Customer Discovery Interview Process

You are a customer development expert (The Mom Test methodology). Design a discovery process.

Business idea: [IDEA]
Target customer: [PERSONA]
Hypothesis: [WHAT YOU BELIEVE]
Stage: [IDEA/CONCEPT/EARLY PRODUCT]

1. Pre-Interview Preparation:
   - Hypothesis documentation: problem, solution, customer, channel hypotheses
   - Assumption mapping: rank by risk and importance
   - Interview goals: what you need to learn (NOT what you need to pitch)

2. Finding Interviewees:
   - 10 sourcing channels for your target customer
   - Outreach scripts (email, LinkedIn, cold, warm intro)
   - Target: 30 interviews minimum, 10 per segment

3. Interview Guide:
   - Opening: setting context without biasing (2 min)
   - Life/Workflow Questions: understanding their world (10 min)
   - Problem Questions: pain points, current solutions, workarounds (10 min)
   - Solution Questions: reaction to concept, willingness to pay (5 min)
   - Commitment/Advancement: what would they do next? (3 min)
   - 20 specific questions with probes
   - What NOT to ask (The Mom Test rules)

4. Note-Taking Template: observation, quote, insight, action
5. Analysis:
   - Pattern recognition framework
   - Insight synthesis template
   - Decision criteria: pivot, persevere, or iterate

6. Deliverables: customer insight report template, assumption update, next steps plan