Guide / Phase 0: Foundation - Is This Worth Building?
Customer Discovery
Find real people with the problem, listen to their words, and learn where they already gather and complain.
Why it matters
Find real people with the problem, listen to their words, and learn where they already gather and complain.
At this stage, the danger is usually not lack of effort. It is effort pointed at a vague customer. A founder can spend weeks writing posts, polishing pages, and sending emails, and still learn almost nothing if the market definition is soft. The job here is to make the next move smaller and sharper.
Use this chapter to turn the foundation - is this worth building? stage into a decision: who to talk to, what to test, what to publish, what to measure, or what to stop doing.
How to apply it
Write the assumption in plain language first. Then look for customer behavior that either supports it or embarrasses it. The embarrassing evidence is often the useful evidence. It tells you where your story, channel, pricing, or product is still pretending.
Do not try to make this chapter perfect. Try to make it operational. One customer conversation, one landing page edit, one new search page, or one better demo is enough if it makes the next signal clearer.
Template
Customer: [specific person or company] Current workflow: [what they do today] Pain: [what costs time, money, status, or sleep] Trigger: [what makes them look for a solution now] Proof needed: [what they must believe before buying] Next step: [conversation, demo, waitlist, pilot, or purchase]