HMCS Max Bernays Pre-Deployment Brief (May 2024).pptx
Lecture 1 intro bus model cust dev 120411
1. The Lean LaunchPad
Lecture 1: Business Models and
Customer Development
Steve Blank
Jon Feiber
Ann Miura-Ko
John Burke
Jerry Engel
Jim Hornthal
Oren Jacob
2. This Session
• The teaching team
• Course objective(s)
• Teaching team philosophy
• Our expectations of you
4. Steve Blank,Jon Feiber, John Burke
• BS CS/Astro Physics U of • Yale BS EE
8 startups in Silicon Valley Colorado • McKinsey and Co.
• Semiconductors • VP Networking SUN • Charles River Ventures
• V.C. @ MDV since 1991 • Stanford Ph.D MS&E
• Supercomputers • TA: E145, Mayfield
• Consumer electronics •
Fellows, MS&E 273
V.C. @ Floodgate
• Video games
ann@floodgate.com
• Enterprise software @annimaniac
• Military intelligence
sblank@stanford.edu
@sgblank
www.steveblank.com
5. Steve Blank, Jon Feiber, John Burke
8 startups - 32 years in Silicon Valley
• Semiconductors
• Supercomputers
• Consumer electronics • BS CS/Astro Physics U of Colorado • Yale BS EE Co.
• McKinsey and
• Video games
• Enterprise software • 50 employee, VP Networking @ Sun • Charles River Ventures
th
• Military intelligence • Stanford Ph.D MS&E
• V.C. @ MDV since 1991 • V.C. @ Floodgate
Teach: Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia jdf@mdv.com ann@floodgate.com
Details at www.steveblank.com @annimaniac
6. Steve Blank, Jon Feiber, John Burke
8 startups - 32 years in Silicon Valley
• Semiconductors
• Supercomputers
• Consumer electronics • BS CS/Astro • BSMechEngineering U.C. Berkeley,
• Video games Physics U of
• Enterprise software Colorado • BA Economics U.C. Santa Cruz,
• Military intelligence • 50th employee, • MBA Harvard Business School
VP Networking
Teach: Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia
@ Su • Founder BMI Software
Details at www.steveblank.com • VC at ABS Ventures
• V.C. @ MDV
since 1991
• Co-founder True Ventures
• jdf@mdv.com jburke@trueventures.com
@andemca
7. Alexander Osterwalder, Tina Seelig
• Ph.D. in Management Information
Systems (MIS) University of Lausanne Ph.D. Neuroscience Stanford Med School
• Founder, Business Model Foundry • Mgmt consultant Booz, Allen, Hamilton
• Author Business Model Generation • Multimedia producer at Compaq
Computer
• Co-founder, The Constellation for AIDS • Founder multimedia
competence (NGO) companyBookBrowser.
• Exec Director Stanford Technology
Ventures Program (STVP), EpiCenter
• tseelig@stanford.edu
• @tseelig
8. Oren Jacob, Jim Hornthal
• CMEA Capital
• Triporati
• CEO, stealth startup
• EIR, August Capita
• lCTO, Pixar
• Director, Studio Tools, Pixar
• Technical Director, Finding Nemo
9. Oren Jacob, Jim Hornthal
•CTO Pixar
• CMEA Capital
• Chairman Triporati
10. Teaching Assistant
Bhavik Joshi
joshibhavik@gmail.com
http://about.me/bhavikjoshi
•Better Place (13th employee, first non-Israeli, non-Jewish, non ex-SAP, Asian employee)
• Berkeley/Columbia MBA class of 2008/09
• Co-founder: Berkeley Stanford Cleantech Conference Series (since 2007)
• 2000 – 2007 Enterprise Software
• 1998 – 2000 Tata Motors India
•TA’s role: Class/lecture questions, Grading and attendance
11. Alexander Osterwalder, Tina Seelig
8 startups - 32 years in Silicon Valley
• Semiconductors
• Supercomputers
• Consumer electronics • Ph.D. Neuroscience Stanford Med School
• Video games
• Enterprise software • Mgmt consultant Booz, Allen, Hamilton
• Military intelligence
• Multimedia producer at Compaq Computer
Teach: Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia • Founder multimedia companyBookBrowser.
