How To Talk To Users | Startup School

Рет қаралды 169,102

Күн бұрын

YC often says "talk to your users", but actually doing that is surprisingly tricky. YC Group Partner Gustaf Alströmer gives non-obvious advice on how to talk to both current and potential users, how to run a great user interview, and how to interpret the feedback in these conversations.
Apply to Y Combinator: yc.link/SUS-apply
Work at a startup: yc.link/SUS-jobs
Chapters (Powered by bit.ly/chapterme-yc) -
00:00 - Introduction
00:26 - Outline
00:42 - Best founders learn from their users
03:23 - Who should I talk to?
05:58 - How to interview potential customers
09:42 - Follow ups & Don't ask these questions
14:37 - MVP prototype session interviews
17:04 - Summary
#startup #entrepreneur #sales

Пікірлер: 89

@ycombinator Жыл бұрын

What's your favorite question to ask potential users?

@Varun...372 Жыл бұрын

My favorite question is⭐ what's your ambition to your work?

@ph-lr Жыл бұрын

A great final question "What other 2-3 people should I be talking to?"

@andreascaringella8048 Жыл бұрын

What is a good number of users? Should I interview 10/200/500/1000 users? Of course there isn't a fixed answer but a scale would help.

@EmpathyForMen Жыл бұрын

I like to check if the problem my company is trying to solve is the problem they are having. "Do you have a lot of unedited content?" Then once I've edited their content. "Do you feel anyone else would benefit from this service? Could you connect me with them?"

@anasfirdousi Жыл бұрын

Out of X problems you have described during our conversation, what’s the number 1 problem you wish someone could solve for you.

@dhawaljain7860 Жыл бұрын

'The Mom Test' is by far the best book in case someone wants to dive deeper on this topic.

@alexanderprice2116 Жыл бұрын

The mom test is so awesome to show me how I've been doing customer interviews wrong. But it's not very good (to me) how do actually do them right. If you have found other tools helpful, I'd love to hear!

@ifthennotagain5195 Жыл бұрын

THIS

@William_Clinton_Muguai Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! The basic premise of the book is that a (potential) founder should NOT propose their idea/product solution first to their potential user, but interrogate them about their problem(s). Proposing the solution first is an indirect way of seeking validation. The interrogated users should recommendably NOT be a family member, or a friend because those will never tell someone the absolute truth. Why? Coz they love the founder, & so don't wanna hurt their ego.

@jimmyfl0 8 ай бұрын

Thanks! Just bought it!

@brandon6490 Ай бұрын

Just bought it!

@dannysheridan4072 Жыл бұрын

Top notch content! “Don’t ask them for features; focus on their problems.”

@VishalakshiMuthuraman Жыл бұрын

This definitely changed my perspective of talking to the user !! Thank you Gustaf and team

@chapterme Жыл бұрын

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00 - Introduction 00:26 - Outline 00:42 - Best founders learn from their users 01:53 - Airbnb story 03:23 - Who should i talk to? 04:13 - Illustrate the process with a mock startup 04:37 - Plan 04:49 - Who will I speak with 05:09 - What I am looking to learn 05:58 - How to interview potential customers. 07:08 - Example customer interview 08:43 - Specific questions to ask when interviewing 09:42 - Follow ups & Don't ask these questions 11:13 - Focus on features instead of solutions. 11:41 - Examples - Gmail & Airbnb 12:41 - Next steps 13:33 - Is solving this problem valuable? 14:37 - MVP prototype session interviews 17:04 - Summary

@mirceagogoncea Жыл бұрын

Such a great talk! Thank you Gustaf and the Y Combinator team.

@kushalsheshadri4281 Жыл бұрын

A gold mine! You can avoid a lot of pain as a founder if you get this right at the early stages.

@harponHQ Жыл бұрын

Can't more agreed Gustaf, simple reminder most PMs should keep in mind. Good job!

@HIDDENADHD 10 ай бұрын

Love that you created examples. Above and beyond!! 🎉

@mfarnell Жыл бұрын

this is an excellent summary that took me many years to learn the hard way.

