027: No, don't interpret discovery interviews by feel.

Founders WASTE a year on bad startup ideas because they struggle to answer the question "How can I make sense of what interviewees tell me?". Today, founders typically evaluate responses using the criterion "I know a validated assumption when I see it" -- a recipe for fooling yourself. Instead, founders can use Nascent's structured approach to categorizing interviewees' Pain, which is the first step to assessing the viability of a startup idea. Previously in Episode 26, Mike detailed Nascent's approach to capturing data. Here in Episode 27, Mike introduces Nascent's approach to analyzing data, starting with the Yardstick of Pain™, a three-part scale (hurting, fine, joyous). Founders categorize each interviewee and then iterate in small batches of ~5 interviews. This is Episode 027: No, don't interpret discovery interviews by feel. Instead, use the Yardstick of Pain. In this episode:(00:00) Don't fool yourself(03:33) Test systems must have consistency and repeatability(05:02) Nascent's four-part structure: Gather, Capture, Categorize, Iterate(05:35) The Yardstick of Pain: hurting, fine, joyous (07:13) FAQs about the Yardstick of Pain(10:15) Examples: Uber and a precision agriculture startup Are you new to the Nascent podcast? Start with Episode 019 Let's connect:Newsletter: https://nascentstartups.comMiro board with visuals and frameworks: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVGhU2Xoo=/Work with Mike: https://nascentidea.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevladimerYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nascentideaSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5BtFtYF6nVUkLu7d7VVnSYApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nascent-startups-podcast/id1728760830Twitter: https://x.com/NascentIdeaReach Mike at Podcast@NascentIdea.com Links and sources:Nascent Ep026: No, don't trust self-reported data from discovery interviews. Nascent Ep023: No, don't mimic successful founders. Instead, meet the guy solving startups' biggest challenge. Nascent Ep022: Yes, search for People in Pain. But they're invisible. Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale: https://wongbakerfaces.orgRichard Feynman, "Cargo Cult Science": https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htmNSF I-Corps: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/i-corps Nascent frameworks referenced:Yardstick of Pain™ — A three-bucket emotional scale (hurting, fine, joyous) that founders apply to each discovery interviewee. Introduced this episode.People in Pain™ — The first signal a startup might have a customer. Every customer starts as a Person in Pain.