Details at www.steveblank.com • Exec Director Stanford Technology Ventures
Program (STVP), EpiCenter
tseelig@stanford.edu
@tseelig
12. Course Assistant (CA’s)
Thomas Haymore Stephanie Glass
•B.A. in Political Science •MS MS&E 2010
• Stanford Law („06)
• J.D. Stanford Law („12)
thomas.haymore@gmail.com
•CA’s role: Class/lecture questions, Grading and attendance
13. Course Assistant (CA’s)
Thomas Haymore Stephanie Glass
B.A. in Political Science
• Stanford Law („06)
•MS MS&E 2012
• J.D. Stanford Law („12)
thomas.haymore@gmail.com srglass@stanford.edu
•CA’s role: Class/lecture questions, Grading and attendance
14. Mentors
• Mentors are people with real-world experience
• Mentors role is to:
– Help you “Get you out of the building”
– Share contacts
– Offer “Real-world” entrepreneurial advice
– Critical feedback
• You arrange your schedule for the mentors, not
the other way around
15. Course Objective: Idea to a Business
• What does it take to go from idea to a business?
– Business Model + Customer Development
– Hypotheses testing of the business model(s)
– Get “out of the building”
16. Course Objective: Simulate A Startup?
• Create the pressures, uncertainty, and challenges
of a real startup
– Our expectations are unreasonable, they require
extraordinary effort
– We expect failures, iterations and Pivots
– Class is a “lab” - books/lectures are tools, not answers
– Fail fast, learn quick, push you outside your comfort zone
17. Teaching team philosophy
• This class is taught using the “Startup Culture”
– We‟re tough, direct, fair - you need to be the same
– Startup culture has no hierarchy - in this class you are an
entrepreneur - not a PI, lab mgr or center director
– We‟re your biggest supporters – we want you to succeed
• Question us, challenge us, push us as hard as we
push you
• We don‟t pretend to be domain experts, we know
you are smarter than we are
18. Getting Out of The Building
• This class is not about our lectures
• The class is not about your attendance
• The class is about the work you do outside the
building
• It‟s the difference between a vision and a
hallucination
19. Our Expectations of You
• This is a full-contact, immersive class
– All of you will be full participants – here and remotely
– You will spend lots of time outside of your university
– You all will do all the work assigned (and it is a lot
more than you probably realize)
– No “dine and dash”
• If you think you are not learning, or you all
cannot commit the time, see your NSF program
manager
20. Team Deliverables
• Each Week
– Lessons Learned presentation 5 minutes
– Updated Lean LaunchLab blog
– Hours of “outside the building” learning
• December Presentation
– 20 minute Lessons Learned Summary
21. What Will you Learn?
• Opportunity evaluation
• Search for a Business Model
• Customer Discovery and Validation
• Operating and decision making in chaos with
insufficient data
• Ruthless pursuit of an objective by a team
22. The Course ‘By the Numbers’
• 4 Instructors, 1 TA, 15+ Mentors,
• 8 Lectures
• 8 10-minute presentations per class
• 1 Final 20 minute presentation
• 2 Textbooks
10-15 hours of work a week outside the classroom
23. This Class is Hard
• You can‟t pass by attending the lectures
• Your grade is determined by the work you do
outside the class
• There‟s a lot of it
• You are dependent on group success –
communication is critical
• You don‟t need to be friends you need to be
partners
26. Class Schedule
Eight (3 hour) Class Sessions:
• 1: Sept 1st - Introduction, Business Models, Customer Development
• 2: Sept 2nd – Value Proposition/Customer Segment
• 3: Sept 22nd – Channels
• 4: Sept 23rd - Demand Creation (Customer Relationships)
• 5: Oct 13th – Revenue Model
• 6: Oct 14th – Key Resources and Activities
• 7: Nov 11th - Cost Structure
• 8: Nov 12th – Fund Raising
9 & 10: Dec 1st / 2nd – Lessons Learned Presentations
27. Teams
• team size is 4 people
• You chose the roles (hint: no org chart)
• Present Weekly and for Final
– Weekly lessons learned
– Final is demo and summary
• Class is about discovery and fast iteration
28. Team Projects
• Any for-profit scalable startup
• If you are a domain expert, that’s your best bet
(but not required)
• If you pick a web project, you have to build it
(and there needs to be some novelty)
29. Team Deliverables - Presentation
• Each Week
– Lessons Learned presentation 10 minutes
– Updated business model canvas
– Update blog/wiki
– 10‟s of hours of “outside the building” progress
• Final Presentation
– 20 minute Lessons Learned Summary
30. Team Deliverables - Blog
• Each Week
– Business model canvas updates
– Interviews
– Photos/Videos
– A/B tests
– Strategy
31. Grading
Individual - 15% Team - 85%
• Participation in class 15% • 40% out-of-the-building
progress as measured by
blog write-ups each week.
