Eric Migicovsky - How to Talk to Users

[@chapterme]

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00:00 Eric Introduction 00:00:27 Best founders - direct connection to users 00:02:03 Core of YC teaching - 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. Tips: Idea stage 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 00:28:24 3.2 Tips: Launched stage

[@Powaup]

The 5 questions to ask a user: 1. What's the hardest thing about [doing this thing]? 2. Tell me about the last time you encountered that problem... 3. Why was that hard? 4. What, if anything, have you done to try to solve the problem? 5. What don't you love about the solutions you've tried

[@kyleschutter]

Hey @powaup and @ycombinator, what do you do to prep the potential customer before the customer interview? Do you say "Hey, to give you a heads up I'm going to be asking about the hardest things about x, in case you want reflect before the meeting" ?

[@AdeelKhan1]

@@kyleschutter I think the goal is to gain intuitive insights. Getting to customer to think hard about a problem set may prove to be counter-intuitive.

[@WilliansAlbuquerque1]

+ 3 Questions to Have Numerical Answers: 1. How much does this problem cost them? 2. How frequent is the problem? 3. How large is their budget?

[@amitpatel321]

Thanks!

[@xulingwu1617]

Thank you.. very helpful.

[@tradfluteman]

This is probably the most important YC video of all... it's not easy, but if you doggedly follow Eric's advice you will succeed somewhere. It is what startups have at their disposal that comes closest to a scientific method for product development.

[@rupamkundu3574]

This is probably one of the best videos on KZbin. Thank you YC for making such an insightful video. The learnings from this video provide a scientific approach to product development and startup building and if followed diligently has a high probability of making any startup successful.

[@jasoncheung8407]

Great talk. After a couple user interviews in which I've asked the 5 questions mentioned in this talk, I've found that before doing so in a user interview, it's critical to first understand if the problem you've decided to solve is even a problem at all for the kinds of users you're targeting. Asking questions like "how painful is problem X" or "have you ever experienced the pain of problem X" are useful starting points. If your user gives an answer that makes you think that he/she does not view the problem as painful, you may have either chosen a problem that isn't really a problem in the grand of scheme of things or the wrong kinds of users to go after.

[@Neonb88]

We could even invite them to quantify the pain on a scale of 1-10

[@javiasilis]

I live by that book (The Mom Test), I can strongly recommend it as well. I found it so revealing, that I remember I managed to get a free copy from a website, I read a chapter, I went to amazon and bought the book. Don't just go through it, analyze it, slice it, and study it.

[@fytubevw]

Retro set of 5 questions about Coca-Cola (soda) to a hypothetical would-be-Coke-drinker: 1. What's the hardest thing about doing the perfect soft drink? 2. When is the last time you craved for a really good soft drink? 3. Why was it so hard to find a really good soft drink? 4. What have you done to try to find the perfect soft drink? 5. What you don't like about the existing solutions (pun) on the market that you've tried?

[@daffodilvr9616]

İ am Vugar. CEO of 4You. Came here from CAREC University startup program. Thats really informative and useful. Thanks

[@relika-zopenyourmindtheess7246]

Developing a strategy for user research is an essential component for success. Thank you for giving us a clear path to start the process!

[@GrowWithWill]

The question on “Tell me...” is huge. I love this stem for so many reasons. It’s open ended enough you’ll get many nuggets from your users.

[@peopleinfashion6908]

Hey I would like to know which field are you from?

[@Darlene-dono]

I just applied this advice here the next day after watching this and am getting amazing feedback from the users I spoke to. Awesome!

[@ankitarora2476]

