How To Talk To Users

Executive Summary:

• Talk to users throughout the company's lifetime to get valuable feedback and stay honest.
• Reach out to a diverse set of users and conduct open-ended, problem-focused interviews to understand their key challenges and workflows.
• Continuously incorporate user feedback into product development, creating exclusive channels to make users feel valued.

Meeting Notes:

Importance of Talking to Users

• Gustaf Alströmer emphasized that the best founders talk to their users throughout the lifetime of their company
  • Users and customers will keep founders honest and provide valuable feedback as they are the only stakeholders actually paying
• Example of Brian Chesky (Airbnb CEO) living in 50 different Airbnbs to talk to hosts and get direct feedback
  • Brian and Joe (Airbnb founders) still take calls from hosts on their personal numbers to this day

Finding and Talking to users

• Potential sources for finding users:
  • Personal network (easy to get responses but may be less honest)
  • Co-workers or former co-workers
  • LinkedIn, Reddit forums, Slack/Discord communities, in-person events
• For the mock carbon emissions startup, Gustaf Alströmer planned to reach out to founders, CEOs, CFOs, teams dealing with carbon emissions/climate/sustainability
• When conducting user interviews:
  • Gustaf Alströmer advised building rapport and trust
  • Asking open-ended, problem-focused questions rather than leading questions about features/solutions
  • Observing user behavior and workflows (e.g. screen sharing)
  • Avoiding introducing the idea/solution too early to avoid biasing users

Analyzing User Feedback

• Take detailed notes and organize insights
• Identify key problems, motivations, workflows
• Determine if the problem being solved is truly valuable
  • Are people paying for other solutions?
  • Do existing basic solutions suffice? (need dramatic improvement)
  • Evaluate ease of selling to the target audience

Iterating and Involving Users

• Test prototypes and MVPs with users
• Create exclusive feedback channels like Slack or WhatsApp groups
  • Make users feel they have early access
  • Connect them with others in the same role
• Continuously incorporate user feedback into product development
  • React quickly to build trust

Conducting Effective User Interviews**

• Good Questions to Ask:
  • What is your goal you were trying to solve?
  • What is the hardest part? Why is it hard?
  • How often do you have to do that?
  • Why is it important for your company?
  • What do you do to solve this today?
  • Use follow-ups: "What do you mean?", "Tell me more", "Why is that important?"
• Questions to Avoid:
  • Would you use our product? (likely yes but meaningless)
  • Which features would make it better? (biased solutions)
  • Yes/No questions
  • "How would a better X look like?" (leads to solution ideas)
  • Asking two questions at once
• Example Interview Highlights:
  • Gustaf Alströmer shared challenges understanding dense consultant carbon reports
  • Motivation was customer inquiries and upcoming regulations
  • Gustaf Alströmer focused on the problems, not potential solutions