• 20% weekly team “lesson
learned” summaries
• 25% team final report
Grade is on how much you learn
32. Grading
Individual - 15% Team - 80%
• Participation in class 15% • 40% out-of-the-building
progress as measured by
blog write-ups each week.
• 20% weekly team “lesson
learned” summaries
• 25% team final report
You’re graded on how much learn, not how much you sell
33. Office Hours
• With your team
• Before and after class
• Look at availability here
• Get on the calendar
34. Intellectual Property - Suggestions
• Make sure your project is OK with your company
– disclose to team what IP rights your company has to inventions
• You own what IP you brought to class with you
– No team member has claim to anything you brought
• Your team jointly owns any IP developed for the class
– If any of you decide to start a company based on the class, you
own only what was developed and completed in the class
– You have no claim for work done before or after the class quarter
– If a subset of the team decides to start a company they do NOT
“owe” anything to other team members for work done in and during
the class
– All team members are free to start the same company, without
permission of the others
• You are agreeing to this unless the team decides in writing
to do something different
35. Class Disclosure/NDA’s
• Successful startups are not about the original idea
– It‟s about learning, discovery and execution
– You will not be presenting your IP/technical details
• You get to see how previous teams solved problems by
looking at their slides, notes and blogs
Therefore:
• Your slides, notes and blogs will be public
• This is an open class. No non-disclosures
46. What’s A Startup?
A startup is a temporary organization
designed to search for a repeatable
and scalable business model
47. How to Build A Startup
Idea
Business Model
Size Opportunity
Customer Development
48. How to Build A Startup
Business Size of the Customer Customer
Idea Model(s) Opportunity Discovery Validation
49. How to Build A Startup
Size of the
Business Size of the
Business Customer Customer
Idea Opportunity
Model(s) Opportunity
Model(s) Discovery Validation
Theory Practice
50. How to Build A Startup
Size of the
Business Size of the
Business Customer Customer
Idea Opportunity
Model(s) Opportunity
Model(s) Discovery Validation
• Web startups get the product
in front of customers earlier
51. How to Build A Startup
Size of the
Business Size of the
Business Customer Customer
Idea Opportunity
Model(s) Opportunity
Model(s) Discovery Validation
78. Business Model Canvas
building
block building
block building
block
building
building block
block building
block
building
block building
block
building building
block block
building building building building
block block block block
95. Nespresso
club
production
Nespresso
machines
Nespresso
pods
distribution
Nespresso
channels
.com
production
coffee
facilites
1x
B2C machine
distribution sales
95
181. The Customer Development Process
Customer Customer Customer Company
Discovery Validation Creation Building
Pivot
182. The Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Customer Customer Customer Company
Discovery Validation Creation Building
Pivot
•Smallest feature set that gets you the most …
- orders, learning, feedback, failure…
183. A Pivot is the change of one or
more Business Model Canvas
Components
184. The Pivot
Customer Customer Customer Company
Discovery Validation Creation Building
Pivot
•The heart of Customer Development
•Iteration without crisis
•Fast, agile and opportunistic
185. Pivot Cycle Time Matters
Customer Customer Customer Company
Discovery Validation Creation Building
Pivot
•Speed of cycle minimizes cash needs
•Minimum feature set speeds up cycle time
• Near instantaneous customer feedback drives feature set
187. The Customer Development Process
Customer Discovery
Customer Customer Customer Company
Discovery Validation Creation Building
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
188. The Customer Development Process
Customer Validation
Customer Customer Customer Company
Discovery Validation Creation Building
Get Ready Sell, Sell, Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell Sell Proceed