@InFocus_app Жыл бұрын

Great video! I watched it twice - now and 2 months ago. Now I understand how this information is essential.

@Math_kru_earng Жыл бұрын

i like the way you show the real sample when you talk to users, thanks!

@domen1154 3 ай бұрын

This is really good! Wish there was more content like this!

@luisvelarde9196 Жыл бұрын

Thank you Gustaf and team! Loved the talk!

@andy_ppp Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for this video it really clarified the thinking here.

@educationforeveryone214 11 ай бұрын

so much value video. Thanks a lot, Gustaf .

@SereneNatureMelody Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for your clarification. I have now some foundations to progress. 🥰

@ernestoramos520 Жыл бұрын

Great video bro!!. Thanks for sharing

@marvinfok65 4 ай бұрын

Probably when Airbnb started, they are passionate about their users, but not anymore. I work overseas and a regular Airbnb customer in the past, but I find Airbnb sucks in their customer service! You can't talk to anybody or even send a message to Airbnb to bring up some issues! Maybe when a company grows, the passion dies and the dollars & sense took over. If a better company were to compete with Airbnb, I would be glad to try the new company!

@MohamedThiamHacker Жыл бұрын

Very insightful! Thanks Gustaf

@carlacisno6341 Жыл бұрын

Invaluable! thank you for sharing

@martinstine Жыл бұрын

Nice one Gustaf. Great course YC

@KamskiStudio Жыл бұрын

Your video quality is the best while your sound quality is like from Zoom, I am listing on a headphones and sometimes it is very loud. Please invest in a proper shotgun mic. Thank you. Your channel is very helpful. Cheers.

@resteip103 10 ай бұрын

I've actually found out that talking to users is extremely hard, when you overcome your initial shyness, your potential clients don't respond. They flag the email as spam or don't even read it. I'll have to get creative with how I approach customers I guess, because I've tried sending emails and messages through linked in just like Gustaf suggested in the video and no one even responded.

@cometalk14 Жыл бұрын

Wow that’s so valuable. Thanks a lot!!!

@econprep2012 Жыл бұрын

Great talk. Would love more Airbnb and Gmail stories.

@IsaMutlib 3 ай бұрын

This is fantastic insight

@shonshaji4416 Жыл бұрын

This was really helpful

@customerly Жыл бұрын

Talking with customers on daily basis will give you invaluable insights on how to continuously developing new ideas and fixing the ones that are not working. This is why we created Customerly in the first place.

@jeromeibanez2891 Жыл бұрын

Nice video. What would be a follow up is: what are the signs that you should look for in user interviews that would indicate that an idea is worth pursuing (or not).

@kushalsheshadri4281 Жыл бұрын

I think he mentioned that in the video. 1. See if people are paying for other solutions for the problem you're solving. 2. Did you have the same problem and how did you try solving it for yourself? 3. Evaluate how easy it is to sell your product/ solution.

@Reehan Жыл бұрын

waiting for this video😆❤

@ronallan8680 Жыл бұрын

Really Really Great Video

@darksoul2474 Жыл бұрын

Thank you ❤️

@dipakagrawal4006 Жыл бұрын

Hey Shrehith, great video! One request, can you share the articles you had written in the past for IPOs of companies? Trying to understand with a few examples

@techievena 2 ай бұрын

Can we please have a similar video/essay on how the call will change for a D2C company?

@nguyenbang4942 Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much

@_briantravis Жыл бұрын

This is a fantastic series! I feel like it needs a standard send-off at the end, something like Thanks for watching, and ________!

@rosegold.sunset4749 6 ай бұрын

Does anyone have examples of how to run a Slack group for interviewees (while in ideation phase)? Its an amazing idea!

@choisyin Жыл бұрын

Just want to ask is that kind of situation exist or is that work? The MVP has been prove but not yet been built and invite the customers (here I referring the some business companies) work together to build it if they think the product is valuable. Many thanks.

