Update blog/_posts/2022-01-27-customerdevelopment.markdown via blog editor

Author: alanboy

blog/_posts/2022-01-27-customerdevelopment.markdown

@@ -9,11 +9,9 @@ description: Customer Development
 
 If you are just about to run an interview, download a cheat sheet here.
 
-# What are Customer Development Interview?
+# What are Customer Development Interviews?
 
-They are a way to understand the product and the market better.
-
-Customer development interviews are divided into two phases: **problem discovery** and **product validation**. Problem discovery is about understanding the customer's perspective and problems, after you've understood the problem, then you create a prototype (or MVP) and then proceed with the product validation.
+They are a way to understand the product and the market better. Customer development interviews are divided into two phases: **problem discovery** and **product validation**. Problem discovery is about understanding the customer's perspective and problems, after you've understood the problem, then you create a prototype (or MVP) and then proceed with the product validation.
 
 You must begin with a set of hypothesis, the process of customer development will validate or invalidate these. But the most important part of validating or invalidating the hypothesis is that it has to come from the potential customers, not you. 
 
@@ -59,7 +57,7 @@ Build a list of Tier 1 prospects and Tier 2 prospects - Tier 1 are perfect fit a
 
 ## Getting the meeting
 
-This content is comming from /r/Startups, it was a talk imparted by Joe Benjamin (https://twitter.com/JoeBenjamin_)
+This content is coming from /r/Startups, it was a talk imparted by Joe Benjamin (https://twitter.com/JoeBenjamin_)
 
 ### Cold emailing
 * Subject line 3 words or less
@@ -79,16 +77,18 @@ Cold calling works, but it can be time consuming. For certain customer segments
 
 ### LinkedIn
 
-Become an experte or known for something you help with.
+Become an expert or known for something you help with.
 Post a lot about that - 1x a day, 7 days a week.
 Build your network.
 Make your profile a landing page more than a resume - header image, tagline, featured section, CTA
 Spend 15 minutes per day and you'll see results - engage with popular people in your space
-Hardes part is consitency.
+Hardest part is consistency.
 
 ### Network
 Don't be shy. Ask for introductions. There are people who will help. Join relevant communities (Discord, Slack, Twitter) and add value. You'll eventually get business from it.
 
+# The interview phases
+
 ## Problem Discovery
 
 ## Product validation
@@ -101,50 +101,61 @@ Find out what type of persona this is, based on the different personas that we h
 
 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xpBw1GFOrD8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
-## The interview questions
+# The questions
 
 Taken from https://mfishbein.com/the-ultimate-list-of-customer-development-questions/
 
-### Customer Segmentation
+## Customer Segmentation
 
 Depending on how you obtained the interview/how much background you have on the person, you may need to make sure they are within your customer segment, and/or understand more about their demographic. I usually try to keep it to a max of three.
+
   * What do you do professionally?
-  * Who handles [process you’re improving] at your home/office?
+  * Who handles [process you're improving] at your home/office?
   * Tell me about your role at [company]?
   * How much time do you spend on [process you’re improving]?
   * [Specific questions related to your product/customer] – for example, do you have kids?
 
-### Problem Discovery
-  * Questions to validate your hypothesis about a problem, or to learn about problems.
-  * What’s the hardest part of your day?
+## Problem Discovery
+Questions to validate your hypothesis about a problem, or to learn about problems.
+
+  * What's the hardest part of your day?
   * What are some unmet needs you have?
   * What product do you wish you had that doesn’t exist yet?
   * What tasks take up the most time in your day?
   * What could be done to improve your experience with [process/role]?
-  * What’s the hardest part about being a [demographic]?
+  * What's the hardest part about being a [demographic]?
   * What are your biggest/most important professional responsibilities/goals?
   * What are your biggest/most important personal responsibilities/goals?
 
 
-### Problem Validation
+## Problem Validation
+
 If your customer did not talk about the problem you wanted to address, use the below questions to begin validating/invalidating that your customer has the problem you think they have. In addition, it’s often not enough to just solve a problem, sometimes it also needs to be one that people are highly motivated to solve. Some of the below questions can help with that too.
+
   * Do you find it hard to [process/problem]?
   * How important is [value you’re delivering] to you?
   * Tell me about the last time you [process you’re improving] – listen for complaints
   * How motivated are you to solve/improve [problem/process]?
   * If you had a solution to this problem, what would it mean to you/how would it affect you?
 
-### Product Discovery
+## Product Discovery
+
 Questions to help generate ideas or to validate your idea. The below questions are intentionally very open-ended. By asking yes or no questions specifically related to your product, customers may feel inclined to agree with you or not be critical. By asking more open ended questions, you can be more confident that they’re giving you honest input. If in response to the questions below, your customers tell you they’re looking for similar to what you have in mind, you might be on to something.
+
   * What do you think could be done to help you with [problem]?
   * What would your ideal solution to this problem look like?
   * If you could wave a magic wand and instantly have any imaginable solution to this problem, what would it look like? – I’ve found that about 80% the time the answers I get to this question are not very informative – solutions that aren’t feasible or most certainly wouldn’t be profitable. But the other 20% of the time there are some really informative responses that make the other 80% acceptable.  
-  * What’s the hardest part about [process you’re improving]?
+
+  * What's the hardest part about [process you’re improving]?
   * What are you currently doing to solve this problem/get this value?
   * What do you like and dislike about [competing product or solution]?
 
-### Product Validation
+<hr>
+
+## Product Validation
+
 Questions to validate/invalidate your idea.
+
   * What do you think of this product? – this question is intentionally vague. Listen to whether they talk about wanting to use the product or how it could be improved. Given how vague the question is, the former is positive, while the latter may be a sign that improvement is needed.
   * Would this product solve your problem?
   * How likely are you/would you be to tell your friends about this product?
@@ -153,7 +164,7 @@ Questions to validate/invalidate your idea.
   * What might prevent you from using this product? – might reveal ways that you could improve the product. Potential hurdles might be budget, time, perception’s of the product’s value, a competing product, etc.
   * Will you pay $x for this product? – see if they will put their proverbial money where their math is. Often times when you ask this question, no matter how small the price, you will start hearing key insights that you wouldn’t have heard otherwise. 
 
-### Product Optimization
+## Product Optimization
 
 Questions to help you improve your idea or product.
   * What could be done to improve this product?
@@ -164,7 +175,7 @@ Questions to help you improve your idea or product.
   * What’s the hardest part about using this product?
   * What features do you wish the product had?
 
-### Ending Interviews
+## Ending Interviews
 
 Questions to ask at the end of an interview. You may also need to ask for their contact information if you don’t already have it.
   * [Summarize some of your key takeaways] – is that accurate? – I usually do this throughout the interview.