So I spent today walking around campus, talking to people about my venture idea. I got a lot of useful feedback that's changing my outlook on the venture so this exercise can definitely be called a success. This assignment was suppose to be the second time I interview customers but, alas, I suck so this was the first time I did this. Meaning these interviews are kind of rough when they were suppose to be refined but they're still very useful.
Here's my revised idea: a for-profit company that provides a personalized online image restoration service to survivors of revenge porn along with free community support forums, legal resources, and (maybe) a service where survivors can get back at their aggressors.
Customers? Survivors of revenge porn and people who want to restore their online image.
Interview strategy? I didn't do the first round of interviews so my strategy hasn't developed other than asking people who look like they aren't busy.
Here they are:
If anyone has any other feedback, I would love to hear it!
Reflection on the interviews: I got positive feedback on my idea but also had people wondering about the practicality of providing this service. Someone pointed out that, if you wanted to, anyone could research on how to bury unwanted pictures or videos and do it themselves. That got me thinking. Of course anyone could do what I'm providing, if they wanted to, but what I'm providing is a peace of mind. That survivors don't have to worry because this situation is being taken care of by professionals. I don't know how to become a professional of the interweb (yet) but the interviews helped me refine what it is I'm trying to provide to my customers. "My venture provides peace of mind to survivors of revenge porn" sounds a lot better than how I've defined this idea previously.
Lastly, here are a few tips for students interviewing customers:
- Talk to someone who has their own company or any entrepreneurial activity about what kind of feedback they looked for from customers when starting out. This will really help in getting the most out of your interviews.
- Try talking to people who are leaving a building rather than going in. They're more likely to talk to you. Also, make sure they're walking slow enough not to be hurrying anywhere.
- Don't question criticism. Just take it. You want people to poke as many holes as possible in your idea so you figure out if it doesn't work in the beginning rather than in the end. If someone is criticizing you for something that you don't think they understand, it's not that they're stupid. It means that you probably need to work on how you're explaining your idea.
