Your first 10 customer conversations: who to call, what to ask, what to write down

Before ads or a sales hire, talk to ten real buyers. A plain script for finding them, running a 15-minute call and turning notes into a message.

By Olufemi Palmer, Managing Partner & Founder

Before you spend money on ads, hire a seller or rebuild your website, do something cheaper and more useful: talk to ten people who fit your buyer.

Not friends. Not other founders. Not investors. Buyers: people with the right job title, at the right kind of company, who would sign the contract or push for it internally.

Ten honest conversations will teach you more than most dashboards. You'll learn the words customers use for the problem, what they do about it today, who controls the budget, and whether anyone cares enough to pay. Here's the process I recommend, from building the list to making your first offer.

Pick one buyer

Start narrow. Choose one job title at one kind of company. "Heads of finance at logistics companies with 50 to 200 employees" is a buyer. "Operations people" isn't.

Narrow feels risky, but it's what makes the conversations useful. Talk to ten different kinds of people and you'll get ten different answers and no pattern. Talk to ten versions of the same person and patterns show up fast.

You can widen later. Right now you're trying to learn, and learning needs a consistent group.

Build a list of 30

Find around 30 people who match. Search professional networks, industry associations, conference speaker lists and member directories. If you already have a few customers, ask them who else they know in the same role.

Why 30 for ten conversations? Because most people won't reply, and that's normal. You don't need a high response rate. You need enough of the right people to say yes. If 30 doesn't get you to ten, build another 30.

Ask for 15 minutes about a problem, not a demo

Your outreach should be short and should not be a pitch. You're asking for their experience, not their money. Something like:

Hi [Name], I'm working on [problem area] for [type of company]. I'm not selling anything yet. I'm trying to understand how people in your role handle [specific problem]. Would you be open to a 15-minute call this week or next?

Asking about a problem is lower-risk for them than sitting through a demo, and most people like being asked about their work. Keep your word: if you said no pitch, don't pitch.

The 15-minute shape

Keep it to 15 minutes and watch the clock.

Two minutes: context. One sentence on what you're working on and why you asked them. Thank them, then get out of the way.

Eight minutes: the last time. This is the core of the call. Ask about the last time they dealt with the problem. Not "would you ever" or "how do you usually." The last time.

- What happened? - What did you try? - What did it cost you, in time, money or stress? - How did it end?

Specific past events are far more reliable than opinions about the future. People are generous with hypotheticals. "Would you use something that did X?" gets a polite yes almost every time and tells you nothing. "Walk me through the last time this happened" gets you closer to the truth.

Three minutes: money and approval. Ask what they spend on the problem today, including people's time and workarounds. Ask who else would need to approve a purchase like this. If they've bought something similar before, ask how that decision got made.

Two minutes: who else. Ask who else you should talk to. This is how ten conversations turn into twenty, and an intro from a peer gets a warmer welcome than any cold note.

Then end on time. Ending on time is how you earn a second conversation.

What to write down

Take notes during the call or right after. If you want to record, ask first, and know that the rules on recording calls differ by place. For each conversation, capture:

- Their exact words for the problem. Not your summary. Their phrasing. This becomes your marketing copy. - What they use now. Software, spreadsheets, people, or nothing. - The budget owner. Who pays, and who else has a say. - What the problem costs them, in their own terms. - Requests you can't meet yet. Things they asked for that you don't do. Don't promise them. Just write them down. - Energy. Did they lean in, or politely wait for the call to end? Be honest with yourself.

Put all ten into one doc or sheet with the same columns for each. You'll want to compare them side by side.

What to look for

After the tenth call, read everything in one sitting. You're looking for patterns that show up in three or more conversations.

If five or more describe the same pain in similar words, you have a message. Use their words on your website, in your outreach and in your deck.

If everyone describes the problem differently, your buyer is probably too broad. Narrow it and run another round.

If people agree the problem exists but nobody spends time or money on it today, be careful. A problem nobody pays to solve may not be a business yet.

Watch for surprises. Sometimes the problem you asked about isn't the one that gets people talking. If three people bring up something else unprompted, pay attention.

Mistakes to avoid

- Pitching halfway through. The moment you start selling, they start being polite. Save it. - Leading questions. "Don't you hate it when..." gets a yes. That's not data. - Counting compliments. "That sounds really interesting" is not a buying signal. A commitment of time, money or an introduction is. - Only calling people who like you. Friendly contacts are easy to book and bad at telling you hard truths. - Stopping at five. By call five you start hearing what you expect to hear. Do all ten.

Then make an offer

Once the patterns are clear, go back to the three conversations with the most pain and the most energy. Make a small, specific offer: a paid pilot with a clear scope, a set timeframe and an agreed way to judge whether it worked.

Put the scope in writing so both sides know what's included and what isn't. A paid pilot, even a small one, tells you more than ten compliments. Someone moved money to solve this problem, and that's the signal that counts.

If none of the three will take a small paid step, that's information too. Go back to your notes, check whether you have the right buyer, and run another round.

The point

You don't need a funnel to learn what customers want. You need one clear buyer, ten honest conversations and the habit of writing down exactly what people say. Do that before you spend on anything else, and every later decision about messaging, pricing and hiring gets easier.

If you're a B2B founder working through this stage, create a free founder profile on Initio and start there.

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