Customer discovery interviews with Dyced were easy and quickly led to the conclusion to step out of that business.
However, with Brinktop, customer discovery interviews are harder. It is difficult for laptop owners to visualize using a different device than they have been using for a long time. It’s similar to what I would imagine people said as the first smartphones hit the market, “Who would want to type on a sheet of glass,” relative to a more tactile keyboard interface.
People often do not know what they want and are unable to clearly articulate their pain points.
For me, the relative importance of customer interviews breaks down when: 1) the prospective customers have an especially difficult time articulating their pains, 2) the cost of engineering and selling gets cheaper than the cost of setting up and conducting interviews, 3) revenue is only a few weeks away if you give the engineers a relaxed and fighting chance.
When do customer interviews break down for you?
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