Customer development interviews are one of the best ways to get insights that lead to an amazing product. But that road to insights is often covered by speed bumps that can slow you down and throw you off course.

Initially you might hit all of these speed bumps. But with enough practice and reflection, you will get better at navigating them.

Here are nine lessons that I have learned in years of interviews, false conclusions, reading, trying to get slightly better the next time, workshops, notes and what not.

1. Know your goal well

Ask most people what their goal is in one sentence, and they will give you a laundry list of things they want to do during the interview.

With customer interviews, there are just three top level questions you are trying to answer. You must determine which question is the one you are trying to answer this this interview.

A) What is the real problem, and is it worth solving?

Here’s a typical scenario: We have a...