How to find customers to speak with during customer discovery.

1. Customer Discovery using Blogs,
Forums, Social Media & Trade Shows
Mike Fisher
Co-Founder / CEO
storymixmedia.com

2. Background (how to run a startup un-lean)
2007 - Launched Part time, version 1.0
Spoke to Family & Friends prior to launch
2008 - Started Re-design
Based on prior customers, internal insights
2009 - Begin Development of version 2.0
New products, new website, new ordering system
2009 (Aug) - Discover Customer Development / Lean Startup
Begin the process anew

3. Customer Development / Lean Startup
Steve Blank: the process startups
use to quickly iterate and test each
element of their business model.
Customer Discovery: testing your
hypotheses.
Eric Reis: maximize validated
learning for the least amount of effort.

4. Customer Discovery Approaches
Landing Page
Survey
Bother Friends and Family
Post to Lean Startup Circle
Minimum Viable Product

5. Mindset for Discovery
Whom - identify ideal customers
Learning - what can I learn about their needs?
Altruism - how can I help (even if my product doesn’t)?
Listen - what are their problems? (people like to talk about
themselves)
Develop relationships - get outside the building
No easy / short-cut method - each customer is only one data
point and can only provide anecdotal evidence

6. Forums
Top Level Method to Learn About Customers
Establish Credibility First
Send Private Messages to speak offline

7. Blog
Must be of Real Value to Customers
Active and Consistent Schedule of Posts - Blank vs. Reis
Provide Links within Posts to Social Media Customer ‘Friends’
Develop an Active Comments / Feedback community

8. Social Media
Find relevant groups where your customers are
LinkedIn
Join groups where your customers exist
Be active, look to help others
Facebook
Friend potential customers
Use groups to find those with common interest / problem

9. Social Media (cont’d)
Twitter
hashtags & search
don’t wildly build follower list
link to blog posts

10. Trade Shows (as spectator)
Determine Hidden Barriers to Entry
Clarify links between Vendor / Competitor / Customer
Discover Unknown Loyalties
See Competitors Pitch Products and Customer Reactions
Great Opportunities to Speak with Customer’s Actively Searching
for Solutions

11. What’s Next
Plan Whom to Contact
What do you want to Learn?
Schedule Appointments
Organize / Structure What You’ve Learned
Iterate / Pivot Product(s)
Follow-up to Test Product Hypotheses