Cristy Salanga, Patent Manager, and I-Corps Program Director

Northern Arizona University 

Entrepreneurs and innovators often fall into a common trap: assuming they know what their customers want. While passion and conviction are essential, they can sometimes blind us to the realities of the market. That’s where customer discovery comes in.

Whether you’re thinking about developing a new technology or launching a niche product, customer discovery can mean the difference between success and failure. Here, we’ll explore what customer discovery is, why it’s crucial, and how NSF I-Corps helps teams master this critical skill.

What is Customer Discovery?

At its heart, customer discovery is a process of validating your assumptions about the market, your customers, and their problems. It involves directly engaging with potential customers to understand their needs, pain points, and decision-making processes in the use and adoption of new products (or services).

Rather than building a product based on your own assumptions, customer discovery ensures you’re solving a real problem for a specific customer. The process is rooted in the lean startup methodology, which emphasizes iterating based on feedback rather than following a plan based on just what you think.

Why is Customer Discovery Important?

1. Avoid Wasting Resources: Building a product or service without validating your assumptions about the problem, the scope and scale of the problem you purport to solve and for whom, and market realities can be expensive and time-consuming. Customer discovery helps you refine your idea before committing significant resources.
2. Understand Customer Needs: Talking to potential customers reveals their true problems and priorities, often uncovering insights or considerations you didn’t know.
3. Refine Your Value Proposition: Customer discovery helps you craft a clear and compelling value proposition that resonates with your target customer.
4. Pivot with Confidence: If your initial assumptions are wrong, early customer feedback allows you to pivot in the right direction, saving your venture from potential failure.
   

How NSF I-Corps Teaches Customer Discovery

The NSF I-Corps program places customer discovery at the center of its programs. Participants are required to step out of their comfort zones and engage directly with their potential customers and stakeholders. 

Here’s how the regional program approaches customer discovery:

1. Training and Frameworks

• The NSF I-Corps regional course introduces participants to tools like the Business Model Canvas to help teams organize their assumptions about customers, value, and market fit.
• Teams are guided to ask the right questions during interviews to uncover actionable insights rather than leading to presupposed answers.
  

2. Customer Interviews

• Over the four weeks of the course, teams conduct 15+ customer interviews—an exercise designed to gather diverse perspectives from potential users, buyers, and other roles in the customer ecosystem.
• Interviews are structured to test hypotheses and uncover patterns, helping teams refine their understanding of the problem they’re solving.
  

3. Iterative Learning

• After every batch of interviews, teams regroup to analyze their findings, adjust their assumptions, and refine their business model.
• This iterative process ensures continuous improvement and alignment with market needs.
  

4. Mentorship and Guidance

• Each team discusses the insights they learned each week for constructive, engaging feedback to help identify ‘unknowns’ and receive guidance on navigating challenging interviews.