Product
Lecture 16 - How to Run a User Interview (Emmett Shear)
youtube.com/@ycrootaccess
13 Nov 2014 · Product
46 min watch → 95 sec
User interviews work best when they focus on the right people, real behavior, and underlying problems instead of feature ideas. Examples from Twitch show how interviews with users, competitors, and non-users can shape product direction.
User interviews work best when they identify who a product is really for, because picking interviewees matters as much as asking good questions.
Early interviews should probe current behavior, pain points, goals, and context, not feature requests. Competitor users and non-users often reveal more growth opportunities than current users alone.
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Founders can skip interviews only when they are the exact target users.
That usually creates a narrow side project, not a large company.
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Kiko Calendar lacked product direction partly because its founders were not calendar users.
They also did not interview people who actually used calendars.
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Justin.tv fit a 24/7 live reality show well.
It struggled beyond that use case because the team lacked insight from broader users.
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The right interview pool can include more than users.
01
Students use the app.
02
School IT administrators choose tools.
03
Parents may pay.
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Ask, "How do you do this today?"
Concrete tools, habits, collaborators, and review steps reveal whether the problem is real.
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6 to 8
Interviews per similar user segment before new insights usually slow.
Sample different extremes, not one narrow group.
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A weak signal is a workflow with no major blocker.
If nothing hurts, the problem may not justify a new product.
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Do not validate features by asking, "Would you use this?"
Show a minimal version, like a browser extension instead of rebuilding the whole app.
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$5
Payment is a stronger validation signal than verbal enthusiasm.
Handing over money is harder to fake than saying yes.
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Analytics and on-site feedback show drop-offs in an existing flow.
They do not reliably reveal which problem a startup should solve next.
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Twitch learned more from competitor users than from existing Justin.tv users.
Competitor users reported blockers like weak revenue sharing and unstable video in Europe.
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Non-users exposed adoption barriers that blocked Twitch growth.
01
Computers were too slow.
02
Training lasted 12 hours.
03
Edited YouTube videos felt better.
04
Broadcasting practice risked revealing strategies.
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Twitch removed adoption blockers instead of copying requested features like polls or scrolling text.
It bought computers, worked with broadcasting software companies, and integrated with Xbox and PlayStation 4.
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The first people Twitch converted were often the same people it had interviewed.
Returning with solutions built trust and proved the company had listened.
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Common interview mistakes distort product decisions.
01
Showing the product too early.
02
Asking about favorite features.
03
Interviewing whoever is easiest to reach.
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Recording interviews keeps the interviewer engaged.
Recordings also give the company direct evidence for aligning product decisions over about 3 years.
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Lecture 16 - How to Run a User Interview (Emmett Shear)
youtube.com
YC Root Access
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