203. Type of Market
Changes Everything
Clone Market Existing Market Resegmented New Market
Market
• Market • Sales • Customers
– Market Size – Sales Model • Needs
– Cost of Entry – Margins • Adoption
– Launch Type – Sales Cycle
– Competitive – Chasm Width
Barriers •Finance
• Ongoing Capital
– Positioning
• Time to Profitability
204. Definitions: Four Types of Markets
Clone Market Existing Market Resegmented New Market
Market
• Clone Market
– Copy of a U.S. business model
• Existing Market
– Faster/Better = High end
• Resegmented Market
– Niche = marketing/branding driven
– Cheaper = low end
• New Market
– Cheaper/good enough, creates a new class of product/customer
– Innovative/never existed before
206. Market/Opportunity Analysis
How Big is It?: Market/Opportunity Analysis
– Identify a Customer and Market Need
– Size the Market
– Competitors
– Growth Potential
207. How Big is the Pie?
Total Available Market
• How many people would want/need
the product?
• How large is the market be
(in $‟s) if they all bought?
Total Available Market • How many units would that be?
How Do I Find Out?
• Industry Analysts – Gartner, Forrester
• Wall Street Analysts – Goldman, Morgan
208. How Big is My Slice?
Served Available Market
• How many people need/can use product?
• How many people have the money to
buy the product
Total • How large would the market be (in $‟s)
Available Served if they all bought?
Market
Available • How many units would that be?
Market
How Do I Find Out?
• Talk to potential customers
209. How Much Can I Eat?
Target Market
• Who am I going to sell to in year 1, 2 & 3?
• How many customers is that?
• How large is the market be
(in $‟s) if they all bought?
Total Served
• How many units would that be?
Available Available
Market Market
Target
Market How Do I Find Out?
• Talk to potential customers
• Identify and talk to channel partners
• Identify and talk to competitors
210. Market Size: Summary
• Market Size Questions:
– How big can this market be?
– How much of it can we get?
– Market growth rate
– Market structure (Mature or in flux?)
• Most important: Talk to Customers and Sales Channel
• Next important: Market size by competitive approximation
– Wall Street analyst reports are great
• And : Market research firms Like Forester, Gartner
211. Team Deliverable by Tomorrow
1. Hypotheses for each part of business model
2. Test for each of the hypotheses
What constitutes a pass/fail signal for the test (e.g. at
what point would you say your hypotheses
wasn‟t even close to correct?
3. Plan to get out of the building to test the hypotheses
• Summarized in a 5 Minute PowerPoint Presentation
– Business Model Canvas
– Market Size
– Getting out of the building plan
Don’t Over Think Your
Hypotheses
212. Sweet Sensors
Glucose Monitor: We have developed a
novel technology to use
• Widely available any glucose monitor
• Cheap without modifications to
• Quantitative detect a wide range of
information non-glucose targets at
• $10 billion market very low concentrations
(such as diseases
However, it can detect (e.g., TB), heavy metal
only one target: ions
glucose (e.g., Pb, Hg), organic
and at very high toxins, bacteria, viruses
concentrations and cancers)
Yu Xiang and Yi Lu, Nature Chem. 3, 697-703 (2011).
214. Market size
Total available
market = $1.2 billion - 300 million patients worldwide
- Required HbA1C testing every
60-90 days
Serviceable Available
Market = $600 million - Available in-home HbA1C tests today
are $100/10 tests
Target market - Assuming $1 per test, TAM = $1.2 billion
= $120 million
- Assuming 50% people have the access
to a HbA1c test, SAM = $600 million
- Assuming we can capture 20% of SAM
(high-end diabetics and early adopters),
Target market = $120 million
216. Business Model Canvas
Yi Lu, Tian Lan
Sweet Sensors Neil Kane
Chris Sorensen
Conferences
Product R&D Diabetics
At home Product supports
Glucose monitor QC Clinicians (in rural area)
Convenient Patient
manufacturers
Marketing network/community Triage nurses
Less exposure to
Kit manufacturers infectious diseases Pre-diabetics
in the hospital
Reagent suppliers
Cheaper
More frequent Retailers (Walgreen)
IP
Personnel Better indicator of Online vendors (Amazon)
health (diabetic
management) Direct sales
Reagents
Manufacture
Disposable test kit (used repeatedly
Licensing on a regular basis)
FDA certification?
