# Customer discovery

Concept · [Product](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/product)

Also called: customer interviews, user research, customer development, user interviews, validation

Talking with possible customers to learn about their problems before you build, so that you build something they need.

**For example:** Before writing any code, a [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) interviews 20 restaurant owners about how they handle staff schedules today and what frustrates them.

## Connects to (23)

- [Target customer](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/target-customer): The specific kind of person or company you are building for and selling to first.
- [Pivot](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/pivot): A deliberate change of direction after learning that your current plan is not working.
- [MVP](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/mvp): Minimum viable product.
- [Pre-accelerator](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/pre-accelerator): A program for people who have an idea but not yet a company or a product.
- [BUILD UP](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/build-up): Build in Tulsa's pre-accelerator programs for very early founders.
- [First Friday Founders Market](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/first-friday-founders-market): A recurring market run by Build in Tulsa where entrepreneurs sell their products to the public.
- [E3](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/e3-bootcamp): i2E's free bootcamp for Oklahoma founders who are testing whether an idea can become a scalable company.
- [1 Million Cups Tulsa](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/one-million-cups-tulsa): The Tulsa chapter of 1 Million Cups, a national program for entrepreneurs that the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation operates and local…
- [Kitchen 66](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/kitchen-66): A food business incubator in Tulsa, run as a program of the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation.
- [Central Library Business Center](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/tulsa-library-business-center): A free service of the Tulsa City-County Library at the downtown Central Library.
- [Gitwit](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/gitwit): A venture studio in Tulsa.
- [Mother Road Market](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/mother-road-market): A food hall on Route 66 in Tulsa's Market District, owned and run by the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation.
- [Grilling](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/grilling): Having an agent question you one decision at a time until the plan is clear, before any building starts.
- [Cold outreach](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cold-outreach): Contacting people who do not know you yet, by email, phone or message, to start a sales or partnership conversation.
- [Design partner](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/design-partner): An early customer who works closely with a startup to shape a product, giving regular feedback in exchange for early access, a discount or…
- [Video conferencing](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/video-conferencing): Meeting with people over live video and audio on a computer or phone.
- [Google Forms](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/google-forms): Google's free tool for making forms, surveys and quizzes.
- [Granola](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/granola): An AI notepad for meetings.
- [Cal.com](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cal-com): Open-source scheduling software.
- [Hotjar](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/hotjar): A tool that shows how visitors use a website, with heatmaps of where they click and recordings of sessions, plus on-page surveys.
- [Nielsen Norman Group](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/nielsen-norman-group): A user experience research and consulting firm.
- [Startup Launchpad](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/startup-ou-launchpad): The University of Oklahoma's set of venture creation and launch programs, run by Startup OU at the Tom Love Innovation Hub in Norman.
- [i2E Venture Advisory Services](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/i2e-venture-advisory): One-to-one support, structured programming and capital connections for early Oklahoma founders validating ideas and preparing for…

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/customer-discovery