Problem-Interviews
In the last chapter, you defined your problem and derived problem hypotheses that now need to be tested.
As a startup, the problem you identified (and later validated) forms the basis for everything else. In the next steps, you develop a solution for the problem and iterate until you have found a good solution for the problem you have identified.
But the problem not only determines your product, but also how you communicate with potential customers, your sales, your marketing and the value that the problem solution creates and thus, for example, the price you can charge for the product. It is therefore extremely important that you follow a good (and well-defined) problem that is worth solving.
It is always difficult to go back to the problem when you already have a concrete solution idea in mind. But in a startup, the problem always comes first and the solution second. It therefore becomes particularly difficult when you learn more about your customers and their problems and the solution you initially had in mind no longer fits. But then always stick to the problem and your customers and look for solutions to their problems, even if that means you can't build or sell the product the way you initially thought. Otherwise you run the risk of having a solution for which there are no customers who are willing to use it, let alone pay for it (there is even a term for this: solution-in-search-for-a-problem).
Conduct user interviews
As a startup, the most important thing is to talk to (potential) users. As already explained in the part on Lean Startup: Everything you think you know is just hypotheses and to be successful, you have to validate the hypotheses again and again. And the best way to do this is by talking to potential users. Early contact with users not only helps you to understand them better and develop the right product, but also offers you an opportunity to get to know your first (later paying) customers and retain them.
Below you will find a video by Eric Migicovsky (former founder of the smartwatch startup "Pebble"), who also explains how to talk to users and conduct a user interview. The video was created at the Startup School 2019 by Y-Combinator.
The Y-Combinator is a startup supporter from Silicon Valley and supports startups in its program so that they are able to collect larger sums of venture capital. The companies Dropbox, Airbnb and Twitch, among others, have emerged from their program. Through their focus on scaling internet companies, the Y-Combinator has a very strong opinion on what young companies should look like in order to achieve major global growth and attract investors in the USA. Although we think the videos are very good, try to look at them in a more relaxed way: You don't have to copy it all and if you don't meet all of the Y-Combinator criteria, that's perfectly fine.
Everything clear so far? Great, then it's your turn now:
Task: Conduct at least 3 user interviews on the problem you have identified. Look for people who you think have the problem you have identified and try to find out what the person's problems are and how they have tried to solve them so far. Try not to influence your interview partners too much and, if possible, do not respond to your or other potential solutions. Your customers only provide the problems, you provide the solutions later and test them again in interviews in the coming weeks.
Tasks for this chapter 💪
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