1. @uxceo
Cust Dev
Bootcamp
From customer interviews
to customer traction

2. @uxceo
Validation
Board
Sign up at:
ValidationBoard.com

5. “A startup’s runway is the number
of pivots it can still make.”
-Eric Ries

6. GOAL: Decrease Cash
Spent Between Pivots

7. GOAL: Decrease Cash
Spent Between Pivots
PRODUCT =
EXPERIMENT

8. GOAL: Decrease Cash
Spent Between Pivots
PROGRESS =
PRODUCT =
VALIDATED
EXPERIMENT
LEARNING

9. @uxceo
STEP 1:
Who is the customer?
Define Your Customer Hypothesis

10. @uxceo
CUSTOMER

11. @uxceo
STEP 2:
What is her problem?
Define Your Problem Hypothesis

12. @uxceo
PROBLEM
• Must be specific to the person!
INCORRECT:
• “People are not recycling” is not a problem
someone has
CORRECT:
• “Forgets the day of the week for collection”
• “Confused how to sort plastics”
• Two similar but different problems

13. @uxceo
SOLUTION
Do not define until the problem is
validated
Why? Because every problem
has multiple solutions

14. @uxceo
STEP 3:
What do you test?
Plan your Experiment (MVP)

15. @uxceo
What must we learn?
What are the Core Assumptions of
our business?
Prioritize: Which Assumption is
the Riskiest?

16. @uxceo
What do we build to test?
1.Exploration -> reproduce problem
2.Pitch -> collect currency
3.Concierge -> deliver customer
expectation
(Methods increase in cost of testing)

17. @uxceo
How do we measure result?
Decide on the weakest outcome
you will accept as validation
Called the Minimum Success
Criterion

18. @uxceo
STEP 4?

19. @uxceo
GET OUT
OF THE
BUILDING!

20. @uxceo
STEP 5:
What did you learn?
Analyze Results

21. @uxceo
What happened?
VALIDATED
Brainstorm and test next RA
(NOTE: if you validate with the wrong
customers, it is not validated)
INVALIDATED
Pivot the hypothesis

23. 1
1

24. 1
1
2 2 2
2 X
2 2

25. 1
1
2 2 2 X
2
2 2

26. 1
1
2 2 2 X
2 3
2 2 3

27. 1
1
2 2 2 X
2 3
2 2 3

28. 1
1
X

29. 1 4
1 4
X

30. 1 4
1 4
5 5 5 X
5 X
5 5

31. 1 4
1 4
5 5 5 X X
5
5 5

32. 1 4
1 4
5 5 5 X X
5 6
5 5 6

33. 1 4
1 4
X X

34. 1 4
1 4
X X

35. 1 4
1 4
7
X X

36. CASE STUDY

37. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers

38. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
trouble
getting
reliable
feedback
Build
In-person relation
feedback w/
designer

39. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
trouble
getting
reliable
feedback
Exploration
Build
In-person relation
feedback w/
designer 6/10

40. @uxceo

41. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
trouble
getting
reliable
feedback
Build
In-person relation
feedback w/
designer

42. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble
getting
reliable
feedback
Build
In-person relation
feedback w/
designer

43. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble
getting
pay for reliable
virtual feedback
help
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

44. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble
pay for
getting
virtual
reliable
help
feedback
pitch
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer 8/10

46. @uxceo
boot
strapped
startup
founders
cannot
find or
hire UX
designers
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble pay for
getting virtual
reliable help
feedback

47. @uxceo
boot
strapped ux
startup designers
founders
cannot extra
find or income w/
hire UX quick ux
designers consulting
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble pay for
getting virtual
reliable help
feedback

48. @uxceo
boot
strapped ux
startup designers
founders
cannot extra
find or income w/
hire UX quick ux
designers consulting
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble
will pay for
accept getting
consult virtual
lower pay reliable
virtually help
feedback
online
platform
is
sufficient
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

49. @uxceo
boot
strapped ux
startup designers
founders
cannot extra
find or income w/
hire UX quick ux
designers consulting
connect
founders
w/
designers
will trouble pay for
accept consult getting virtual
lower pay virtually reliable help
feedback
online pitch
platform
is
sufficient
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/ 8/10
designer

50. @uxceo
boot
strapped ux
startup designers
founders
cannot extra
find or income w/
hire UX quick ux
designers consulting
connect
founders
w/
designers
trouble
will pay for
accept getting
consult virtual
lower pay reliable
virtually help
feedback
online
platform
is
sufficient
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

51. @uxceo
boot junior ux
strapped ux
designers
startup designers
1-3 yrs exp
founders
cannot extra not enough
find or income w/ experience
hire UX quick ux and leads
designers consulting
connect connect
founders founders
w/ w/
designers designers
trouble
will pay for
accept getting
consult virtual
lower pay reliable
virtually help
feedback
online
platform
is
sufficient
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

