Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Prospects saying 'let me know once built' signals no burning need

Ryo Chikazawa · We Talked to 70 Customers and Sold Nothing — Here's Why · Aug 4, 2021 · at 13:15

Ryo Chikazawa, founder and CEO of Autify, explains how to interpret early customer feedback during product discovery interviews.

0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.1s
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“Before that, like, hitting the burning news, they would say, like, oh, it looks It's cool. Like, let me know once you build it. So like you would get this kind of reaction many times, but like that is kind of signal that like you haven't identified any of burning needs.”

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