Product discovery on a startup budget
Big companies have dedicated research teams, user labs, and months-long discovery cycles. You have a Notion board and three weeks. Good news: some of the best product insights come from lightweight, scrappy methods.
Five techniques that work at any scale
1. The five-user test
Jakob Nielsen showed that testing with just 5 users uncovers 85% of usability issues. Record 20-minute sessions where users try to complete your core task. You'll be surprised what you learn.
2. Competitor teardowns
Don't just list competitors — use their products deeply. Sign up, go through onboarding, try to accomplish the same job your product solves. Document friction points and opportunities.
3. Support ticket mining
If you have any users at all, your support tickets are a goldmine. Categorize them by theme. The most frequent complaints point directly to your highest-impact improvements.
4. Fake door tests
Before building a feature, add a button for it. When users click, show a "coming soon" message and capture their interest. This gives you real demand data without writing backend code.
5. One-question surveys
After key actions, ask one question: "What almost stopped you from completing this?" The answers reveal friction you can't see from analytics alone.
The discovery cadence
Run discovery continuously, not as a phase. Dedicate 20% of each sprint to talking to users, analyzing behavior, and validating assumptions. Discovery and delivery should happen in parallel.
