain what you bought and why
u  What was the process from desire to acquisition?
u  What other options/alternatives did you consider?
u  How did you decide to buy it? Who/what did you consult?
u  How did you decide where to buy it?
4.  5 minute interview…take notes
5.  Switch

@NYUEntrepreneur
Discuss: Observations,
challenges & questions
29

@NYUEntrepreneur
Documentation
u  Assign someone to take notes
u  Write down any key a-ha’s as they
happen
u  Note questions that worked & use
them again!
u  Take pictures or videos!
u  Capture key insights

@NYUEntrepreneur
How do you make sense of what you learn?7B. How Do You Make Sense Of What You Learn
(Draft)
31

@NYUEntrepreneur
Gaining Insight
u  Facts are interesting…Insights are your goal
u  Be honest…Don’t be too quick to validate or
too slow to disprove your hypothesis
u  Don’t just scratch the surface, dive deep
u  Find the hidden motivations
u  Ask why? And why? Then why again?
u  Don’t fear picking the wrong market
u  Depth of understanding always leads to
insight

@NYUEntrepreneur
What’s an insight?
(the a-ha’s along your journey)

@NYUEntrepreneur
in•sight |ˈinˌsīt|
noun
the capacity to gain an
accurate and deep intuitive
understanding of a person or
thing

@NYUEntrepreneur
in•sight |ˈinˌsīt|
noun
something you’re so excited
about you tell strangers on
the train

@NYUEntrepreneur
Learning Is Paramount
u  The knowledge you gain in customer
discovery is critical to the success or
failure of your business
u  >Half of your assumptions are wrong
u  You must not try to validate what you
already think or want to be true

@NYUEntrepreneur
Pro Tips v2
u  Focus on actual behavior, not
speculative or abstract feelings
u  If they’ve made an MVP…ask to see it!
u  Listen, don’t talk
u  Follow your nose & drill down
u  Parrot back or misrepresent to conﬁrm
u  Ask for introductions
u  Write up your notes ASAP
u  Avoid premature conclusions

@NYUEntrepreneur
Questions?
39

Talking to Humans: The Art of Customer Discovery

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