Lecture How to talk to users. Eric migicovsky -good founders maintain a direct connection to their users throughout the life span of the company. -no middle man. -it’s founders primary job including ceo & developers. -do not hire anyone for this job. - you need only 2 things to make a good product. 1- write code. 2- talk to users. Objective - we talk to users to gain data information on improving the product,marketing ,positioning. 3 mistakes founders make while talking to users are 1- talking about their life and not ur idea. 2-talk specifics,not hypotheticals.(NO could be,should be,would be) 3-talking ,not listening (95%of user interviews should be listening). 5 questions you can ask in every user interview. 1-what’s the hardest part about (doing this thing) perspectives-what is the hardest part. Try to find loophole in ur product. Good startup solve the problems that people encounter on daily basis. 2-tell me about the last time you encounter that problem -who are they working that time. -give them the context they start solving their problem. -it will give you business extension,marketing extension. 3-why was that hARd -you will get different perspective from different users that will give you a different perspective about your own product. Synchronise them according to priority. 1,2,3 like this Help us in identifying the exact problem. You will understand the value users want. Benefit they want from the solution.if you can give them solid “why “they will buy the product 4-what,if anything have you done to try to solve the problems. -try to get into the root cause of the problem. -what the other alternative they are using 5-what don’t you love about the solutions you’ve tried. This is the beginning of new feature set. -how ur solution is better. This become the differential set of your product. -talking to users is useful At all stages. 1-got idea-find users with problem. 2- built prototype-best few initial customers. 3-launched -find product market fit. In person meeting with users also do wonders. Always make detailed notes(record it),keep it causal & we have to be very careful with our time. It will dramatically improve the process flow. -testing your prototype stage 1-figuring out your best customers in initial stage. we have to find numerical answers to 1-how much does the problem cost them, 2-how frequent is the problem. 3- what is your budget Launched stage iteration towards PMF -if 40% of ur users base are using ur product on daily basis..it is a sign of achieving pmf. Beyond this point,product grows exponentially sign of sticky product.

[@rupkumarsarkar94]

Believe me this is one of the best talk .

[@mtrisi]

fax

[@angcil88]

I'm building a new start-up venture atm and i'm in this phase of user interview, very useful! thanks!

[@hasnainabbasdilawar8832]

This is true gem!

[@Knowledge_Nuggies]

"Again, you're conducting a user interview, not to pitch your product but to learn about problems or issues that the user has faced in their past so that you can improve it in the future."

[@n0c0de]

Thank you Eric. Those tips were very useful and going to work on the tactical points

[@Neonb88]

@EricMigikovsky you're such an inspiration. I am actually especially inspired by the fact that you did this whole talk stuttering a bit. I'm sure you were nervous, but very very cool to see that you overcame it and gave us so much real content to incorporate into our startup processes. It also must have been difficult to pick which content to include in the talk; I also struggle with the balance between 1. brevity and 2. actually giving the audience specific, actionable tasks. Lastly, both your style and the "contentfulness" of your talk remind me strongly of Peter Thiel. In my book, this is extremely high praise, as I believe he is a true pioneer and visionary like yourself. I hope you A) read this message and B) find future success and (ideally) fulfillment in the way(s) you desire Last, I hope you C) make some time for yourself outside of your career at YC. Obviously startup life can be exhilarating, but it can also be exhausting. I'll stop here, as I'm telling you things you doubtless already know. I should have made this message shorter for the benefits of readers, but at least some of this positivity will be out in the world now, and I believe someone who reads this comment will do the world a lot of good and also succeed financially. Great content, and thanks to everyone at YC for making this possible I'm also partially commenting so the YT algorithm will show me this video in the future. Hopefully enough other YC videos will be recommended to me as a result as well

[@AcharyaChanakya108]

tl:dr anyone?

[@Lululemon2023]

My parents are the first ones to say no to everything I propose so I don't have a mom test problem

[@Neonb88]

Keep at it, man. I've taken plenty of my parents' "negative" feedback and turned it into success.

[@andreasv9472]

yeah, well they might also not be the correct userbase. Same with my gf, she'ld say no to anything, but that was when I asked her about my product, not when I tried to understand her needs. And it is not she who has the problem I want to solve, so it's the wrong data to capture.

[@WillyMakend]

This is genius, Explained in very simple words! Thank

[@martinstine]

Thanks very much Eric. Great one YC

[@SNaushadS]

Value here is not just about how to talk to users, The best part is the framework to decide who are the best first customers. $ Cost of Problem - Frequency - Budget.

[@dominovote8057]

This is a wonderful talk!

[@dazzlingdimples4964]

Great presentation! Very informative. High quality and applicable content. I actually took notes! My first time taking notes from watching a KZbin video. When i become successful, i will reference this video as one of the startup resources i utilized in my journey to success.

[@khouse1554]

great insight Eric

[@antitroll9285]

Well structured speech with great key points. Thx 👏

[@DrewLytle]

I miss pebble - great talk!

[@DAHUAai]

Very very informative and important for my startup! Thanks for sharing!

[@anitayustisia7113]

Great insight, Eric!

