Keynote for the Google Launchpad hyperaccelerator for early stage start-ups at Google Campus London.

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Launchpad: Design Day
Andrew Muir Wood
Head of Customer Insights at DueDil
@muirwd

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Introducing the mentors
Gabriele Muse Caroline Bosher Jonny Burch Giulia Piu Cyrille Najjar
Hollie Lubbock Manan Vohra Sylvester Kaczmarek Jean-Louis Lawrence

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A story about me…

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Why do we ask the wrong questions?

5. White
We assume that
we know what
our customers
are thinking.

6. We defer to
seniority.

7. We fear the
answers to those
questions.

8. We don’t know
how to answer
those questions.

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Today will mainly be about research
Asking the right questions at the right time
Getting started with research techniques
Translating research into product design decisions

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What research questions
should I have asked?
Planning

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The wrong question at the time

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These were the scary questions

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Your questions change as you grow

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Make sure you
prioritise your riskiest
assumptions.
“
”
Planning

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If you can’t find participants,
how will you find customers?
Recruiting

16. v
They can be hard
to locate

17. They can be hard
to incentivise

18. And it can take a
long time

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How recruiting research participants changes as you grow
Prelaunch Early adopters Mainstream customers
Go to where they hang out
• LinkedIn cold messaging ($)
• Industry events and Meet-ups ($)
• Facebook/LinkedIn Groups ($)
• Referrals from friends/family ($)
• Hit the streets ($)
Don’t only speak to early adopters!
• Research recruitment agencies ($$$)
• Pay-per-click advertising ($$)
• Adhoc referrals from customers/
investors ($)
• Events/workshops e.g. co-creation ($
$)
Make use of your customer base
• Sales ($)
• Support ($)
• Targeted recruitment inside product,
e.g. Intercom ($$)
• Customer communities ($$$)
• Marketing campaigns ($$$)

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Cash is expensive, here are some alternatives I’ve tried
coffee
cake lunch
Amazon voucher
Kindle
charity donation
fun advice
intros
office visit

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Recruiting
Build a recruitment
pipeline so that research
becomes a habit.
“
”

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Are your customers lying to you?
Researching

23. “Of course I’d buy
your app darling.”

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CHALLENGE: Find out if your mother would buy your product
CLUE: Don’t ask if she’d buy your product
Solution ● Can you describe the last time you did X? How did you
solve X?
Frequency ● When was the last time and how often do you do X?
Cost ● How much did X cost/long did X take/stressful was X?
Context ● What happened immediately before/after you last did X?
These questions are all based on real events, not hypothetical situations

25. Find a way to
make it a real
transaction.

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Researching
Prioritise concrete
behaviour over opinion
and future preference.
“
”

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Cool, I have 8 hours of
interview recordings
what now?
Analysing

30. @harrybr

31. Analysis is
quicker and more
fun with friends.

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Analysing
Everyone in the company
can help do and analyse
research.
“
”

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Have you considered every
possible solution?
Solving

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Writing a “how might we”
How might we action what for whom
in order to change something

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How many ways can your customer problem be solved?

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Does your design focus relentlessly on its objectives?

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Which of your features are most critical?

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Solving
There are always multiple
ways to solve a problem.
Make sure you’ve
evaluated them all and
chosen the best.
“
”

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Here’s a recap
Planning Make sure you prioritise your riskiest assumptions.
Recruiting Build a recruitment pipeline so that research becomes a habit.
Researching Prioritise concrete behaviour over opinion and future preference.
Analysing Everyone in the company can help do and analyse research.
Solving There are always multiple ways to solve a problem.

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The rest of today…
10.40 Teams prep
11.00 Experience map and persona drafts
12.00 Product-specific mentoring
13.00 Lunch
14.00 Prepare for research
15.00 User research session
16.00 Research analysis and feedback
17.45 Team wrap-ups

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What question are you answering?
Remember…

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THANKS
and yes you can have my slides: I will tweet the link @muirwd
@muirwd | #GoogleLaunchpad