Essential Reads for Mastering the Customer Discovery Process

The customer discovery process is the backbone of any successful startup. It’s about understanding your target market, identifying real problems, and validating that your solution meets genuine customer needs. 

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your approach, having the right knowledge is crucial. To help guide you on this journey, we’ve compiled a list of essential reads and listens we share with EWOR Fellows that will equip you with the insights, strategies, and tools needed to navigate customer discovery effectively. Filled with practical advice, real-world examples, and expert guidance, these resources are invaluable for any entrepreneur.

Top Reads on the Customer Discovery Process

If you’re looking for more detailed material on the customer discovery process, we highly recommend the following books: 

1. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank

The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank is the book that sparked the Lean Startup approach, where startups learn and evolve through constant experimentation. Blank introduces the four-step customer development process, with Customer Discovery as the crucial first step. The book offers a comprehensive framework for identifying customer needs, refining your business model, and developing a scalable strategy. It helps entrepreneurs move from assumptions to actionable insights through direct customer engagement, making it an invaluable resource for mastering the customer discovery process and building products that resonate with the market.

2. Why Lean Start-up Changes Everything by Steve Blank

For a quick dive into the customer discovery process, Steve Blank’s Harvard Business Review article, “Why Lean Start-Up Changes Everything,” is a fantastic option. This concise read explains how the Lean Startup approach reshapes traditional business practices, promoting continuous feedback and agile development to minimize risk and maximize innovation. Compared to Blank's book, this article is shorter and easier to digest, making it perfect for those short on time but eager to understand key lean principles.

3. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development by Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits

Written by two of Steve Blank’s students, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development simplifies Blank's complex ideas from The Four Steps to the Epiphany into a practical, easy-to-implement framework. This guide zeroes in on the customer discovery process, offering clear, actionable steps to validate ideas before fully committing to them. With its focus on rapid testing, customer insights, and iteration, it’s an ideal resource for entrepreneurs who want hands-on advice on how to develop products that truly meet market needs—without unnecessary theory or fluff.

4. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

If you’re looking to build a startup that adapts quickly and avoids costly mistakes, The Lean Startup is essential. Ries explains how to learn what customers truly want through continuous testing, prototyping, and rapid learning. With its emphasis on innovation accounting, real customer discovery, and the Build-Measure-Learn cycle, the book offers practical strategies to pivot or persevere based on actual feedback. This method enables startups to innovate and grow efficiently, making it a go-to guide for entrepreneurs looking to stay agile and data-driven.

5. The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen

In The Innovator’s Solution, Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor build on the disruption theory introduced in The Innovator’s Dilemma, offering deeper insights into how companies can actively become disruptors. They introduce the jobs-to-be-done framework, which helps businesses uncover innovation opportunities by focusing on customers’ real needs. 

The book provides practical strategies for driving disruptive growth and building a strong growth engine, while also highlighting common mistakes managers make when shaping new ideas. It’s an essential read for leaders looking to foster innovation and long-term success in today’s fast-paced business world.

6. The Mom Test by Robert Fitzpatrick

The Mom Test is a no-nonsense, practical guide that helps entrepreneurs get real, honest feedback from customers—without being misled by well-meaning lies. The book’s title stems from the idea that asking your mom if your business idea is good will never give you useful insight—because, of course, she’ll want to support you. But the problem isn’t just with your mom; it’s with asking the wrong questions altogether. 

In this book, learn how to ask the right questions in customer conversations, avoid common pitfalls, and uncover the truth about what your customers really need. It’s a quick, engaging read that will save you time, money, and countless frustrations by helping you gather actionable insights and build a business that truly resonates with your market.

7. Talking to Humans by Giff Constable

Talking to Humans is a hands-on guide that simplifies the customer discovery process, with a foreword by Steve Blank. This book teaches you how to effectively conduct customer interviews, find the right candidates, and turn insights into actionable steps. Through the story of two entrepreneurs navigating customer discovery for the first time, Constable provides clear, practical advice on asking the right questions and avoiding common pitfalls. If you're looking to improve your approach to customer development, this book is full of useful tips and strategies to help you validate your business ideas and make informed decisions.

8. Know Your Customer’s “Jobs to be Done” by Clayton Christensen

Another Harvard Business Review article we recommend is Know Your Customer’s “Jobs to be Done” by Clayton Christensen. It  emphasises understanding the underlying "job" customers are trying to accomplish when they use a product or service. Rather than focusing solely on demographics or product features, the approach encourages companies to identify and cater to customers’ functional, social, and emotional needs. By analysing the job-to-be-done, businesses can innovate effectively, develop products that fulfill genuine needs, and create stronger customer loyalty.

9. Organising Your Offerings to Solve People’s Big Needs by Dev Patnaik

Our final recommendation for the customer discovery process is a thought-provoking blog post by Dev Patnaik. In this article, Patnaik explores a hierarchy of customer needs through real-world examples and case studies, showing how businesses can use a design-based approach to make more strategic decisions. By understanding which needs are most crucial, companies can refine their marketing and branding strategies to connect more effectively with customers and drive meaningful success.

Other EWOR Recommended Media on the Customer Discovery Process

Reading the work of others can offer valuable insights and practical knowledge, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle. To really deepen your understanding of the customer discovery process, it's helpful to explore different formats that bring ideas to life in new ways. That’s why we’ve also curated a few standout videos and podcasts to enrich your learning experience.

1. The Jobs to be Done Theory by Clayton Christensen

In this 7-minute video, Clayton Christensen introduces the Jobs to be Done theory, a powerful framework for understanding what drives customer decisions. Using a fascinating example from McDonald's, Christensen explains how discovering the "job" of a McDonald's milkshake led to a deeper understanding of customer needs and revealed a market seven times larger than expected.

2. A Deep Hangout Video of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld

A powerful way to understand your potential customers is through a “deep hangout,” where you observe them in their natural environment. This lets you see the workarounds or inventive solutions they use, offering genuine insights. A fun example is this ad featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, who “hang out” with a regular family to reconnect with “real people.” Gates and Seinfeld humorously address their own disconnect from everyday life, bringing a lighthearted twist to Microsoft’s mission of better understanding its users. While lighthearted, the video highlights the value of immersive observation in understanding customer needs. You can find that clip here.

3. The EWOR Podcast, Episode 10 with Alex Grots

In this podcast episode, Alex Grots, co-founder and CCO of EWOR, shares stories from his consulting days, detailing numerous customer discovery interviews, observations, and immersions. As a design thinking expert and serial founder, Alex offers insights and tips on mastering customer discovery. From conducting undercover interviews to faking a medical emergency in a train station, he provides a wealth of experiences on how to truly understand your target customer.

Happy Reading on Your Startup Journey

The customer discovery process is the cornerstone of building a successful business, and the resources we’ve listed here provide a comprehensive guide to mastering it. 

From practical how-to books like The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Mom Test, to insightful videos and podcasts, these materials will equip you with the tools to truly understand your customers. Whether you're just starting out or refining your approach, tapping into these resources will help you identify real customer needs, avoid costly mistakes, and build products that resonate with your market. Dive into these reads, apply the learnings, and set your startup on the path to success.

Ready to take your startup journey to the next level? Explore more of our in-depth articles packed with insights, or unlock exclusive resources and mentorship opportunities through the EWOR Fellowships.