Any Examples of Building Products Using Customer Development?
I keep hearing that founders should solve their own problems. That's a great idea but I don't have any problems that can be solved by a web app. I was looking for examples of individuals who reached out to others and helped identify problems and then built a product based off of that knowledge that was successful.
That's the only way I build products. I've built software for my own company, Capital One, Time Warner Cable, DICK'S Sporting Goods, two government agencies, 17 different startups, and teach the lean startup methodology at 2 accelerators in the DC area.
What do you want to know?
First of all I'd like to say "Wow". What you have done is incredibly impressive, especially selling to not one but two government agencies. My goal to select a target market such as podcasters and to ask them their problems. Then I would follow up by asking them how they use their current software and where that software does not meet their needs. I would like to create a small but useful project or as Tyler Tringas calls it a "Micro-saas". My worry is though once I start asking questions the project will become massively complex and time consuming to build. Tyler's Storemapper was a simple but useful product and that's the kind of product I hope to build. How can I get started and is it realistic to try and pre-sell the product?
I wouldn't ask them for their problems. I would get them to describe their behaviors, walk you through their process and jobs to be done. Get them talking and sharing experiences. From there, you can poke at things that sound problematic or painful.
I highly recommend reading The Mom Test. The value of customer development conversations is directly related to the quality of questions you ask.
Don't worry about complexity. You need to identify what value you should be providing, then focus on the quickest way to deliver it. Iterate from there.