When doing customer discovery, don’t get caught in the complaint trap.
Someone expressing frustration without doing anything to address the problem isn’t positive market signal.
That’s someone whining.
For instance, the default iPhone clock app has maybe the worst-designed user interface ever launched.
I have written articles about how the timer UI is an affront to thinking people everywhere.
Every single time I use it, I am reminded how Apple creates amazing hardware (it’s so thin!) yet can’t even create a decent clock in software.
Based on this information, you might think, “that man needs a new clock app!”
No. No I do not.
Despite thinking to myself “this app is aggressively, seriously bad” every time I use it, I have not once checked to see if there are alternatives on the App Store.
The expected improvement to my life is so minimal that I’m never going to search for a solution.
But, boy do I like to whine.
In the time it took me to write this post, I could have probably downloaded and tested three or four apps and found something that doesn’t regularly cause me question why God hates his people so much… but I didn’t.
I just complained.
So when doing customer discovery, make absolutely sure you ask the vital follow up question: “how have you previously tried to solve this problem?”
If the answer is nothing, not even a Google search, that person isn’t going to be a customer.
Sure, in the moment they might tell you that they will absolutely, 100% use your solution if you build it. But that’s a lie.
It’s a trap!