Customer Discovery & Validation Flashcards
7 cards from real CPI practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Customer Discovery & Validation flashcards as text
What is 'desirability testing' in the context of human-centered innovation?
Answer: Assessing whether customers actually want the solution, independent of feasibility and viability
Desirability testing focuses on the human dimension of innovation—whether real people want and value the solution—before addressing technical and business constraints.
Which of the following best describes a 'minimum viable segment' (MVS) strategy?
Answer: Identifying the narrowest customer group where you can win decisively before expanding
An MVS strategy focuses resources on dominating a beachhead segment before crossing the chasm to adjacent markets.
During validation, a team finds that customers love the concept but hesitate when asked for payment. What should the team investigate?
Answer: The gap between perceived value, price sensitivity, and willingness to pay
Payment hesitation often signals a gap between stated enthusiasm and actual value perception, requiring deeper probing of willingness-to-pay thresholds.
What is the key distinction between 'customer validation' and 'customer creation' in Steve Blank's Customer Development model?
Answer: Customer validation proves the business model works with early customers; customer creation scales demand more broadly
Customer validation confirms that the business model is repeatable and scalable with real paying customers before customer creation scales go-to-market activities.
An innovator notices that customers frequently abandon the onboarding flow of a pilot app at step 3 of 6. What type of research is best suited to understand why?
Answer: Usability testing combined with follow-up interviews at the point of abandonment
Combining usability observation with follow-up interviews at the point of friction reveals both behavioral patterns and the underlying reasons for abandonment.
What does it mean when discovery interviews consistently surface 'passive problems'—issues customers mention but aren't actively seeking to solve?
Answer: The market may not yet be ready for a solution, requiring market education or a trigger event
Passive problems suggest customers haven't prioritized the pain enough to seek solutions, meaning the innovator may need to create urgency or wait for a market trigger.
Which approach best prevents confirmation bias from distorting customer discovery findings?
Answer: Involving multiple team members in synthesis and actively seeking disconfirming evidence
Diverse synthesis teams and explicit disconfirmation protocols counteract the natural human tendency to seek and remember information that confirms existing beliefs.