217. Action Plan
Yi Lu, Tian Lan
Sweet Sensors Neil Kane
Chris Sorensen
Conferences
Product R&D Diabetics
At home Product supports
Glucose monitor QC Clinicians (in rural area)
Convenient Patient
manufacturers
Marketing network/community Triage nurses
Less exposure to
Kit manufacturers infectious diseases Pre-diabetics
in the hospital
Reagent suppliers
Cheaper
More frequent Retailers (Walgreen)
IP
Personnel Better indicator of Online vendors (Amazon)
health (diabetic
management) Direct sales
Reagents
Manufacture
Disposable test kit (used repeatedly
Licensing on a regular basis)
FDA certification?
218. The Business Model Canvas
Technical Assistance
cGMP manufacturer SOPs for precursors
(Image Atlas) Radiopharmacies
Radiopharmacies and drugs Accessibility (RCY) FDA regulatory support
Nuclear Medicine and Recruit clinical sites Purity Equipment producers
Radiology In vivo animal studies Speed
departments Develop regulatory PET/SPECT Prescribing physicians
plan for pre IND Multiplatform
meeting Technical assistance
Sensitivity (nca) Radiologist who
ID cGMP CRO Specific compounds
Pharmaceutical perform studies
Fund-raising
development
companies
General
IP methodology for
PoP data Direct sales of Drug developers
adding fluorine to
precursor
lead compounds of
IP interest
PoP data R&D and clinical
studies presented in Radiologists
Regulatory plan
Understanding of journals and meetings
the regulatory
process
Sales of intermediates
Contract cGMP precursor manufacture
Salary, Rents
Technology license
Clinical trials
Product license (royalty)
219. The Business Model Canvas
Technical Assistance
cGMP manufacturer SOPs for precursors
(Image Atlas) Radiopharmacies
Radiopharmacies and drugs
Accessibility (RCY) FDA regulatory support
Nuclear Medicine and Recruit clinical sites
Purity Equipment producers
Radiology In vivo animal studies
Develop regulatory Speed
departments PET/SPECT Prescribing physicians
plan for pre IND
meeting Multiplatform Technical assistance
Sensitivity (nca) Radiologist who
ID cGMP CRO
Pharmaceutical Specific compounds perform studies
Fund-raising
development
companies
General Direct sales of
IP methodology for precursor
PoP data adding fluorine to Drug developers
lead compounds of R&D and clinical
IP interest studies presented in
PoP data journals and meetings Radiologists
Regulatory plan
Understanding of Sales of precursor
the regulatory through global finished
process pharmaceutical
distributor
Sales of intermediates
Contract cGMP precursor manufacture
Salary, Rents
Technology license
Clinical trials
Product license (royalty)
220. Critical Success Factors
• Validation of the need
– By talking to diabetic patients, clinician and nurses
• Validation of the customer segmentation
– By talking to glucose monitor and kit manufactures
• Evidence of market accessibility
– By talking to glucose monitor and kit distributors
223. Customer Discovery - Physical
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
• TAM/SAM
•Product MVP
• Customers
•Channel
•Market Type
• Customer Relationships: Get/Keep/Grow
• Key Resources
• Partners
• Pricing
224. Customer Discovery - Web
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
• TAM/SAM
•Low Fidelity MVP
• Customers/Source
• Channel
•Market Type
• Customer Relationships: Acquire/Activate
•Traffic Partners
• Pricing
225. Customer Discovery - Physical
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
•TAM/SAM
• Low Fidelity MVP
•Customer Contacts
• Customers •Problem Understanding
• Channel
•Market Type • Customer Understanding
•Cust Relationships
• Traffic Partners
•Market Knowledge
• Pricing
226. Customer Discovery - Web
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
•TAM/SAM
• Low Fidelity MVP
•Customer Engagement
• Customers •Test Low Fidelity MVP
• Channel
•Market Type • Customer Understanding
•Cust Relationships
• Traffic Partners
•Traffic & Competitive Analysis
• Pricing
227. Customer Discovery - Physical
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
• TAM/SAM
• Low Fidelity MVP
•Update Bus Model
• Customers •Create Prototype/Prod Presentation
• Channel
•Market Type •Test Solution with Customer
•Cust Relationships
• Traffic Partners
• Update Business Model
• Pricing • 1st Advisory Board Members
228. Customer Discovery - Web
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
• TAM/SAM • Customer Engagement
