Stacy L. Chin says founders who guess about customer needs lose to those who actually talk to them. Real conversations shape better commercialization plans, product roadmaps, and grant proposals. Reviewers can tell the difference.
Too many founders assume they already know what the customer wants, only to discover later that their assumptions are wrong. Customer discovery strengthens everything from your commercialization plan and letters of support to your product roadmap and overall proposal. Reviewers can usually tell the difference between founders who've actually talked to the customers and founders who just simply guess. So let the customer conversations shape your proposal instead of using your proposal to justify your assumptions.
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