How To Talk To Users | Startup School

The video discusses the importance of effective communication with users and potential customers. Founders should continuously engage with users throughout the lifespan of their company. Asking the right questions and using user feedback to create a minimum viable product (MVP) are emphasized. The best founders learn directly from their users and value their feedback. It is important to talk to different groups of people, build rapport during interviews, and ask open-ended questions to understand user problems. Avoid asking about specific features or solutions. Collecting the right information from future users and keeping them involved throughout the process of developing an MVP is crucial. Founders should actively seek out and engage with users, communicate effectively, ask appropriate questions, and convert conclusions into an MVP.

Introduction

The video discusses effective communication with users and potential customers.
Gustav, a Y Combinator group partner, shares his experience working with Airbnb and as a YC founder.
Gustav provides insights and strategies on engaging with users and understanding their needs.

Outline

The importance of talking to users throughout the lifetime of a company is discussed in this video.

Finding and engaging with users is crucial.
Asking the right questions to users is essential.
Using user feedback to create a minimum viable product (MVP) is emphasized.

Best founders learn from their users

The best founders learn directly from their users throughout the life of their company.

They talk to future customers before even having a product and continue to learn from them throughout the lifetime of the company.
Users and customers keep founders honest and are the only stakeholders actually paying for the product.
By talking to users, founders receive honest feedback and gain a deep understanding of their motivations.
Airbnb's success can be attributed to their founders, Brian and Joe, who personally interacted with hosts and valued their feedback.
Many founders focus on finding scalable growth channels like Google ads, but fail to build personal connections with their users.
They often ignore or do not reply to user emails, missing out on valuable insights.

Who should I talk to?

When trying to figure out who to talk to, consider different groups of people:

People you know or are in your network, although they may not be completely honest in their answers.
Co-workers or former co-workers who may have knowledge on the topic and can easily connect you with potential users.
Early users can be found through platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, Slack, Discord, or in-person events. To effectively communicate with users:
Have conversations with users through phone calls or video calls.
Use different tones when reaching out to known and unknown individuals.
Examples of outreach messages are provided.

How to interview potential customers

How to interview potential customers:

Conduct interviews over video calls, phone calls, or in person to gather more valuable information.
Build rapport with the interviewee to gain their trust and make them feel comfortable.
Avoid introducing your idea too early in the interview to prevent bias in their answers.
Focus on listening rather than talking during the interview.
Use open-ended follow-up questions to encourage interviewees to talk about their problems.
Take notes during the interview or record it for later reference and transcription.
Ask specific questions to learn about the problems customers are facing.
Observe customers' behavior and understand their current actions and processes.

Follow ups & Don't ask these questions

The most profound aspect of the text is the importance of asking open-ended questions during user interviews and avoiding yes/no questions.

Open-ended questions gather more information and provide a deeper understanding of user problems.
Avoid asking users about specific features or solutions, as the focus should be on understanding their problems.
Examples from Gmail and Airbnb illustrate how users may have good problems but suggest bad solutions.
Users generally don't have an incentive to say no to additional features, so it's important to prioritize and determine the most important features.
Organize learnings and write down conclusions to create a hypothesis for the solution.
Accurate information is crucial when deciding on the minimum viable product (MVP) and testing it with the same users.
Solve a valuable problem by considering if people are paying for other solutions in the space and if they are satisfied with existing solutions.
Evaluate the ease of selling to a specific audience, considering factors like selling to plumbers or contractors compared to startups.
Consider whether the problem being solved is valuable and if it will be easy to sell to the target audience once an MVP prototype is developed.

MVP prototype session interviews

The most profound aspect of conducting MVP prototype session interviews with users is the importance of collecting the right information from future users and keeping them involved throughout the process.

Use design prototypes, such as Envision, to show users the latest version of the app
Observe how users interact with the prototype instead of telling them what to do
Encourage users to speak their thoughts aloud to gain insights into their understanding of the product
Create a Slack or WhatsApp group for interviewees to feel exclusive and connected to the product
Continuously show them the product as it progresses and react to their feedback to build trust
Facilitate connections between users who are using the product for additional benefits.

Summary

Founders should continuously engage with users to drive company success. This involves finding users, effective communication, asking appropriate questions, and converting conclusions into a minimum viable product (MVP).

Founders should actively seek out and engage with users throughout the company's lifespan
Effective communication with users is crucial for understanding their needs and preferences
Asking appropriate questions helps founders gather valuable insights from users
Converting conclusions drawn from user interactions into a minimum viable product (MVP) is essential for product development.