This document discusses customer development and how to avoid getting "bad data" when talking to customers. It outlines four types of bad data: compliments, fluff, ideas, and trivia. It provides examples of each and advises how to redirect conversations to get more useful feedback. The document also explains how conversations can go wrong by being too formal, exposing ego, or being too pitch-focused. It emphasizes learning over selling and provides questions that adhere to the "Mom Test" of getting concrete examples and specifics rather than opinions.

1. talking to
customers
http://startupmba.foundercentric.com

2. hello@foundercentric.com
foundercentric.com
@foundercentric
!
Mailing list: http://bit.ly/fc-list

3. What is Customer development?
Find early customers and
confirm their intent to buy
before building everything
!
(without biasing them)

4. Paul Graham
Until you’ve launched, the
only 2 things you should be
doing are writing code
and talking to customers

6. ...

7. Pets.com (and everyone)
“I wish I’d
known that
sooner!”

8. We can’t plan under
uncertainty.
We need a way to
search.

9. Talking to
people is a
great way to
learn if our
business will
work

10. But it’s
hard to do
right and
easy to
mess up

11. When we do
it wrong, we
get bad data
to convince
us we’re
right

12. And when
we believe
those false
positives,
we get in big
trouble

13. Part 1.
What does bad
data look like?

14. Types of bad data
1.Compliments
2.Fluff
3.Ideas
4.Trivia

15. Compliments
Most meetings end
in a compliment.
Is that a good sign?

16. Mr. Compliment
“Sounds great, I
love it!”

17. Compliments are
bad because they are
false positives

18. Two types of compliments
1.Sincere
2.“Polite”

19. Remember:
Even VCs are wrong most of
the time. If their opinion doesn’t
matter, nobody’s does! What
matters is whether customers
are going to use & buy it.

20. Mr. Compliment
“Looks great!
Keep me in the
loop.”

21. Ignore & deflect
compliments.
Then get back to
gathering real data.

22. Types of bad data
1.Compliments
2.Fluff
3.Ideas
4.Trivia

23. 3 types of fluff
1.Generic claims
2.Future promises
3.Hypothetical maybes

24. Anything generic
is a lie.
Get to the truth by asking
for concrete examples.

25. Mr. Generic Fluff
“I usually...”
“We always...”
“I never...”

26. You
“Can you talk me
through the last time
that happened?”

27. Mr. Future Fluff
“I would...”
“We will...”

28. You
“How did you
make this decision
last time?”

29. Mr. Hypothetical Fluff
“I might...”
“We could...”

30. You
“Why can’t we
just get started
now?”

31. Types of bad data
1.Compliments
2.Fluff
3.Ideas
4.Trivia

32. Ideas
Everyone will have an
idea for your business
!
But you’ve already got too
many!

33. Shawn Carolan Menlo Ventures
Startups don’t
starve; they
drown.

34. Don’t take ideas at
face value.
Dig beneath them to
get to the motivations.

35. Mr. Feature Request
“You guys should
definitely have
feature X!”

36. You
“What would X
let you do?”

37. Mr. Feature Request
“When are you
going to let me
do task Y?”

38. You
“How are you
accomplishing
task Y today?”

39. Types of bad data
1.Compliments
2.Fluff
3.Ideas
4.Trivia

40. It’s trivial data if...
1.You could have googled for it
2.You could have surveyed for it
3.It’s demographics or percents
4.You can put the results in a
pie chart or graph

41. Bad Founder, proudly reporting trivia
“80% of people
say they have
this problem!”

42. You, getting to the motivations
“SO WHAT? Do they care
enough to fix it? What
else have they tried? Will
they buy our product?”

43. Trivia can’t give you
the “why”.
Just google for it and save
interview time for
questions that matter.

44. Tip:
Don’t choose customers who
you aren’t able to talk to in
person, or you’re guaranteed
to get 100% trivia.

45. Bad data in
review

46. Types of bad data
1.Compliments
2.Fluff
3.Ideas
4.Trivia

47. Fixing bad data
1.Deflect compliments
2.Anchor fluff
3.Dig beneath ideas
4.Google for trivia

48. Part 2.
How conversations
go wrong

49. When we
ask
people
about our
idea...

50. We feel
like we’re
being
scientific

51. But really,
we’re just
fishing for
kind
words

52. Conversations
go wrong by default.
It’s your job to
fix them.

53. How conversations go wrong
1.Being too formal
2.Exposing the ego
3.Being pitchy

54. Stuff you DON’T need
1.A formal meeting
2.Business cards
3.An interview script
4.To pay them
5.An hour or more

55. What you DO need
1.To know what
you want to learn
2.To ask about
their life

56. Tip:
Pick customers you have
easy access to. Then it’s
simple to have quick, casual
conversations without
wasting time.

