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References: Discovery Interviews & the Reality Check

  1. Customer Development - Wikipedia - Covers Steve Blank's methodology of testing startup hypotheses through direct customer conversation rather than assumption, the discipline this entire chapter teaches founders to execute well.
  2. Leading Question - Wikipedia - Explains how a question's wording can suggest its own desired answer, the exact failure mode this chapter's open-ended-versus-leading-question distinction is designed to prevent.
  3. Qualitative Research - Wikipedia - Describes research that captures opinions and motivations in people's own words rather than counts, the category of evidence a discovery interview is built to produce.
  4. The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick - Robfitz Ltd - Credited for the specific technique of anchoring interview questions in a customer's past behavior instead of future hypotheticals, the direct source of this chapter's asking-not-selling and open-ended-question discipline.
  5. The Startup Owner's Manual - Steve Blank, Bob Dorf - K&S Ranch - Credited for the Customer Development process and the "get out of the building" discipline, the origin of the discovery interview practice this chapter teaches step by step.
  6. Avoid Leading Questions to Get Better Insights from Participants - Nielsen Norman Group - Explains how leading questions bias research participants into confirming a researcher's assumptions, reinforcing this chapter's warning against interview bias.
  7. How to Talk to Users - Y Combinator Startup Library - A practitioner's guide to running productive user conversations and interpreting the feedback gathered, directly supporting this chapter's interview script and debrief practices.
  8. Getting Out of the Building: Customer Development - Kauffman Founders School - Frames customer development as testing every business hypothesis through direct outside conversation rather than in-house assumption, echoing this chapter's reality check exercise.
  9. The Surprising Power of Questions - Harvard Business Review - Draws on behavioral research to show how question framing and attentive follow-up build trust and surface real information, informing this chapter's guidance on writing and asking interview questions.
  10. 3 Methods for Identifying Customer Needs - Harvard Business School Online - Recommends one-on-one interviews with current, former, and prospective customers as a core method for uncovering unmet needs, directly paralleling this chapter's discovery interview practice.