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Comment by tchock23 | Hacker News Reader

I'm torn on whether this 'conventional wisdom' is any good. Founders are the most biased when it comes to customer discovery interviews.

I have listened in on quite a few customer discovery conversations where founders took the lead and been amazed at what they think they heard. Small signs of enthusiasm turn into 'they loved it!' while negative comments are often ignored (classic confirmation bias).

However, outsourcing it to a digital agency and waiting for a report is bad for different reasons (expensive, likelihood to ignore the findings, hindsight bias, etc.)

As an advisor to quite a few local startups, I still haven't found what the 'right' approach is...

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In other words, there is very little demand for "Busting confirmation bias via Objective analysis of customer discovery interviews" as a service, even though you might think it should be profitable.

There is some kind of lesson for both founders and "founder advisors" somewhere in there. I think it goes something like this: "The market is an irrational, complex beast and people who post-rationalize don't even know what is going on until WhatsApp has already been acquired by Facebook for a gazillion dollars" :-)

I recommend founders end customer discovery interviews by asking for a purchase (or a preorder/letter of intent, depending on the situation). This is the most immediate way to testing whether a customer's really willing to pay.

i completely agree! when we were asking discovery questions, people tend to want to talk about the pain point and that gives you an illusion of validation. as soon as we ask, so how much would you pay for this? the conversation shifts and the true priorities come out.

Take any answer to a question phrased as "would you do XYZ" as essentially worthless.

It's all reported behavior and can/will differ vastly from actual behavior - especially in regards to willingness to pay.

Instead focus on behaviors they are already exhibiting (e.g., what are you buying now in this space/category, and why?).

While I agree this is an excellent form of validation (perhaps the ONLY form of validation), this has to be done with extreme precaution.

Most customer discovery interviews are agreed to under the guise of "sure, I'll share some of the issues I face and give you some feedback on your concept."

When you turn the tables at the end and ask "wanna buy now?" you can instantly destroy any semblance of credibility and rapport you may have built over the course of the interview.

There is a very nuanced way of doing it that (in my experience) very few founders have the capability of doing...

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