57. You don’t need a
formal meeting to
learn from customers.
Just chat to them.

58. How conversations go wrong
1.Being too formal
2.Exposing the ego
3.Being pitchy

59. Bad Founder, fishing for compliments
“I had an awesome
idea for an app...
So do you like it?”

60. Bad Founder, exposing his ego
“So this is that secret
project I’ve been
working on...
What do you think?”

61. Why do they lie?
1.They don’t have a strong
opinion about it
2.They don’t want to discourage
you
3.They don’t want to see you cry

62. =
Mentioning your
idea
Exposing your
ego

63. If you mention your idea,
they’ll lie to you about it.
Talk about their life,
not your idea.

64. How conversations go wrong
1.Being too formal
2.Exposing the ego
3.Being pitchy

65. Remember the stages of a startup?
1.Discovery
2.Validation
3.Customer creation
4.Company building

66. Remember the stages of a startup?
1.Discovery ← You are here
2.Validation
3.Customer creation
4.Company building

67. Remember the stages of a startup?
1.Discovery
2.Validation ← or maybe here
3.Customer creation
4.Company building

68. Learning matters more than selling
1.Discovery ← Learning
2.Validation ← Learning
3.Customer creation
4.Company building

69. Real sales start way later
1.Discovery ← Learning
2.Validation ← Learning
3.Customer creation ← Selling
4.Company building ← Managing

70. Bad Founder, being pitchy
“No no, I don’t
think you GET it.”

71. Convincing folks
your idea is good
=
Forcing false
positives

72. Remember:
Unless they are holding a
checkbook, you have nothing
to gain by convincing them
your idea is great.

73. Bad Founder, being pitchy
“Yes, but it also
does THIS!”

74. You, recovering from starting to pitch
“Oops, sorry, I just
slipped into pitch
mode. I get excited.
You were saying...?”

75. If you’re talking,
you’re not learning.
Talk less, ask more.

76. Part 3.
Let’s review

77. People lie to us for
a bunch of reasons

78. People lie to us
1.We exposed our ego
and they’re being nice
2.We’re being pitchy and
they’re getting rid of us

79. Bad data is
dangerous and
must be fixed

80. Remember:
Anyone will say your
idea is great if you’re
annoying enough
about it.

81. Fix bad data
1.Deflect compliments
2.Anchor fluff
3.Dig beneath ideas
4.Google for trivia

82. Ask good questions
which pass
The Mom Test

83. ❝
❞
Us
Do think it’s a
good idea?

84. ❝
❞
Us
Do think it’s a
good idea?

85. ❝
❞
Us
Would you buy a
product which
solved this problem?

86. ❝
❞
Us
Would you buy a
product which
solved this problem?

87. ❝
❞
Us
How do you
currently deal with
this problem?

88. ❝
❞
Us
How do you
currently deal with
this problem?

89. ❝
❞
Us
Talk me through
the last time you
had this problem

90. ❝
❞
Us
Talk me through
the last time you
had this problem

91. ❝
❞
Us
How much would
you pay for this?

92. ❝
❞
Us
How much would
you pay for this?

93. ❝
❞
Us
How much money
does this problem
cost you?

94. ❝
❞
Us
How much money
does this problem
cost you?

95. The Mom Test for good questions
1.Talk about their life
instead of your idea
2.Ask about specifics in
the past
3.Talk less, listen more

96. Bonus.
Strategic heartbeat

97. Question
What’s most likely
to sink your
business?

98. Question
What has to be true
for the next big push
to be a huge success?

99. Question
What can you do this
week to resolve one
of those questions?

101. Customer development
transitions naturally to
sales/partners/funding.
!
The same skills apply.

102. Questions?