design for startups
the toolboxclass 4venture book
tool 2 of 12 · class 4 · design for empathy

customer research plan

One page: who you will talk to, how many, the interview guide, and by when. The empathy map rides along as the hypothesis you are testing.

instrument · evidence-based personadue before class 5 · Sep 22venture book chapter · the evidence

what you make

Customer research plan

One page: who you will talk to, how many, the interview guide, and by when. The empathy map rides along as the hypothesis you are testing.

Research without a plan turns into three friendly chats and a shrug. The plan is what makes five interviews count as evidence.

Evidence-based persona

One persona per team, built only from what interviews actually said, with a jobs-to-be-done statement on it: when [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome].

Not the AI-generated kind. AI helps you write the questions; real people provide the evidence, and the persona is where that evidence lives.

what good looks like

  • 01
    The plan names a recruiting source, not just a type of person.
  • 02
    The interview guide has eight to twelve open questions and no question that can be answered yes or no.
  • 03
    Five interviews are on the calendar with names and dates before class 5.
  • 04
    The persona quotes real people. Every line on it can be traced to a transcript.

how to do it

  1. 01
    Write the top three assumptions from your map as questions a stranger could answer.
  2. 02
    Draft the interview guide with your AI assistant, then test it on an AI-played customer and cut what does not work.
  3. 03
    Recruit five people who actually have the problem. Friends who are being nice do not count.
  4. 04
    Fill in the empathy map as your best guess before the interviews. You will correct it after.
  5. 05
    After the interviews, build the persona from quotes, not from imagination.

the template

Customer research plan

Print this page, or copy the structure into your Venture Book. Every line is meant to be filled in.

The three assumptions we are testing
Who we need to talk to (and where we will find them)
How many, and by when
The interview guide (8 to 12 open questions)
How we will record and share notes
What would change our mind
back to class 4

where it comes from

Interview guide (Design Kit) ↗Empathy map (Design Kit) ↗