As early as the subject line in your email to recruit people to speak with, frame things neutrally and don't show. Hold off on talking about your product is the simpler way of putting it. This also gets at preventing acquiescence bias by letting them know from the beginning that they're the expert you want to hear from. And there's a very simple tactical point here which is to ask specific examples and behavior.
Our guest today is Jeanette Mellinger, Head of UX Research at BetterUp and our User Research Expert in Residence at First Round.
In today’s conversation, Jeanette unspools her tested playbook for high-quality customer interviews, with particular advice for founders in the very early days of validating an idea, including:
- The three-step framework for a thorough user-research process
- The biggest mistakes she’s noticed after working with dozens of early-stage companies
- Specific advice for structuring an interview flow and crafting better questions that unlock essential insights
You can follow Jeanette on Twitter at @jnetmell
You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @firstround and @brettberson.