• Low Fidelity MVP • Test Low Fidelity MVP
• Update Bus Model
• Customers • Customer Understanding •Test High Fidelity MVP
• Channel • Traffic & Competitive Analysis
•Market Type • Measure Customer Behavior
•Cust Relationships
• Traffic Partners
• Update Business Model
• Pricing • 1st Advisory Board Members
229. Customer Discovery – Web/Physical
Bus Model Extract Test Test Pivot or
Canvas Hypotheses Problem Solution Proceed
• TAM/SAM • Customer Engagement
• Low Fidelity MVP • Test Low Fidelity MVP
Verify the:
• Customers • Customer Understanding •Value Prop
• Channel • Traffic & Competitive Analysis
•Market Type •Cust Segment
•Cust Relationships
• Traffic Partners
•Cust Relationships
• Pricing • Channel
• Revenue Model
• Pivot or Proceed
230. Customer Validation - Web
Get Ready Sell, Sell, Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell Sell Proceed
Pivot
231. Customer Validation - Physical
Get Ready Sell, Sell, S Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell ell Proceed
•Craft Positioning
•Develop Sales Materials
•Hire “Sales Closer”
•Sales Channel Action Plan
• Refine the Sales Roadmap
• Formalize advisory board
232. Customer Validation - Web
Get Ready Sell, Sell, Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell Sell Proceed
•Craft Positioning
•Acquire/Activate Plans and Tools
• Build High Fidelity MVP
• Build Metrics Toolset
• Hire data analytics chief
• Formalize advisory board
233. Customer Validation - Physical
Get Ready Sell, Sell, Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell Sell Proceed
•Craft Positioning
•Acquire/Activate Plans
• Build High Fidelity MVP •Find Earlyvangelists
• Build Metrics Toolset
• Hire data analytics chief
• Test Sell – Out of the Building
• Formalize advisory board • Refine Sales Roadmap
• Test Sell Channel Partners
234. Customer Validation - Web
Get Ready Sell, Sell, S Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell ell Proceed
•Craft Positioning
•Acquire/Activate Plans •Prepare Optimization Plans & Tools
• Build High Fidelity MVP
• Build Metrics Toolset
• Out of the building Activation Test
• Hire data analytics chief • Measure and Optimize Results
• Formalize advisory board
• Test Sell Traffic Partners
235. Customer Validation - Physical/Web
Get Ready Sell, Sell, Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell Sell Proceed
•Craft Positioning
• Acquire/Activate Plans • Prepare Optimization Plans • Company Positioning
• Build High Fidelity MVP • Out of the building Activation Test
• Measure and Optimize Results
• Product Positioning
• Build Metrics Toolset
• Hire data analytics chief • Test Sell Traffic Partners • Validate Positioning
• Formalize advisory board
236. Customer Validation - Physical/Web
Get Ready Sell, Sell, S Pivot or
Positioning
to Sell ell Proceed
•Craft Positioning
• Acquire/Activate Plans • Prepare Optimization Plans • Assemble Data
• Build High Fidelity MVP • Out of the building Activation Test • Validate Business Model
• Build Metrics Toolset • Measure and Optimize Results
• Hire data analytics chief • Test Sell Traffic Partners • Validate Financial Model
• Formalize advisory board
• Pivot or Proceed
Notes de l'éditeur
1. One person at a timeFocus groups are a group-think, distraction-filled mess. Avoid them and only talk to one person at a time. If desired, you can bring someone with you to take notes — some UX designers like this approach. Personally, I tend to do one-on-one interviews because I think people loosen up and thus open up a bit more.2. Know your goals and questions ahead of timeHave your assumptions and thus learning goals prioritized ahead of time. Decide who you want to talk to (age, gender, location, profession/industry, affluence, etc), and target interviewees accordingly. Prep your basic flow and list of questions. You might veer off the plan to follow your nose, which is great, but go in prepared.3. Separate behavior and feedback in discussionDecide up front if your focus is going to be on learning a user’s behavior and mindset, and/or getting direct feedback or usability insights on a product or mockup. Do not mix the two in the discussion flow or things will get distorted.Put “behavior and mindset” first in your discussion flow. During this part, don’t let the interviewee go too deep in terms of suggesting features (some people can’t help it), but