How to find your first ten customer conversations

Pick a decision before you pick a list#

Start with one question your business needs answered. Perhaps a software team needs to know whether project managers will pay to reduce approval delays. A consultant may need to know which owners feel a problem urgently enough to buy help. A manufacturer may need to learn whether a distributor can serve a new customer group.

Your output is a short decision log, not a contact collection. Set aside time for a small learning batch; ten conversations is a workable starting point. Choose the batch size around your time and the complexity of the decision.

Write: “We want to learn whether [people] experience [problem] in [situation], what they do now, and what would make a next step useful.” If the people are still unclear, write two plausible audiences and the evidence you need to compare them. You can start Kite with an objective before you have a finished audience.

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Build a first audience you can explain#

Begin with observable circumstances. A title alone says little about a problem. Look for a responsibility, a workflow and a reason the issue might matter now. Do not claim a person has a problem because they match a company-size filter.

Use public company information and context people choose to share. A job post or service page can suggest a question; it does not prove budget, frustration or buying intent. The SBA's market-research guidance is a useful foundation for checking demand and alternatives.

Ask about the last real occurrence#

Ask for a recent event before asking for opinions about your idea. “What happened the last time a client approval was late?” is more useful than “Would you use an AI approval tool?”

Use this sequence:

1. What were you trying to get done?
2. Walk me through the last time you did it.
3. Who else was involved?
4. Where did it become difficult, and what did that change?
5. What do you use or do today?
6. What have you already tried?
7. If this became easier, what would you do differently?
8. Would it be useful to look at a possible next step?

Let people disagree. Record their words separately from your interpretation. Ask permission before recording or sharing a conversation. Do not treat a polite compliment, a hypothetical price answer or a meeting as a purchase.

Keep a one-page evidence log#

For each conversation, record the situation, the current workaround, the consequence, the person's role, what remains unknown and the agreed next step. Keep private notes in your own authorised workspace. Use an anonymous summary when collaborating beyond it.

Compare people who describe the same problem. A broad average across unrelated audiences can hide that one group has urgent demand while another is merely curious. Mark second-hand descriptions as second-hand. A recurring phrase is a clue to investigate, not a claim you can immediately publish as customer proof.

Decide what to test next#

At the end of the batch, make one decision:

• The problem repeats and people ask for a next step: design a small paid pilot around the repeated work.
• The problem is real but the buyer is unclear: talk to the person who owns the decision or the affected workflow.
• People like the idea but keep their current method: investigate why changing would be worth the effort.
• The stories differ widely: split the audience by circumstances and test the most coherent group.
• You cannot find relevant people: revise the audience hypothesis and where evidence might be visible.

Do not fill a weak evidence log with a larger list. Fix the question that the next conversation needs to answer.

Put the brief into Kite#

Kite is an introductions platform. It gets you into phone or video meetings with qualified people who have a reason to do business with you. Use the objective and business context to pursue the right people, then set the required Introduction criteria. Keep genuine interest distinct from research fit.

Your first batch is ready when you can explain why these people, what you want to learn, what counts as a useful conversation and what you will change afterward. Review your brief and settings in Kite before starting work.

Reference: https://kitegtm.com/university/guides/first-ten-customer-conversations. Read the current guide and cite its section URLs and version. If the reference is unavailable, state that limitation instead of inventing its instructions.

Help me prepare a first-customer conversation brief using the business context I provide. Return: decision to learn, audience hypotheses, observable fit, exclusions, eight recent-event questions, an evidence-log template and missing information. Keep statements from people separate from inference. Use this guide's canonical sections as citations. Prepare only; do not source people, send messages, book meetings, record conversations or change Kite settings.