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Identify your bullseye customer in one day | Michael Margolis (UX Research Partner at Google Ventures)

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Dec 1, 2024

Guest

Michael Margolis

Michael Margolis, a UX research partner at Google Ventures with 15 years of experience, shares insights on identifying your bullseye customer. He outlines a collaborative sprint process that helps startups pinpoint ideal adopters in just one day. Discover common pitfalls that founders encounter when selecting customers and gain tips for conducting impactful interviews. Margolis also emphasizes the effectiveness of simple prototypes and engaging team 'watch parties' to align customer insights, making these methods applicable beyond tech startups.

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INSIGHT

Bullseye Customer Definition

A bullseye customer is a specific subset of your target market most likely to adopt your product initially.
Focusing on them helps prioritize development, feedback, and team alignment.

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ADVICE

Prioritize Bullseye Customer

Prioritize identifying your bullseye customer to avoid wasting time building the wrong product.
Focusing on the bullseye customer clarifies pain points, acquisition strategies, and overall product direction.

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ADVICE

Bullseye Customer Sprint

Identify five bullseye customers and create three simple prototypes for the customer sprint.
Conduct one-day qualitative interviews with the customers while the entire team observes and debriefs.

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Identifying Your Bullseye Customer: A Guide for Founders and Product Teams

01:42 • 4min

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Understanding the Bullseye Customer

06:05 • 5min

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Unlocking Startup Success: The Importance of Identifying Your Bullseye Customer

11:09 • 2min

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Streamlined Customer Discovery

13:25 • 7min

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Identifying the Bullseye Customer

20:26 • 23min

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Targeting the Bullseye Customer

43:19 • 5min

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Targeting the Right Audience for User Interviews

47:50 • 21min

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Engaging Customer Insights through Watch Parties

01:08:48 • 21min

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Humble Inquiry

Edgar Schein

In this book, Edgar H. Schein and Peter Schein define Humble Inquiry as 'the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.' The authors explore how Humble Inquiry differs from other kinds of inquiry, provide examples of its application in various settings, and discuss how to overcome cultural, organizational, and psychological barriers to its practice. The book emphasizes the need for open and trusting communication in today's complex, interconnected world, and offers practical advice on developing the attitude and skills necessary for Humble Inquiry[1][2][4].

Learn More Faster

How to Find Your Bullseye Customer and Their Perfect Product

Michael Margolis

Learn More Faster is a guide developed by GV’s research and design team to help early-stage startup founders, product managers, and researchers quickly identify their target audience and the perfect product. The book introduces the 'Bullseye Customer Sprint' formula, which involves interviewing five bullseye customers and testing three simple prototypes in one day. This approach helps teams define their unique value proposition, understand customer needs, and align on next steps without wasting time on extensive reports or market research.

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

Jake Knapp

Braden Kowitz

John Zeratsky

This book introduces the Design Sprint, a five-day intensive workshop method created at Google to help teams solve complex problems and test new ideas quickly. The process involves a small team working through a structured five-day schedule, from mapping the problem to prototyping and testing solutions with customers. The book provides step-by-step instructions, practical tools, and real-world examples to help teams of any size implement this effective problem-solving method.

Michael Margolis has been a UX research partner at Google Ventures (GV) for nearly 15 years. He has developed a unique approach to helping startups identify their “bullseye customer”—the specific subset of their target market who initially is most likely to adopt their product. Michael has conducted over 300 hands-on research sprints with GV portfolio companies across various industries and helped develop the “design sprint” process made famous by the book Sprint. In our conversation, we discuss:

• The step-by-step process of running a bullseye customer sprint

• The most common mistakes founders make when picking their first customers

• Practical tips for conducting effective customer interviews

• How to create simple but effective prototypes for user research

• The power of “watch parties” in aligning teams around customer insights

• How to apply these methods beyond typical tech startups

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Brought to you by:

• Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments

• Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want

• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-your-bullseye-customer-michael-margolis

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Where to find Michael Margolis:

• X: https://x.com/mmargolis

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmargolis/

• Website: https://www.learnmorefaster.com/

• Medium: https://medium.com/@mmargolis

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Michael’s background

(09:11) Bullseye customers vs. ideal customer profiles (ICPs)

(12:32) An overview of the bullseye customer sprint

(20:56) When to use the bullseye customer sprint

(22:19) Step one: Agree on goals and key questions

(23:48) Step two: Define your bullseye customer

(25:52) The importance of a narrow target audience

(29:00) An example of step two in action

(38:24) Narrowing attributes and exclusion criteria

(43:28) Step three: Recruiting and compensating participants

(56:11) Step four: Creating effective prototypes

(01:01:10) Step five: Drafting your interview guide

(01:08:49) Step six: The watch party method

(01:19:40) Common pitfalls and final thoughts

(01:24:43) Closing thoughts and where to find Michael

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Referenced:

• Learn More Faster: How to Find Your Bullseye Customer and Their Perfect Product: https://www.learnmorefaster.com

• Alcoa: https://www.alcoa.com

• Dupont: https://www.dupont.com

• Ericsson: https://www.ericsson.com

• Google Ventures: https://www.gv.com/

• Kate Aronowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katearonowitz/

• Vanessa Cho on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veecho/

• How to kickstart and scale a consumer business—Step 2: Identify your super-specific who: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/consumer-business-super-specific-who

• When enough is enough | Andy Johns (ex-FB, Twitter, Quora): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/when-enough-is-enough-andy-johns

• Zipline for health care: https://www.flyzipline.com/solutions/healthcare

• Jobs to Be Done framework: https://www.christenseninstitute.org/theory/jobs-to-be-done

• User Interviews: https://www.userinterviews.com/

• Respondent: https://www.respondent.io/

• Flatiron Health: https://flatiron.com/

• How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-identify-your-ideal-customer

• Gong: https://www.gong.io

• Linear: https://linear.app

• Gusto: https://gusto.com/

• Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling: https://bookshop.org/p/books/humble-inquiry-second-edition-the-gentle-art-of-asking-instead-of-telling-edgar-h-schein/14739375

• Figma: https://www.figma.com

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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