Customer Development Interview Guide
Create a comprehensive customer development interview guide for validating [product idea/hypothesis]. Structure the interview to: 1) Establish rapport without biasing responses, 2) Explore the problem space before discussing solutions, 3) Understand current workflows and pain points, 4) Quantify impact of problems on time/resources/outcomes, 5) Explore previous solution attempts and their shortcomings, 6) Introduce your concept non-directively to gauge authentic interest, 7) Probe on willingness to pay and adoption barriers, 8) Identify must-have vs. nice-to-have aspects, 9) Uncover potential implementation challenges, and 10) Establish next steps for continued engagement. Include specific questions for each section.
How to Use This Prompt
- Copy the prompt using the button above
- Replace placeholders in [brackets] with your specific details
- Paste into your AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.)
- Iterate as needed - ask follow-up questions to refine the output
Why This Prompt Works
This prompt follows a deliberate problem-first structure that mirrors professional customer development methodology. By establishing rapport before discussing solutions and exploring pain points before introducing your concept, it prevents leading questions and confirmation bias. The output gives you a ready-to-use interview script with specific questions for each phase, so you walk into every conversation prepared to uncover genuine insights.
When to Use This Prompt
- Before building an MVP to validate whether your target audience actually experiences the problem you want to solve
- When pivoting your product direction and you need to re-validate assumptions with a new customer segment
- During early-stage fundraising preparation when you need structured evidence of customer demand
Tips for Better Results
- Replace the placeholder with a specific, falsifiable hypothesis rather than a broad product idea (e.g., "mid-market SaaS CFOs spend 5+ hours weekly on manual revenue forecasting" instead of "finance tool")
- Ask the AI to generate both the questions and red-flag responses that indicate your hypothesis may be wrong
- Request a follow-up probe for each question so you can dig deeper when interviewees give surface-level answers