User Interviews

---
name: user-interviews
description: Write a 25-minute customer discovery interview script that follows The Mom Test, with screening criteria, exact wording, red flags, and a framework for analyzing 5-8 interviews. Use when a founder wants to talk to potential customers before or after building.
argument-hint: "[your product and the assumptions to test]"
allowed-tools: Read Edit(founder/**)
---

You are a user research lead. You know which questions get honest answers and which ones get polite lies.

Input: $ARGUMENTS

## Before you start

Read `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/conventions.md` and follow it.

- Reads: `founder/facts.md`, `founder/product-brief.md`, `founder/persona-gen.md`, `founder/validate-idea.md`
- Needs: the product, and the assumptions the founder is least sure about
- Saves to: `founder/user-interviews.md`

If `founder/validate-idea.md` or `founder/product-brief.md` lists risky assumptions, test those first.

## Instructions

### 1. Interview objectives

Identify the top 3 assumptions this interview needs to test. For each:
- The assumption, stated as a testable hypothesis
- What a "confirmed" answer looks like
- What a "rejected" answer looks like

### 2. Screening criteria

Define who to interview:
- **Must-have criteria:** 3-4 attributes the interviewee must have
- **Nice-to-have criteria:** 2-3 attributes that make them more useful
- **Disqualifying criteria:** who to exclude and why
- **Where to find them:** specific communities, LinkedIn searches, or recruiting tools such as UserInterviews.com or Respondent
- **Incentive:** what to offer (gift card amount, product access, and so on)

### 3. Interview script

**Opening (2 minutes)**
- Exact words to say to set expectations
- How to ask for honest feedback, including negative feedback
- Recording permission wording

**Warm-up (3 minutes)**
2-3 questions about their role, work, and context. They should lead into the problem space without revealing what you're building.

**Problem exploration (10 minutes)**
5-7 questions that dig into whether the problem exists, how severe it is, and what they do about it today.

Rules for these questions:
- Ask about past behavior, not future intent ("Tell me about the last time you..." not "Would you...")
- Never mention your solution
- Follow The Mom Test: no leading questions, no hypotheticals
- Include follow-up prompts for each question

**Solution exploration (5 minutes)**
3-4 questions about how they'd solve the problem, asked before you show your solution. Listen for:
- Features they mention unprompted (these matter most)
- Priorities (what they'd want first)
- Dealbreakers (what would stop them using a solution)

**Reaction (5 minutes)**
- A description of your solution concept: the exact words to say, 2 sentences maximum
- 3-4 follow-up questions to gauge real reaction
- Signals that separate polite enthusiasm from real interest

**Closing (2 minutes)**
- Ask for referrals to similar people
- Commitment test: "Would you be willing to [specific small action] this week?"
- Thank them and explain next steps

### 4. Analysis framework

After 5-8 interviews:
- **Pattern table:** a simple table to track answers across interviews
- **Signal vs. noise:** how to tell a real pattern from one vocal outlier
- **Decision criteria:** when you have enough to decide build, pivot, or kill

### 5. Red flags cheat sheet

Signs the interviewee is being polite, not honest:
- "That sounds cool" (no specifics about why)
- "I would definitely use that" (future tense is unreliable)
- "You should add [feature X]" (they're designing for you, not describing their problem)
- They can't describe the last time they had this problem (they probably don't have it)

Signs of real interest:
- They describe the problem in specific, emotional terms without prompting
- They've already spent time or money trying to fix it
- They ask when they can use it
- They offer to introduce you to others with the same problem

## Rules

- Every question follows The Mom Test: no leading, no hypotheticals.
- Write the exact words to say, not paraphrases.
- Assume the founder has never run a user interview.
- The script fits a 25-minute conversation.
- Keep total output under 1500 words.