I'd say it is more of a "this is more tractable". Given that the barrier to doing a survey is so much lower for your users, the guys who accept "real conversations" will probably be significantly more optimistic about your product than those who don't..
I'd say it is more of a "this is more tractable". Given that the barrier to doing a survey is so much lower for your users, the guys who accept "real conversations" will probably be significantly more optimistic about your product than those who don't..
Not true in my experience. In fact I see exactly the opposite. The folk doing surveys seem far more likely to fool themselves that there onto something. They're usually some way to cut up the quant data so it looks like "success" by some category or another.
Surveys are a great tool in the right sort of context - but early customer development isn't one of 'em.
I do a little workshop on survey design. The first slide is:
The First Rule of Surveys: Don't do them.
The Second Rule of Surveys (for experts only!): Don't do them yet.
(yes - it is a deliberate paraphase of Michael Jackson's rules of optimisation ;-)
People who are optimistic at the only people that matter. A company with only 1% of the world population as customers is one of the greatest companies in history.
