Talking to Customers
Every single startup-related school, incubator, accelerator, or whatever else is out there mentions the importance of talking to customers. It took me more than 5 years and several failed products to understand what that really means.
Talking to your users/customers is the single most important thing every startup founder should do at any point in the life of their company. It gives you unlimited cheat codes on pretty much everything you do:
- Want to understand how to pitch your product? Go talk to customers and ask what is their pain point. Then, use your customer's words to sell your product.
- Need to figure out what to build? Go ask your potential customers what they lack (not what they want; usually, they don't know that!).
Most people are usually very mediocre at the things they do for a living, and this often comes down to their ability to grind. Talking to customers is just one, but a very illustrative, example of this.
A lot of founders believe there's no need for additional conversations because they already know quite a lot, but they couldn't be further from the truth. Like with everything else, as a founder, you should just do more stuff, especially more conversations with your users and customers. This is one of those cases where quantity will eventually lead to quality.
The simple answer to "How to talk to customers?" is that you just need to go and talk to as many of them as you can. Ask them about their lives, be genuinely interested in how they operate, and learn about their problems. Don't try to sell anything; be curious and try to learn. Build relationships.
Quoting Nikita Bier:
"Every blockbuster product is an outlier, breaks the rules, and may have been the result of luck or timing. So all you can do is get to know your user better than anyone else and trust your instincts."
A few good books to get you started: