Identify your bullseye customer in one day | Michael Margolis (UX Research Partner at Google Ventures)

Michael Margolis has been a UX research partner at Google Ventures (GV) for nearly 15 years. He has developed a unique approach to helping startups identify their “bullseye customer”—the specific subset of their target market who initially is most likely to adopt their product. Michael has conducted over 300 hands-on research sprints with GV portfolio companies across various industries and helped develop the “design sprint” process made famous by the book Sprint. In our conversation, we discuss: • The step-by-step process of running a bullseye customer sprint • The most common mistakes founders make when picking their first customers • Practical tips for conducting effective customer interviews • How to create simple but effective prototypes for user research • The power of “watch parties” in aligning teams around customer insights • How to apply these methods beyond typical tech startups — Brought to you by: • Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want • Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-your-bullseye-customer-michael-margolis — Where to find Michael Margolis: • X: https://x.com/mmargolis • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmargolis/ • Website: https://www.learnmorefaster.com/ • Medium: https://medium.com/@mmargolis — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Michael’s background (09:11) Bullseye customers vs. ideal customer profiles (ICPs) (12:32) An overview of the bullseye customer sprint (20:56) When to use the bullseye customer sprint (22:19) Step one: Agree on goals and key questions (23:48) Step two: Define your bullseye customer (25:52) The importance of a narrow target audience (29:00) An example of step two in action (38:24) Narrowing attributes and exclusion criteria (43:28) Step three: Recruiting and compensating participants (56:11) Step four: Creating effective prototypes (01:01:10) Step five: Drafting your interview guide (01:08:49) Step six: The watch party method (01:19:40) Common pitfalls and final thoughts (01:24:43) Closing thoughts and where to find Michael — Referenced: • Learn More Faster: How to Find Your Bullseye Customer and Their Perfect Product: https://www.learnmorefaster.com • Alcoa: https://www.alcoa.com • Dupont: https://www.dupont.com • Ericsson: https://www.ericsson.com • Google Ventures: https://www.gv.com/ • Kate Aronowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katearonowitz/ • Vanessa Cho on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veecho/ • How to kickstart and scale a consumer business—Step 2: Identify your super-specific who: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/consumer-business-super-specific-who • When enough is enough | Andy Johns (ex-FB, Twitter, Quora): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/when-enough-is-enough-andy-johns • Zipline for health care: https://www.flyzipline.com/solutions/healthcare • Jobs to Be Done framework: https://www.christenseninstitute.org/theory/jobs-to-be-done • User Interviews: https://www.userinterviews.com/ • Respondent: https://www.respondent.io/ • Flatiron Health: https://flatiron.com/ • How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-identify-your-ideal-customer • Gong: https://www.gong.io • Linear: https://linear.app • Gusto: https://gusto.com/ • Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling: https://bookshop.org/p/books/humble-inquiry-second-edition-the-gentle-art-of-asking-instead-of-telling-edgar-h-schein/14739375 • Figma: https://www.figma.com — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe