from?" Good question. This isn't something you would necessarily ask a consumer (though you might), but in a B2B context it’s a must-ask.

Every time you talk to someone, you should be asking at least one question which has the potential to destroy your currently imagined business.

as a pre-order when all you’ve got is a duct-tape prototype. They’re the one who will tell all their friends to chip in as well. They’re the person reading your blog and searching for workarounds.

When you hear a request, it’s your job to understand the motivations which led to it. You do that by digging around the question to find the root cause. Why do they bother doing it this way? Why do they want the feature? How are they currently coping without the feature? Dig.

Every time you talk to someone, you should be asking at least one question which has the potential to destroy your currently imagined business.

Steve recommends starting with friendly first contacts. Definitely do that if you have them. When you ask questions that pass The Mom Test, the fact that they’re friends won’t bias your data.

While using generics, people describe themselves as who they want to be, not who they actually are. You need to get specific to bring out the edge cases.

Have they tried searching for solutions and found them wanting? Or do they not even care enough to have Googled for it?

they’re almost certainly lying.