# Customer Interview Scripts (8 originals) **SKU:** `interview-scripts` **Price:** $12 USD, paid in USDC on Base **Format:** 8 complete interview scripts with openers, questions, close, and note sheet **Audience:** US indie hackers talking to people who already do the job you want to productize **Promise:** Run an interview that produces a pain + workaround + willingness-to-pay *signal* — not a compliment. These are original scripts. They are not a famous “mom test” reprint. You still have to listen. Do not invent quotes. Do not treat “I’d buy that” as a sale. ## Operating rules - 20–30 minutes. Calendar title: `Research call — no pitch`. - You are not allowed to demo until minute 18, and only if they ask. - Record only with permission. Default is notes. - Pay them nothing, or a $15 gift card you can actually send. Do not “pay in equity.” - Recruit from people who **did the job last month**, not from “interested in startups.” - After the call: 10 minutes to fill the note sheet while it is still ugly. **Recruit DM (copy):** ``` Quick ask: I’m mapping how [WHO] currently [JOB]. Not selling on this call. 20 minutes on [TOOL]. If useful I’ll send you the write-up. Want a slot Thursday or Friday? ``` **Opener (all scripts):** ``` Thanks for the time. This is research, not a demo. I’ll ask how you did [JOB] the last time it actually happened. You can skip anything that’s private (customers, revenue, names). OK to take notes? OK to record? [wait] ``` **Close (all scripts):** ``` Last two: 1) If a file or tiny tool showed up that did [JOB] in [TIME], what would make it a “no”? 2) Who else should I ask — first name and why, not an intro unless you offer. I’ll send a 5-bullet summary by [DATE]. Thanks. ``` --- ## Script 1 — Last-time walkthrough (default) Use first. If you only ever run one script, run this. 1. When was the last time you had to [JOB]? (Get a date.) 2. What triggered it that day? 3. Walk me through the tools, tabs, and people in order. 4. Where did you copy/paste? 5. What did you send or ship at the end? (artifact) 6. How long did the whole loop take, honestly? 7. What did you skip because you were tired? 8. If that loop failed, what broke — time, money, reputation, or a person yelling? 9. What did you try before this loop (including “nothing”)? 10. What would have to be true for you to pay $[CANDIDATE] for a cleaner loop? **Listen for:** a dated story. If they speak in “usually,” ask for last Tuesday. --- ## Script 2 — Workaround cost Use when they already glue three tools together. 1. Last time you [JOB], which tools were open? 2. Which of those do you already pay for? Rough monthly is enough; skip if they don’t want to say. 3. Which step is not in any of those tools? 4. Who notices if that step is late? 5. Have you hired a person or VA for any piece of this? 6. Have you bought a template/course that you didn’t finish? 7. What did you Google mid-loop? 8. If I took away [TOOL], what would you do that afternoon? 9. What’s the most you have spent in a week to get [JOB] done (tools + people + your hours × a wage you pick)? 10. Would a one-time file be more believable than a monthly tool? Why? --- ## Script 3 — Failed purchase autopsy Use when they bought something in this category and abandoned it. 1. What did you buy (or subscribe to) to help with [JOB]? 2. What did the landing page promise? 3. What was the first session like, in minutes? 4. Where did you bounce? 5. Did you ask support? What happened? 6. Did you keep paying after you stopped using it? 7. What did you go back to instead? 8. What would you need to see *before* paying next time? 9. What should never be in the onboarding? 10. If I sold a smaller piece, which piece? --- ## Script 4 — Buyer is a solo founder selling to businesses Use with US indie hackers who have at least one paying customer (theirs, not yours). 1. Who paid you last? Role, not company myth. 2. What job did they hire *you* to do? 3. How did they find you? 4. What did you send before they paid (call, PDF, Loom, nothing)? 5. How long from first message to money? 6. What almost killed the deal? 7. What do you still do in a doc that you wish was a product? 8. If I handed you [ARTIFACT] tonight, which deal would it have changed? 9. What must I not mess up (tone, legal-sounding claims, pricing)? 