[@englishandtech]

So much value in this video, thank you.

[@andres.carabajal]

Super clear! Great info to make our google form!

[@rickyshepherdii8146]

I would’ve like to hear people ask Eric a couple questions. Really enjoyed his presentation

[@andrewmakasini4054]

Most informative video of YC2019 Summer. Thanks!

[@camerontousi]

Another outstanding Eric M* video.

[@margaretcezar1109]

Thank you so much Eric

[@ac1480p]

17:05 you ask questions because you're helping them out. believe in your product find the ones it helps now

[@Vmglf]

All of these suggestions stem from applied research toolkits. These are good tips, and they're good enough for founders with limited resources, but it's a mistake to discount high-quality, strategic research that social science/research professionals can (and often do) provide maturing companies in growth mode.

[@AcharyaChanakya108]

What a great insight, Vanessa!

[@abner_horn]

I think Eric is referring to founders trying to find product market fit when he says that research shouldn't be outsourced. It's a moment in the company's life cycle when there is simply no money to invest on professional research. Also, he means that the founders should be always very involved in research and not outsource this knowledge in the sense of being disconnected to it, not that you shouldn't get professional help on the matter.

[@Vmglf]

@@abner_horn Yep, I know. That's why I specified that it's important to consider when products mature and or enter the growth phase. We both agree that Founders should be close to research at every phase, regardless of whether or not they can afford to partner with an research expert further down the road.

[@abner_horn]

@@Vmglf perfect

[@RafCenterMyself]

That was absolutely amazing! Thank you! It will help us a lot!

[@victorjo007]

Very interesting and informative. Thank you YC.

[@filippeo]

That what incredibly insightful, thanks

[@haikohuvenaars]

Eric rockin' those shorts

[@okhaeadeleye5313]

Thanks fr the video. It's been very helpful

[@VeVeVerse]

What do you state at the very beginning of the user interview?

[@kapilgadhire]

Amazing session Eric. Just this week we started building out questionnaire and I landed up on this video. Thanks this was very helpful. To add to your point of finding the first customers, what we tried doing was to ask the internal team to start using the product that we built. And it helped us in validating the product, making it mature feature wise, and ready to enter the market.

[@Yunkixa1]

I learned something new today 🤗 very detailed and explained well.

[@mikewhit]

The problem thesis statement at 1:15 is that if you say something that conflicts with the promise of your marketing in an obvious way, you in your ability to bind the company have committed (probably) a breach of contract.. you don't see it, but your customer support person is your plausible deniability card.. if they screw up the company cannot be sued because they cannot bind the company, legally.. Talk to your customers but lean on your team beyond just you understanding how your org can help them..

[@olumideadeniyi641]

Wow! I gained a tonne from this.

[@aaronwang1107]

I love my Pebble watch in 2016!

[@borisrezaire]

Incredible content ! Than you so much

[@ryann7741]

this was quite helpful..i appreciate it.

[@JohnComley]

#PROLEVEL . . . a really good talk with great information! Thank you.

[@RoyerAdames]

Great talks. Thank you.

[@copaxchannel]

did anyone get a spreadsheet of the stack rank?

[@vlad_lanevskyi]

This is a great session that inspired me to create 2 videos on the topic about talking to customers! Thanks YC for such great videos If you want to know more, have a look at following videos: How to talk to customers - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gn-qp4anpct0mNE How to find potential customers - kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6ClfKSIZrVngZI

[@scottbaker5874]

Hey @ycombinator do you have any resources about identifying a user problem to start with? This video is an exceptional resource for understanding your user problem once you've already defined it. Thanks!

[@aleramirez6906]

Real life can be a good starting point

[@JosephProsnitz1]

This one is actionable and interesting

[@soches7426]

Really helpful mentoring

[@LaNeona]

AMAZING IDEAS.

[@yosselinsifontes5839]

Great video

[@acavals8080]

"I started a company called Pebble", like if it was any other company :-D

[@galleon8129]

I love this

[@kaiquerocha8124]

Congratulations it's a really good video.

[@brittnayjohnson5982]

#BUS25F42 This question makes so much sense.

His pebble watch looks great! ;)

[@ShubyDuan]

How does this change now that we're in the middle of a pandemic? We can't just go to the user and show them something or have a coffee.

[@gutrilop1]

gracias fue simple y concreto

[@benshafii]

What problem did pebble solve?

