How to Talk to Users: A Founder's Guide
My lessons as a first-time startup founder
Let's cut to the chase. If you're building a company, you need to talk to users. Not just at the start - but throughout your company's entire lifecycle. Here's the lowdown on why it matters and how to do it right.
If you’re here from my LinkedIn post, I should warn you - this article is a much more comprehensive version of my notes.
Why Bother? 🤔
Simple. Users are the ones paying you. They're your reality check - keeping you honest and focused on actual problems, not imaginary ones.
As a founder, you've got two primary jobs: Write code, Talk to users.
Everything else? It's just noise.
To be honest, I don’t expect you to give a sh*t if you are a first time founder. Unfortunately, you won’t value the medicine till you’ve known the pain of being sick.
Finding Your Users 🕵️
Your network is gold, but don't stop there. Cast a wider net:
Tap into former co-workers
Leverage LinkedIn (yes, it's still useful)
Dive into Reddit/Discord communities
Show up at in-person events
FYI, it becomes exponentially harder to get a slice of someone else’s time as you go down the list. Try to get as much as possible out of your network before you go around hoping that strangers give you the time of day.
Pro tip: Always aim for video calls or face-to-face meetings. Text-based communication doesn't cut it - you miss out on crucial nuances.
Before You Talk 📝
Define clear learning goals
Identify the right person (hint: it's usually a decision-maker)
Craft a compelling outreach message
Set up the call
Here's the kicker - don't mention your product at all. It biases the conversation and ruins your data.
Ask the Right Questions 🎯
Good questions:
"Walk me through how you handle X today."
"What's the most frustrating part about dealing with X?"
"How often does this problem crop up?"
"Why is solving X critical for your company?"
"What solutions have you tried so far?"
If they haven't tried solving it - newsflash: it's not a real problem.
Bad questions:
"Would you use our product?"
"What features do you want?"
Anything with a yes/no answer
These yield garbage data. Don't waste your time.
The Stages of User Conversations 🌱 ➡️ 🌳
Ideation Stage: Plant the Seeds
Goal: Find users actually experiencing the problem.
Approach:
Milk your network for all it's worth
Become a regular at industry events
If needed, embrace the cold outreach grind
MVP Stage: Nurture the Sprouts
Goal: Identify your best first customers.
Method:
Rank prospects: Cost * Frequency * Budget
Go after your top-ranked prospects like your life depends on it
Launched Stage: Grow the Tree
Goal: Iterate towards that holy grail - product-market fit (PMF).
PMF Indicator: Ask users point-blank: "How would you feel if our product disappeared tomorrow?"
"Very disappointed"
"Somewhat disappointed"
"Meh, I'd live"
If more than 40% say "very disappointed" - congrats, you've hit PMF. Time to scale.
Pro Tips from the Trenches 💡
Ask for phone numbers during sign-up. Then use them.
Create exclusive WhatsApp/Slack groups for engaged users. Make them feel special.
Ruthlessly discard non-quantifiable data - even if it's a compliment. "Your UI looks nice" doesn't pay the bills and neither is it actionable.
Test intent with actions - not opinions.
For example - if you wish to test whether a feature would be valuable enough for your customers to pay, consider adding a “Pay More to Upgrade” button before you even build out the feature to gauge how many people are willing to do so. Simply add interested users to a waitlist till the feature is actually done.
The Bottom Line
User conversations are your compass that keep you laser-focused on solving real problems - not the ones you've imagined in your startup fever dreams.
Master this skill. It's the difference between building something people actually want and wasting years of your life on a product nobody cares about (believe me, I’ve wasted a year already).
Remember: Write code. Talk to users. Everything else is a distraction.
Now go forth and converse. Your users are waiting. 🚀
Relevant Sources
I’ve relied on quite a few sources to come up with this. Here’s a list of some important ones that may be worth your time:
A book called “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick
A couple of videos put out by YC