52. @uxceo
boot junior ux
strapped ux
designers
startup designers
1-3 yrs exp
founders
cannot extra not enough
find or income w/ experience
hire UX quick ux and leads
designers consulting
connect connect
founders founders
w/ w/
designers designers
trouble
will pay for
accept getting
consult virtual
lower pay reliable
virtually help
feedback
online
platform pitch
is
sufficient
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/ 8/10
designer

54. @uxceo
boot junior ux
strapped ux
designers
startup designers
1-3 yrs exp
founders
cannot extra not enough
find or income w/ experience
hire UX quick ux and leads
designers consulting
connect connect
founders founders
w/ w/
designers designers
trouble
will pay for
getting
consult virtual
reliable
virtually help
feedback
online accept
platform lower pay
is
sufficient
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

55. @uxceo
boot junior ux
strapped ux
designers
startup designers
1-3 yrs exp
founders
cannot extra not enough
find or income w/ experience
hire UX quick ux and leads
designers consulting
connect connect
founders founders
w/ w/
designers designers
online trouble
will pay for
platform getting
consult virtual
is reliable
virtually help
sufficient feedback
accept
lower pay
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

56. @uxceo
boot junior ux
strapped ux
designers
startup designers
1-3 yrs exp
founders
cannot extra not enough
find or income w/ experience
hire UX quick ux and leads
designers consulting
connect connect
founders founders
w/ w/
designers designers
online trouble
will pay for
platform getting
consult virtual
is reliable
virtually help
sufficient feedback
accept
concierge lower pay
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/ 60%
designer

58. @uxceo
boot junior ux
strapped ux
designers
startup designers
1-3 yrs exp
founders
cannot extra not enough
find or income w/ experience
hire UX quick ux and leads
designers consulting
connect connect
founders founders
w/ w/
designers designers
trouble
will online pay for
getting
consult platform virtual
reliable
virtually is help
feedback
sufficient
accept
lower pay
In-person Build
feedback relation
w/
designer

59. Eric, Justine, UX Designer
Founder Chef Surfing HCI Grad, Berkeley

60. @uxceo
Try it!
1. Define Your Customer & Problem
2. Jot Down Your Core Assumptions
3. Identify Your Riskiest Assumption
4. Set Your Method & Success Metric

61. @uxceo
Learn More
www.leanstartupmachine.com

62. Exploration
Method

63. Who Are
They?

64. What is Exploration?

65. “No business plan
survives
first contact with
customers.”
@uxceo

66. It is NOT
• Multiple Choice Surveys
• Focus Groups
• Your Personal (Biased!) Experience
• Conversations with Friends
@uxceo

67. What’s the point?
• Understand how users think and behave
• Make decisions based on real data
• Get out of your own head
@uxceo

68. My customer is
anyone who...
Todd!

69. Todd!

70. “Customers don't care about your solution.
They care about their problems.”
- Dave McClure

71. Customer psychology is the
gem of a successful startup

72. Effective Interviewing

73. Go in with 2 to 3 objectives
and have a real conversation.

74. Persona Development
Project Name: Team Leader Name: Experiment #:
Facts
Person Pain
Factual information State the problem you believe
about your target customer. your target customers have,
that your solution solves for.
Behavior Goals
Existing behavior they exhibit now, What goals are they trying to accomplish
because they don’t have your solution. through the behavior, that your solution will do better?

75. Find the
Pattern
Look for a Pattern

76. Avoid Leading Questions
• GOOD: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How
• BAD: Would you... Do you...
• The more you ask someone to imagine something,
the less you can trust their data
@uxceo

77. Other Questions
Bad Questions
• “Do you like [something everyone likes, ie music]?”
• “Do you have a problem with [insert too broad or too obvious problem]?”
• “Do you want more time and money?”
• “Do you wish you could have a [insert something awesome like a Porsche]?”
• Anything that has to do with your solution
Good Questions
• “Tell me about the last time you…”
• “How are you currently solving [insert problem]?”
• “How/where did you search for a solution?”
• “If you could wave a magic wand and have anything you wanted, what would
it look like?”

78. How To Find Customers
1. Interview Strangers on Street
2.Shopping Mall & StarBucks
3.Bored People
4.Craigslist
5.LinkedIn
6.Cold Calls
7.Surveys (For Lead-Gen)

79. Openers
• Find people standing around
• I’m doing some research around...
• “Can I ask you some questions for 30
seconds?”
@uxceo

81. No Selling Allowed

82. 3 Point Interview
1. Have you ever [insert problem]? (context)
2. Tell me about the time you dealt with this
problem? (story)
3. What’s your ideal solution for this? (solution)

83. Record Data

84. Persona Development
Project Name: Team Leader Name: Experiment #:
Facts
Person Pain
Factual information State the problem you believe
about your target customer. your target customers have,
that your solution solves for.
Behavior Goals
Existing behavior they exhibit now, What goals are they trying to accomplish
because they don’t have your solution. through the behavior, that your solution will do better?

85. How to Record Date
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Friday, July 27, 12

87. Get Out!

88. @uxceo
Learn More
www.leanstartupmachine.com

89. Thank You!
grace@leanstartupmachine.com
@uxceo