@markcallan910 Жыл бұрын

Great content !

@emiliomimbela Жыл бұрын

Great great awesome video

@talentsherpa Жыл бұрын

This was fantastic. I’m building a Saas model software for hr and talent acquisition, and need a partner

@tochionuchukwu2394 Жыл бұрын

Hi Natassia, I share similar passion in solving problem in that space. Got some research and ideas I can share. I'm interested.

@anasfirdousi Жыл бұрын

Happy to hop on a call and provide feedback. Been working with recruiters at FAANG for last 7 years.

@talentsherpa Жыл бұрын

@@anasfirdousi that would be awesome. How do we proceed?

@talentsherpa Жыл бұрын

@@tochionuchukwu2394 hi. I’d love to learn about yours. How do we get in touch?

@talentsherpa Жыл бұрын

@@tochionuchukwu2394 Hello. How can we chat?

@fb4br-k9at 2 ай бұрын

I am a bit confused by this approach. The other YC video on this channel said how you start a startup and do not do dozens of user interviews, but build a very basic and scrappy MVP to show to your customers. Still this one mentions the opposite, interview customers and then build. Which is it then?

@alexanderprice2116 Жыл бұрын

Okay. I'm confused. The question "have you tried to solve this problem on their own". They must say yes. I get that. But does it matter if they have successfully solved it? Does it matter if they like that solution or not?

@ppp6004 Жыл бұрын

I love YC. I am looking for a co-founder.

@_briantravis Жыл бұрын

what are you interested in building?

@baurnext Жыл бұрын

so, what if the nobody actually wants to talk to you? is it a problem with idea or the founders?

@bill_lumbergh 9 ай бұрын

It’s a problem with the advice in this video. Not based in reality

@pamistaurjhod 2 ай бұрын

Dear Y Combinator community, where do you publish your product to get testing and also get traction to your website? Any tip and lead will be a great help! Mind sharing?

@chan90s Жыл бұрын

Mom's test by Rob Fitzpatrick and Hooked by Nir Eyal - Must reads

@sleepystudios9597 Жыл бұрын

If I interview them then what stopping them from realizing there problem and becoming a customer of the competitor

@SuluhanErlan Жыл бұрын

guys please fix the sound! As much as I love the videos they still make my life hard listening to valuable information

@manchu.piccuh Жыл бұрын

How many of you have read "The Mom Test"? 😆Raise hands! 🙌

@mysteriousshadow395 10 ай бұрын

Why would users bother to spend time to answer your questions anyways? "Hey, I'm interested in learning about your problems" - "No, I'm busy all day, and my time is super valuable". Like, do you give them some money or renumeration for their time talking to you?

@businessacc179 Ай бұрын

When you talk about their problems, they will be happy to talk to you. Of course you have to handle the conversation appropriately

@michaelkonviser8848 Жыл бұрын

Gold

@AlmasyAlliances Жыл бұрын

Some advice: Don't use the orange border for your thumbnails. The youtube 'already watched' progress bar is red and is easily confused with the orange border.

@punkpendulums 3 ай бұрын

07:17 mock interview

@arifbergmann007 Жыл бұрын

👍

@rishabhtyagi7369 Жыл бұрын

We have a travel app. Making planning easy, simple, and quick. Is there anyone open to do a 5min zoom?

@120dovydas 6 ай бұрын

I don’t particularly fall for people who are reading info out of a promter for the first time. Idk why ;)

@LeoMessiEnjoyer 25 күн бұрын

Wow really??!!!!😮 Why's that ?????

@adltya 2 ай бұрын

It irritates when someone reading off of a teleprompter is obvious. Love the insights nonetheless.

@isaac5815 Жыл бұрын

Lose the teleprompter! Let the partners speak freely and edit out the mistakes.

@prhasn 2 ай бұрын

I like that you are trying, but there is so much wrong with this video. First reading from the script makes it feel very fake, Second pushing the woke climate agenda, Third content for actually how to talk to users is missing (fatal mistake).