Assuming we understand the customer

<p>One of the biggest pitfalls of <a class="wikilink" href="/startup/">startup</a> <a class="wikilink" href="/founders/">founders</a> is believing they <em>know</em> their customer. I have been there: "I know what a biologist needs". And not only me, the people around me behave the same way. People with years of experience, who had never seen a biology lab, <em>assumed</em> what biologists needed. </p> <p>Took me a lot of time and effort to understand I didn't actually know what they needed, nor how they worked. </p> <p>When we start from prejudices and we skip a mindful <a class="wikilink" href="/customer_discovery/">Customer Discovery</a> process, we are setting up ourselves for failure. Or, better said, to depend on luck instead of a proper path of <a class="wikilink" href="/business_development/">business development</a>.</p>