Tools of the Trade: Finding People to Interview Before You Have Customers

Teresa Torres surveys how early-stage teams recruit interviewees when they have no customers or even no product yet, a common blocker to continuous discovery. She draws on members of her Continuous Discovery Habits community to compare two tool types: general-audience platforms like Craigslist and LinkedIn, and purpose-built recruiting platforms like UserInterviews. Each carries tradeoffs in cost, targeting precision, time investment, and the effort needed to refine messaging. The article's central lesson is that there is no universal tool, that defining an ideal interviewee is essential but will evolve, and that persistent experimentation is required. For product teams pre-launch, this is a practical playbook for getting the customer conversations that drive opportunity discovery.

01Key takeaways

• Start with a clear hypothesis about your ideal interviewee, but expect that profile to evolve as conversations reveal new insights.
• Lead with a specific, labeled problem; people will talk even without a solution if the problem resonates with them.
• Disclose that you are building something new, since this often increases engagement and makes participants feel their input matters.
• Keep outreach messages short, specific, and clearly framed as research rather than sales, and iterate on wording based on response rates.
• Withhold screening criteria and logistics from public ads so you do not attract gamers or unwanted attendees.
• Balance cost against time: paid platforms buy targeting convenience, while free channels demand more of your own effort.

02Key sections

Two categories of recruiting tools

Recruiting tools fall into general-audience platforms that connect people by geography, social group, or interest, and purpose-built platforms designed to match participants with product teams. Choice depends on where users congregate, how clearly the problem is defined, and budget.

Craigslist for broad focus groups

A product coach used a free Craigslist ad to source in-person focus group participants, which worked but drew a broad audience that did not always match the criteria. Revealing logistics too early led to unwanted, unpaid attendees.

LinkedIn outreach tactics

Founders tried posting problem-space questions, replying to thought leaders, and sending personalized connection requests, with mixed results. Specific problem framing and concise messaging drove conversions, while cold outreach and group posting often failed.

UserInterviews as a paid, targeted option

A paid platform lets teams build a screening survey to filter a large participant pool, then schedule and compensate interviews. It is efficient and low-no-show, but writing a survey that filters well without revealing the criteria takes care.

Other channels and final guidance

Social platforms, research-introduction services, and paid ads can help learn about the market, though ads may generate clicks without interviews. The overall guidance is to start with a theory of the ideal interviewee, expect it to change, and keep experimenting.

03From the post

“The foundation of continuous discovery is weekly touchpoints with customers. These touchpoints will allow you to collect stories that help you identify opportunities and build out your opportunity solution tree. It sounds simple, but what happens if your product is so new that you don’t have any customers yet?”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.