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# Customer development is more than customer interviews
- URL: https://www.pesec.no/customer-development-is-more-than-customer-interviews/
- Published: 2021-07-19T07:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-07-19T07:00:00.000Z
- Description: In a search of a repeatable business model.
- Author: Bruno Pešec
- Tags: Lean Startup, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Experimentation

I've noticed that a number of innovators I've spoken with believe they are doing customer development just because they are [speaking with the customers](https://www.pesec.no/how-to-do-customer-interviews/).

And while *getting out of the building* is important, customer development is much more than that. It is a four step process for building new corporate ventures and startups.

![The Customer Development Model. Adapted from The Four Steps to the Epiphany.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/72/d5/72d522ba-f2e5-4415-a19c-d8f567c36347/content/images/2021/06/The-Customer-Development-Model.jpg)

The Customer Development Model. Adapted from [*The Four Steps to the Epiphany*](https://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Successful-Strategies-dp-1119690358/dp/1119690358/?ref=pesec.no)*.*

In *[The Four Steps to the Epiphany](https://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Successful-Strategies-dp-1119690358/dp/1119690358/?ref=pesec.no)*, Steve Blank explains the steps as:

- *Customer discovery* first captures the founders’ vision and turns it into a series of business model hypotheses. Then it develops a plan to test customer reactions to those hypotheses and turn them into facts.
- *Customer validation* tests whether the resulting business model is repeatable and scalable. If not, founders should return to customer discovery.
- *Customer creation* is the start of execution. It builds end-user demand and drives it into the sales channel to scale the business.
- *Company building* transitions the organization from a startup to a company focused on executing a validated model.

First two steps are all about *search* for the [business model](https://www.pesec.no/the-business-model-canvas-explained/), while the second two are about *execution* of the business model proven in the preceding steps.

It's a great process, and is well worth the time. The original book has been reprinted in 2020, so why not grab a copy?