Talk to Users Before You Build

Here's a bunch of different ways to chat with potential customers before building a product:

• Jason Cohen’s method of cold emailing people and offering to pay them for their time. That was in 2010 - these days, LinkedIn probably works better than Twitter.

• Search for “X consultant” on LinkedIn, connect with them (include a short note). Once they accept the connection request, send them a message similar to Jason Cohen’s.

• Put up a landing page, run ads to it, and then direct users to a Calendly. Incentivize with a gift card.

• Find communities where the potential customers hang out, and then write up a post asking for a call.

• Find influencers in the space — consultant for therapists, for example — and reach out to set up a call

• Hire someone on Upwork for a 1 hour working session. This works well when your target customer would be on Upwork e.g. video editors, graphic designers, etc.

• Hire people on userinterviews.com - haven’t tried this one yet.