The goal of every interview is to learn. For problem interviews you want to focus on learning about the problem and prove your assumptions wrong wherever possible. I strongly recommend reading The Mom Test, it is short, practical and funny, what more can you ask from a book!
Try to only talk to people you think are early adopters, they might not be but you need to be honing in on who they might be all the time.
<aside> 💥 Reminder: early adopters have two characteristics (i) they experience the problem you are seeking to solve and (ii) they are willing to try new and untested things.
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Amazon Link Essential to figure out if you have a good idea
The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick
^ (Book Summary)
Watch this 9 minute video to get a complete overview of how and why you should do interviews
Watch this 9 minute video to get a complete overview of how and why you should do interviews
Step 1: Prepare a semi-structured script
Step 2: Find people you think might be early adopters
Step 3: Run interview (much more detail in the video above)
Step 4: Re-listen to interview and analyse
<aside> 💥 Record your interviews but make sure to ask for permission first
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Do they experience the problem you are seeking to solve?
How often?
What solutions have they tried already?
Why can't they avoid the problem?
What happens before/after the problem?
Have they asked anyone for help about this problem?
Has the problem gotten better or worse over the past year?
Do you know many other people who have this problem?
<aside> 💥 Great to ask for introductions to those people at the end of the interview
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How excited do they seem about the potential of solving the problem?
Avoid hypotheticals, you need to speak with the interviewee according to where they are not where you want them to be
Interview 1:1 when possible, people tend to loosen up faster and therefore open up more