keep them focused on if they have a problem, how they think about the problem space, and if and how they have tried to solve it in past. Getting people to discuss their actual actions, not just opinions, is very useful.4. Get psyched to hear things you don’t want to hearIf you don’t do this, you might find yourself selling or convincing, or even hearing what you want to hear. Remember, the goal in this early stage is learning and validation/invalidation, not a sale.Unless, of course, you have set a sale or LOI as a goal. You might want to shoot for a commitment from the interviewee as a way to measure true demand. If so, keep it entirely out of the behavior/mindset portion of the discussion.5. Disarm “politeness” trainingPeople are trained not to call your baby ugly. You need to make them feel safe to do this. My approach was to explain that the worst thing that could happen to me was building something people didn’t care about, so the best way they could help me was absolute, brutal honesty.6. Ask open ended questionsDo not ask too many yes/no questions. For example, minimize such questions as “do you like Groupon?” Instead ask “what kinds of deals do you look for, if any?” “What motivates you to hunt for deals?” “How do you discover deals?” “Do you get frustrated with the deal sites out there?”7. Listen, don’t talkTry to shut up as much as possible, and try to keep your questions short and unbiased (i.e. don’t embed the answer you want to hear into the question). Don’t rush to fill the “space” when the customer pauses, because they might be thinking or have more to say.Make sure you are learning, not selling! (at least not until that part of the conversation, if relevant)8. Encourage but don’t influenceIf you stay *too* quiet, some folks might start getting uncomfortable, thinking that they are boring you or you are judging them. You can keep things rolling with little motions of encouragement, such as nods, “I see”, “interesting”, etc. But do not say things that might steer or influence the interviewee.9. Follow your nose and drill downAnytime something tweaks your antenna, drill down with follow up questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarifications and the “why” behind the “what”. You can even try drilling into multiple layers of “why” (see “Five Whys”), as long as the interviewee doesn’t start getting annoyed.10. Parrot back or misrepresent to confirmFor important topics, try repeating back what the person said. You can occasionally get one of two interesting results through this. In the first, they correct you because you’ve misinterpreted what they said. In the second, by hearing their own thoughts, they’ll actually realize that their true opinion is slightly different, and they will give you a second, more sophisticated answer.Another approach is to purposefully misrepresent what they just said when you parrot it back, and then see if they correct you. But use this technique sparingly, if at all.11. Ask for introductionsAt the end of every interview, see if you can get leads to another 1 to 3 people to talk to.12. Write up your notes as quickly as possibleThe details behind a conversation fade fast, so if you haven’t recorded the session, write up your notes and color commentary as soon as you can. I brain-dump into a shared Google Doc so the rest of the team can see it. (Note: I typically have not recorded sessions for fear of making interviewees more self-conscious or careful, but other entrepreneurs have said to me that, while it takes some rapport-building at the start, pretty soon people forget about a recorder.)Afterwards: Look for patterns and apply judgementCustomer development interviews will not give you statistically significant data, but they will give you insights based on patterns. They can be very tricky to interpret, because what people say is not always what they do.You need to use your judgement to read between the lines, to read body language, to try to understand context and agendas, and to filter out biases based on the types of people in your pool of interviewees. But it is exactly the ability to use human judgement based on human connections that make interviews so much more useful than surveys.Ultimately, you are better off moving fast and making decisions from credible patterns than dithering about in analysis paralysis.