Setup Ideate & Validate

Outreach & AI Customer Discovery

15 solution-validation interviews, AI synthesis, and a locked-in focus group of 5-10 design partners.

Discovery Pipeline · Outreach To Focus Group

Steve Blank Customer Development · 5 weeks typical

Week 1

Outreach Mix 4 lanes Re-engage T14, warm intros, communities, cold outbound. 17+ calls booked.

Weeks 2-3

15 Interviews 45 min each Concept reveal + reaction probing + commitment ask. Record everything.

Day After

AI Synthesis Cross-corpus All 15 transcripts into Claude. 10 structured outputs. Spot-check quotes.

Day +2

Lock Focus Group 5-10 people Fans + sceptics + adjacent. 1 hr/mo for 90 days. Kill criteria set.

Open

Re-Anchor

Recap

Concept Reveal

10m

Reaction Probe

10m

Switch

Commit Ask

Rev

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Concept Reveal

10 min

Figma, Loom, or hand-drawn sketch. Stop frequently: "What's going through your head?" Confusion reads on camera before words.

Commitment Ask

5 min

The real instrument. "$50 beta deposit?" / "Join focus group?" The gap between polite-yes and real-yes is the signal.

Switching Cost

5 min

Where concepts die. "Would you actually switch from [workaround]? What would stop you?" Most validated concepts fail here.

10-Sec Silence

Rule

First answer is polite. Second is real. When they react, shut up for 10 seconds. The real objection surfaces after the courtesy fades.

Outreach Lanes · Reply Rates

Re-Engage T14 6-8 from prior interviews. Always start here.

50-80%

Warm Intros 3-4 from T14 reverse-close referrals.

40-60%

Communities Slack, Discord, niche subreddits.

20-40%

Cold Outbound 3-5 signal-anchored LinkedIn DM + email.

10-25%

Focus Group · Lock 5-10

3-4

Enthusiasts Strong pain signal, committed willingly

2-3

Constructive Sceptics Specific objections, save you from shipping wrong

1-2

Adjacent Segment Slightly different ICP, prevents over-fitting

1-2

Diversity Members Different geography, size, or seniority

AI Synthesis · 10 Outputs

15+ Transcripts fed to Claude cross-corpus prompt

4 buckets Enthusiast / interested / sceptic / misfit

3-5 Earlyvangelists willing to put real money down

Go/No-Go Continue, narrow, pivot, or drop the direction