Eric Migicovsky – How to Talk to Users

YC Partner Eric Migicovsky outlines a framework for asking questions and collecting feedback from your users.

Transcript and lecture slides here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6g-how-to-talk-to-users

This lecture is part of YC’s Startup School, a free online program and global community of founders. Register and join the community at https://www.startupschool.org/

Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) –
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:27 Best founders maintain a direct connection to users
00:02:03 Write code and talk to users
00:02:43 The Mom Test book – Three common errors when conducting user interviews
00:03:22 1. Talk about their life, not your idea
00:03:58 2. Talk specifics, not hypotheticals
00:05:16 3. Listen, don’t talk
00:05:56 Five great questions that everyone can ask during their early customer interviews
00:06:05 1. What is the hardest part about [doing this thing]?
00:08:16 2. When is the last time you encountered this problem?
00:09:15 3. Why was this hard?
00:11:14 4. What, if anything, have you done to solve this problem?
00:13:06 5. What don’t you love about the solution you already tried?
00:14:16 Three critical phases to a early-stage company – Talking to users is extremely beneficial
00:14:58 1.1. Idea stage – Find first users with problem
00:18:08 1.2. Idea stage – Tips
00:19:30 2.1. Prototype stage – Identify your best first customer
00:20:01 2.2. Prototype stage – Framework to identify your best first customer
00:25:21 3.1. Launched stage – Superhuman Product-Market Fit Engine (https://app.chapterme.co/player/video/19WpIbBhxJU)
00:28:24 3.2 Launched stage – Tips
00:30:55 conclusion