Customer Discovery Interviews That Actually Predict Revenue

Customer discovery is the single highest-leverage thing a pre-seed founder can do — and the one most often done badly. The trap is asking ‘would you use this?’ Everyone says yes to be polite. Useful interviews ask about behaviour that has already happened.

The six questions that predict revenue

• Walk me through the last time you hit this problem.
• What did you do? What did it cost you in time or money?
• What did you try before that?
• Who else gets pulled in when this happens?
• If a tool solved this tomorrow, who in your org signs the cheque?
• What would have to be true for you to switch from your current workaround?

Notice none of them mention your product. You are mining for a budget, a buyer, and an active workaround — the three signals that separate a real market from polite enthusiasm.

“Founders who run 50 well-structured interviews in 60 days raise their seed at twice the rate of those who skip discovery.”

Score every conversation

After each interview, log within 24 hours: pain score (0–10), workaround in place, willingness to pay, and whether they introduced you to someone else. The introduction is the strongest single signal — interviews that end with a warm referral convert to design partners 3× more often.