Are you starting something new? Are you on the hunt for customers? If so, stop thinking of your customers as just buyers, and start thinking of them as potential partners and co-creators.

From the Happy Startup School’s experience, what you think people want isn't always what they actually want. And the more you talk to them the more likely you'll find out what really floats their boat and discover how your energy to create can best meet their hunger for a solution.

In this episode, Carlos speaks with Adam Forbes, founder of Familiarize. Adam left his corporate job after 20 years to start his new business, and he has principles for co-creating with your customers to share:

• Start with pain What are people finding difficult and challenging?
• Understand your customer What are they really trying to do and what outcomes are they looking for?
• Build hypotheses How do you frame what you think is happening as assumptions you can test?
• Get out of your head How do you engage and talk to people so you can learn from real world situations
• Think collaborators not customers How do you nurture relationships even when you haven't built anything yet?

Links

• Join the conversation live
• Become a member of the Happy Startup School
• Join the next Vision 20/20 cohort