10. Are you the person who would pay, or would you forward this to someone? --- ## Script 5 — Switch interview (they already have a method they like) Use to avoid building a clone. 1. What do you use now for [JOB]? 2. When did you last consider switching? 3. What would have to break to make you look? 4. Who has permission to change the method (just you / a client / a partner)? 5. What data or files are trapped in the current method? 6. How do you train a new contractor on it? 7. What is sacred (naming, template, color, “the way we do kickoff”)? 8. What is annoying but not worth switching for? 9. If a new thing imported [X] in 10 minutes, is that enough? 10. What would make a switch feel embarrassing (looking unprofessional to a client)? --- ## Script 6 — Non-buyer (they should *not* buy) Use on two people who are adjacent but wrong. Saves you from a fuzzy who. 1. How do you currently [JOB], if at all? 2. Is this even your job, or someone else’s? 3. When this goes wrong, who pays the cost? 4. Would you be offended if a product said it was “not for you”? 5. What do people wrongly assume you need? 6. If I built for [OTHER WHO], would you still try to use it? 7. What budget bucket would this fall in — if any? 8. What interview should I be running instead, and with whom? If they want the product anyway, note it, but do not change the who on one enthusiastic adjacent person. --- ## Script 7 — Pricing ladder interview Use after you have a draft one-time vs monthly choice. Show **numbers on paper**, not a polished page. 1. Last time [JOB] happened, what did it cost (hours or money)? 2. I’m considering $[A] one-time for [ARTIFACT]. Gut: too high, too low, or “I need to see it”? 3. I’m considering $[B]/mo for [RECURRING JOB]. Same gut. 4. Which one matches how the job actually returns on your calendar? 5. What would you need to cancel monthly without hassle? 6. What would make one-time feel like a trap (no updates, abandoned file)? 7. Would you ever want both? Why not? 8. Who else has to approve $[A] or $[B]? 9. What substitute would you keep paying for even if mine existed? 10. Don’t ask “would you buy.” Ask: `If I emailed a checkout on Friday, what would you do in the first five minutes?` --- ## Script 8 — Post-purchase (only if they already paid you) Use 7–14 days after delivery. Do not run this as a fake “customer” interview on friends who didn’t pay. 1. Where did you read the file/use the tool the first time (device, place)? 2. Which section did you actually fill or use? 3. Which section did you skip? Why? 4. What was missing that the page had promised? 5. What was extra that you didn’t want? 6. Did you get the outcome in the time I claimed? 7. Who did you show it to, if anyone? 8. What should the next SKU be — or should there be none? 9. Exact sentence you would use to describe this to a peer. 10. Anything I should refund or replace? --- ## Note sheet (duplicate per call) ``` Date: Person (first name / role): Script used (#): Last time they did the job (date): Trigger: Loop (tools in order): Artifact they produced: Time cost: Money cost (only if they volunteered): Failure mode (time / money / reputation / person): Workaround they will not quit: “No” conditions: Adjacent / not-for notes: Quotes (verbatim, max 3): 1. 2. 3. What I will not build because of this call: Follow-up promised: ``` ## Synthesis (after 5 calls) Do not average. Count. | Signal | Count (of 5) | Decision | |--------|--------------|----------| | Dated last-time story | | If <3, your recruit is wrong | | Same workaround | | If 4+ share it, that’s the job | | Same “no” condition | | Put it on the landing page | | Asked for a demo unprompted | | Still not a sale | | Named a price they already pay | | Use as ceiling, not as your price | **You may write an offer when:** 5 note sheets exist, 3 dated stories exist, and you can fill who / pain / price without a metaphor. ## Worked fictional snippet (not a real customer) Role: US solo founder, small B2B reporting tool. Script 1. Last time: Friday 8:40pm. Trigger: a customer asked “can you send that as a PDF.” Loop: Notion → screenshot → Google Doc → email. Artifact: 4-page PDF. Time: 70 minutes. Failure: looked late and messy. Workaround they will not quit: Notion as source of truth. “No” if the tool required moving out of Notion. That snippet is labeled fictional. Do not publish it as a testimonial.