[@ac1480p]

3:11 conducting user interviews

[@lepchenkov]

Thanks for the video! Really useful info. The only question I have is about an achieving "40% very disappointed PMF". Is it 40% of all users who've tried your service or 40% of your active users?

[@andreasv9472]

Actually a good point. Needs to be by people who have the problem, but how do you define that?

[@mikaeelndad]

I think 40% of who have participated in the survey.

[@DaudZaidi]

1. Don't pitch/talk the idea and talk about problems 2. Don't talk about features and talk about specifics that have already occured in users life. 3. Talk less yourself.

[@senamuku]

25:00 - PMF and superhuman pmf calculator software and blog written by CEO

[@ittaisvidler1787]

I have a question, if anyone can try to provide answer. Why are the three questions for the prototype stage specifically designated for the prototype stage? Intuitively, it seems that these are appropriate questions when in the idea stage, too.

[@ahmedjamal4127]

I am guessing it's because you want to know how well you have translated your idea into the prototype and of the prototype is actually wanted by the customer (good or bad). It's easy to say you like an idea but harder to say you like a prototype which you can see and test as a user.

[@mateuspaes3314]

Very nice!

[@masa26762]

I really like this lecture. Yet, I still cant wrap my head around what Eric had asked about Pebble watches. Did you have a problem tracking your heart rate with your smartphone?

[@sidajith]

Brilliant!

[@stephanielockett7541]

good info

[@sbahari6155]

#BUS25F22 This is really fun.

[@JosephProsnitz1]

What does being a partner mean in terms of YC?

[@rantg]

what watch he wear ?

[@volkanbicer5517]

Thinking the same thing. :)

[@FaisallOP]

@@volkanbicer5517 his own smartwatch brand's watch 👀

[@thoughtslibrary]

Very useful

[@shreyasdeshpande6653]

The real problem is how to ask people. I have questions which I need to ask. I have interview ready. How can I find people. I am student, I don't have work experience, nor colleagues who I can ask. How to find people ?? Please help me 🙏

[@RichardPringle9]

Hey Eric, is that an iron ring?

[@beetlejuss]

This is exactly what we UX designers do. (or should be doing)

[@ac1480p]

19:40 best first customer

[@TazBo-wd2ig]

What I don’t understand is why Nike and adidas both have completely different looking websites and apps but use almost identical users. They spend the same on user research, also shouldn’t smaller companies just copy the booking experience of larger websites as they have spent the money on user research.

[@ziz9639]

Branding

[@divyebhutani]

Please remake the video with Pebble business-case.

[@DanielKoss]

22.47

[@ReadMyECG]

What did he mean by "stack rank" the user survey for the best responses? @25:00

[@AcharyaChanakya108]

Copied from elsewhere. Hey Adeel, he's just talking about those potential customers. In his example those are McDonalds, French Laundry, and Google. McDonalds is on top of the stack because has a better score (combination of ROI, Frequency, and Budget). He encourages you to keep adding potentials customers to the stack/table/sheet so that you can evaluate them on those three characteristics.

[@mosesodhis365]

Is this more of Customer Discovery.

[@muru7514]

"90% of success is just showing up"

[@marcelriedeman9286]

The link to the slides is not working anymore

[@seymorebizz7950]

FUCKING AWESOME!

[@RoyerAdames]

I wish youtube will hide the controls while I have the video pause so I can take my notes in peace =/

[@automotivecraftsmen4234]

Tap the screen after you pause

[@elieannestay9442]

Hey, just so you know the link of the slides is dead... Sadly

[@farplanet]

Thank you!

[@AdeelKhan1]

25:04 What is this stack rank process? Sorry, what did I miss.

[@jonathanmv]

Hey Adeel, he's just talking about those potential customers. In his example those are McDonalds, French Laundry, and Google. McDonalds is on top of the stack because has a better score (combination of ROI, Frequency, and Budget). He encourages you to keep adding potentials customers to the stack/table/sheet so that you can evaluate them on those three characteristics

[@lilshake139]

Im still mad at pebble for closing down

[@권상호-i6o]

3:15 mom test

[@danielleperryman4815]

#MGMT1328885 gave me a much better understanding

[@animeshtanwar]

Isn't it sound like teach startup founders more about UX research? If they know and follow more about the UX research methods, every startup/company will be better for the world.