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“Thanks for taking the time. I’m trying to better understand how people like) you handle [domain/problem area].”“Can you tell me a bit about your life / role day-to-day?”Get to understand their role well enough to be able to represent them internally in your startup as the proxy voice of the customer.
“What are some of the biggest challenges you face with [relevant area]?”“Walk me through the last time that happened.”“What did you do? How did you try to solve it?”“What was frustrating or hard about that?”
“What happens if you don’t solve this?”“How significant are the consequences for you / the business?”“Have you ever built a workaround?”“Is this something you must deal with — or could you ignore it?”“When it came up last, how quickly did you need to act on it?”“What have you tried so far?”“What’s still frustrating or missing?”
“If something made this way easier, how valuable would that be to you?”“Would you be open to seeing something later if we build a prototype?”“You’ve clearly thought about this a lot. As we digging deeper, would you be open to further conversation to validate how we plan on overcoming your challenges?”“Anyone else you think I should talk to, that might help me understand this further?”
Stay neutral. Ask open questions. Avoid selling or leading questions.Focus on understanding their actual situation and business, not hypotheticals.Record (with permission) or take good notes.Don’t worry about asking every question — flow with the conversation and leave the interviewee feeling excited to continue the dialog and learn more how you can help them.
Startup Secrets Sandbox
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Customer Discovery & Interview Script
It’s as easy as ABC to discover customers...
Customer Discovery Interviews aren’t just a vital step in the process — they’re your first real opportunity to literally discover who your customers are and what they truly need. While it can feel uncomfortable for first-time founders to engage directly, these conversations are where breakthrough insights often emerge. When you come prepared and ask thoughtful, open-ended questions, you not only surface hidden pain points — you often help customers see their challenges more clearly too.
This isn’t just research — it’s the beginning of relationships. Done right, customer discovery opens the door to design partnerships with people who are already invested in solving the problem. And over time, those early believers can become your most valuable asset: your first paying customers.
Purpose: Understand the customer’s needs, their problems and how they currently deal with them.
This is a vital part of the work behind developing your
A. Preparation
If you want to enter into this process with credibility, do your research on your customer so you understand as much as you possibly can from the outside, looking in. Then come to the interview in a mode to confirm the basics quickly to proceed to the meat of the interview - understanding their wants, needs and problems.
You can also use the to help you prepare and develp your own Interview Script. Below is a generic sample.
B. Interview Script
🔹 1. Warm-Up (2–3 min)
Start casual. Build rapport. Ideally even a personal relationship through any connection you may have or be able to establish. See if you can confirm what you’ve learned from your research, showing you’ve taken time to understand them and their life / business already. Then proceed to the interview:
Tone: CURIOUS, conversational, and empathetic.
Avoid pitching your idea! Focus on ACTIVE LISTENING and learning.
🔹 2. Explore the Problem Space (5–10 min)
🔍 Follow-up with:
“Why was that a problem?” “Can you give me an example?” “How did that affect your work/life?”
🔹 3. Validate with the a framework like the s (5–7 min)
Unworkable
Unavoidable
Urgent
Underserved
🔹 4. Wrap-Up (2–3 min)
A this stage, you want to build trust, not trigger defenses by starting to pitch in any way. So while you could ask questions like
or
Don’t be tempted into that line of questioning too early. The goal is to leave the door open genuinely, while also leaving them intrigued.
Remember you first want to have such a clear definition of their problem that building a value proposition and solution for it is obvious.
If you’ve really built trust you could also go to things like:
Active Listening
Active listening can help you get both what you need and build real trust in the process. My definition is simply:
Active Listening is the powerful art of truly hearing and embracing another’s words with full presence and empathy, creating genuine connection, mutual understanding and trust.
Try this simple grid when doing your customer interviews to check you’re actively listening:
What they said
What you heard and took away from them
Did they validate it when you repeated it back to them?
Write copious notes.
Or if apppropriate get permission to record the interview. (Just be careful that can stultify some interviewees)
Active listening, repeated curious questioning should yield key takeaways
This is key to both validating them, leaving them feeling seen and heard and building mutual TRUST 🤝
There are no rows in this table
C. Follow-up
To begin building an enduring relationship, follow up with a thank you note and share as much as you can from what you took away in the interview. Show your active listening skills by making it accurate, clear and concise and offer, don’t oblige, them to correct anything you misheard.
It’s common sense but in my experience, following up is as important as showing up.
Conclusion
Some first-time founders hesitate to get in front of customers. But by following the A, B, C steps above, you’ll be prepared to ask insightful questions that often help customers better understand their own needs. With thoughtful follow-up, you won’t just identify prospects — you’ll begin to warm them into potential design partners. And if you continue to build real relationships (the one thing AI can’t replace), those early partners can become your first paying customers.
Startup Secret: The first answer is rarely the only one or the real one. Inspired by Toyota’s “5 Whys,” if you stay curious and keep probing from different angles, you’ll often uncover the root cause — and even surprise your customer with what you both discover.
✨ Tips:
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