Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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

Dec 1, 2024

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.

01:29:39

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Episode guests

Michael Margolis

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Quick takeaways

The bullseye customer concept emphasizes focusing on a specific subset of the target market to enhance product adoption.

Conducting a bullseye customer sprint allows startups to rapidly gather insights through structured interviews and prototype testing in one day.

Effective recruitment of participants based on a screener questionnaire is critical for obtaining relevant insights during the customer discovery process.

Deep dives

Understanding the Bullseye Customer

A bullseye customer refers to a specific subset of a startup's target market that is most likely to adopt the product or service initially. This concept emphasizes the importance of narrowing the focus rather than attempting to appeal to everyone, as seen in the successes of Amazon and Facebook when they started with very defined customer bases. Identifying this group helps startups understand their users' needs, align their teams, and prioritize feedback effectively. By concentrating on the bullseye customer, companies can streamline their development processes and improve their chances of building a product that resonates strongly with its intended audience.

Intro

2min

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

4min

Understanding the Bullseye Customer

5min

Unlocking Startup Success: The Importance of Identifying Your Bullseye Customer

2min

Streamlined Customer Discovery

7min

Identifying the Bullseye Customer

23min

Targeting the Bullseye Customer

5min

Targeting the Right Audience for User Interviews

21min

Engaging Customer Insights through Watch Parties

21min

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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