Entrepreneur Edge

Most customer interviews fail quietly.
Not because users lie—but because founders ask the wrong questions.

Why Interviews Go Wrong

Founders often seek affirmation:

• “Would you use this?”
• “Does this sound useful?”
• “What do you think?”

These questions invite politeness, not truth.

People are generous with opinions and conservative with behavior.

What Insight-Producing Interviews Look Like

Effective interviews focus on:

• Past behavior, not future intention
• Specific incidents, not general attitudes
• Workarounds, not preferences

Good questions include:

• “Tell me about the last time this happened.”
• “What did you do immediately after?”
• “What did you try before that?”

These reveal cost, frequency, and urgency.

Listen for These Signals

Strong signals:

• Emotion (frustration, anxiety, relief)
• Money spent
• Time wasted
• Repeated hacks or manual processes

Weak signals:

• Compliments
• Feature suggestions
• Hypotheticals

Founder Discipline

Do not pitch.
Do not correct.
Do not defend.

Your job is not to persuade—it is to observe.

A founder who talks too much during interviews learns nothing new.