ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet

Entrepreneurial Thinking Concept: Primary Research: Interviewing Customers

Learning Objective:
The days of being a secretive entrepreneur, hiding in your garage, not telling anyone about your idea are over.
Nowadays, successful entrepreneurs get out and talk to as many people as possible who are experiencing the
problem they are trying to solve. These people can help you evolve your solution, and help you “pivot” to an even
better opportunity. This worksheet will help you develop a list of questions that you will ask your potential early
adopters. You will discover quickly if you have identified a good problem, or if you need to “pivot” to a new one,
before wasting your time & resources.

Instructions:
1. Read, sign & submit (to assignment #1 dropbox) the Student Code of Conduct form.
2. Read the links listed in “additional resources” below to help you build better questions & interviews. You do
not need to use these exact questions, but they should help you to develop your own.
3. Create 2 questions about the problem you are trying to solve.
4. Create 2 questions about how the customer is currently trying to solve the problem.
5. Create 2 questions focused on how the customer would like it to be solved – what are the deficiencies with
their current solution? What would a perfect solution look like? *This is not supposed to be about YOUR
solution yet.
6. Create 2 questions focused on what they would be willing to pay to solve the problem.
7. Conduct 2 (or more) interviews with your early adopters identified in the earlier worksheet. Using this
script of questions, record the answers, record their name, and the time and place of the interview. You will
need to reference these interviews in your assignments. **If you have a buyer/user, or a platform model
(connecting buyers/sellers) you need to complete 1 interview with each group**

VERY IMPORTANT: before you interview anyone, complete the student code of conduct & read the informed
consent document on D2L and incorporate into your script. You must first ask for verbal permission to ask them a
few questions for a University of Calgary course, called Entrepreneurial Thinking. Inform them that their answers
will be recorded and used for your course project. They must grant you verbal permission to continue. Always be
polite & respectful! Interviewees that wish to remain anonymous can be referred to as “Buyer 1” or ‘Customer 1”
or “User 1.”

Additional Resources:
The Ultimate List of Customer Development Questions: http://mfishbein.com/the-ultimate-list-of-customer-
development-questions/
The Rules for Customer Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZYntTU3JW4
Techniques for Getting Customer Stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RBsXQYRUUM
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Create 2 questions that are focused on the problem you are hoping to solve:
QUESTION 1:
Why are you care about your mental health and sleep?
Interviewee #1 name (or identifier ie: “Buyer 1”):
Answer:
Mental health and sleep should be taken more seriously in my opinion. Both of these factors are going to affect
your well-being in the long term
Interviewee #2 name (or identifier ie: “Buyer 2”):
Answer:
Because if my mental health is not good and I bear a lot of stresses, my life and sleep quality will decrease
immediately. However, if I do not sleep enough, it will affect directly to my brain and reduce my production in
the next day. Good sleep and healthy mental health always go parallelly and if I miss one thing in my life, it will
affect direct to my daily work.
Interviewee #3 name (or identifier ie: “Buyer 3”):
Answer:
- Because I believe that every person should focus on having a good physical health as well as mental
health to be able to work, study and enjoy life to the fullest.
- In today’s world, young people are having to much problem to deal with, therefore, I think each of us
should focus more on our mental health to avoid more stress or negative thoughts that might occur
during difficult time in our life.

QUESTION 2:
What will you do to improve your mental health to get a better sleep?
Interviewee #1 name/identifier:
Answer:
People could start making more healthy sleep habit. Some examples are sleeping at a set hour everyday or doing
light workout before sleep.
Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
Usually, I will listen to one of the songs in my musical love list. This song should belong to Ballad style, have
slow and chill melody. In this way, it will heal my brain and help it relax as well. I will sleep slowly without
having any control or forcing, and my sleep quality will get better by the time.
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer:
- I am planning on making a schedule about my daily tasks so I can keep track of things I have to finish
everyday. It makes me go to sleep easier knowing that I completed all the necessary tasks.
- I also listen to my favourite podcash every night before I go to bed, it makes me feel comfortable and
relaxed, which helps a lot with my sleeping.
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Create 2 questions focused on how the customer is currently trying to solve the problem:
QUESTION 1:
What method do you think will help you reduce your stress daily?

