From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue

by Aaron Ross

You need the first five interviews just to truly understand the white space and the current opportunity. Yes, you probably think you already understand it. But you are the vendor, not the purchaser. You need to understand your prospective app from the purchaser's perspective, for real. You need the next five interviews to confirm your pattern recognition. You learn from the first five; you confirm in the next five. You need interviews 11–20 to nail your pitch and hone your thesis. Once you truly understand the white space from a buyer's perspective, and you've figured out the nuances and challenges, it's time to nail your pitch. And by doing this, you'll also hone your thesis and strategy. That's what interviews 11–20 are for: To filter out all the “nice-to-haves’“from the “must-haves” in your pitch. To dig in on what is really 10 times better, not just two times or five times better.

This is how to do discovery interviews