Interviewee #1 name/identifier:
Answer: working out or watching a good sitcom can reduce stress daily.

Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
Doing exercises, hanging out with my friend after school, playing game, and watching anime.

Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer:
- Doing things that I love. I am working on spending more time for myself during the weekend to reduce
stress during the week and to have a fresh start for the following week
- I am a socialize person, therefore going out and talking with people can really help me reduce stress. I
love to participated in volunterring activities to help people because it makes me feel like I am doing
something helpful for the community.

QUESTION 2:
What method do you think that help you to pass through your stress?

Interviewee #1 name/identifier: I like to spend my time with my friends and families wherever I get stressed
out, its really help a lot.
Answer:

Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
- Trying best to prevent myself from overthinking about the issues
- Ask for the support from parents and best friends.
- Trying to think positive and happy.
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Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer:
- Heving some alone time can help me a lot. Sometimes I just want to be in my room and watch my
favourite movies, eating my favourite food.
- I like going fishing or hiking. For me, nature is the best way to make people forget their daily stress.
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Create 2 questions focused on how the customer would like it to be solved – what would the
perfect solution look like?
QUESTION 1:
What do you are the benefit to use the music app which can identify your emotion to heal your soul and reduce stress?

Interviewee #1 name/identifier:
Answer: its great, it can be hard to sleep if you’re too stressed out so a soothing sound should work really
nice!
Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
- It is great when I can have this app because instead of confusing about which song I should choose, now
I have the app to play a song based on my mood and heal my soul. I do not need to do anything, this app
will help me play a specific song in different situation.

Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer:
- I listen to music everday at anytime possible. I feel like I can forget about my life for a while and just
focus on the beauty of each song.
- I also believe every song is a different story. When I am having a difficult time in my life, I tend to listen
to these songs which I relate the most so I feel like I am not in this alone.

QUESTION 2:
If you help this analysis emotional music app, will you think your sleep and your soul be better?

Interviewee #1 name/identifier:
Answer: For sure, I’ve been listening to music in my free time anyway so having my own personal customize
playlist sound amazing.

Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
If this app can heal my soul and reduce stress, for sure, it will improve my sleep very much.
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer
- Absolutely. I have always want to create a playlist for myself. I feel like with the help of today’s
technology, it will be a lot easier for me to find myself a suitable playlist.
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Create 2 questions focused on what they would be willing to pay to solve the problem.
QUESTION 1:
What is the problems that young adult (below 30 years old) tend to deal with everyday?
Interviewee #1 name/identifier:
Answer: Mostly school stress. People under 30 years old are mostly undergrad, grad or master student and
university can be really stressful sometime.

Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
Most of students have to endure with a lot of pressures such as from homework, assignment, mark, part-time
job,…. In addition, some of them also bear with family pressure.

Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer:
- Stress related to schoolwork mostly. Sometimes it can be from my personal relationship like friends,
family because this age, I think people are not mature enough to handle emotional conflict.
- In addition, under 30 is when people learn how to live an adult life. Therefore, I think most of the stress
will be about work-life balance. We cannot depend on our family anymore and have to be responsible
for our own actions.

QUESTION 2:
How much do you think young adult would be willing to pay for this analysis emotional musical app.

Interviewee #1 name/identifier:
Answer: I would pay 5$/ month. This price range is very common among music apps like spotify.
Interviewee #2 name/identifier:
Answer:
I will pay $10/month if it really help me improve my sleep every night.
 ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking Worksheet
Interviewee #3 name/identifier:
Answer:
I think $10-$15 will be a good price rage considered this is not a normal music apps. However, I think it should
have a lower price for students.