Customer discovery call template
Find out how a customer actually works before you pitch a solution. A 30-minute question guide and notes template for founders doing their own discovery.
Ask about behavior before opinions.
A discovery call is useful when it shows you a real workflow: what triggered the problem, how someone handled it, and what happened next. “Would you use this?” gives you much less to work with than “Tell me about the last time.”
Choose one hypothesis before the call. Write down what would disprove it. Otherwise, it is too easy to hear every interesting comment as support for what you want to build.
A 30-minute question guide
5 minutes: establish context
Understand the person's role, then ask for their most recent example of the problem. Let them finish the story before steering toward your product.
10 minutes: follow the work
Walk through the sequence. Ask which tools and people were involved, where it got difficult, and what the consequence was.
10 minutes: test priority
Ask what they already tried, what it cost, and what they would keep. Find out who could change the workflow and what makes it urgent.
5 minutes: check and close
Summarize what you heard and invite a correction. Ask permission for a specific follow-up. Record a next step only if someone agreed to it.
The template
Use it as a guide, not a script you have to finish. A useful example is worth more than rushing through every question.
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY CALL — 30 MINUTES
Date / interviewer:
Customer / role / company:
Hypothesis to test:
What evidence would change our mind?
1. CONTEXT — 5 MIN
What are you responsible for? What does a normal week look like?
When did you last run into [problem]? Walk me through that day.
2. CURRENT WORKFLOW — 10 MIN
What triggered the work? What did you do first, then next?
Which people and tools were involved?
Where did you get stuck? What happened because of that?
How often has this happened in the past month?
3. WORKAROUNDS & PRIORITY — 10 MIN
What have you already tried? What did it cost in time or money?
What works well enough that you would keep it?
Who decides whether to change this workflow?
What would make solving it urgent? What matters more right now?
4. CLOSE — 5 MIN
What did I misunderstand or forget to ask?
May I follow up about [specific topic]?
Next step, only if agreed:
Owner / date, only if explicitly committed:
AFTER THE CALL
Exact quote + transcript timestamp:
Observed behavior / example:
Impact described by the customer:
Our interpretation (separate from evidence):
Evidence against our hypothesis:
Still unknown:
Decision / next experiment:
Agreed follow-up:
What good notes look like
Illustrative example — not a customer quote
Observation: the founder described copying action items from four weekly calls into a spreadsheet.
Interpretation: consolidating follow-ups may be valuable.
Unknown: whether that work is painful enough to change tools. The next interview should test the actual time cost and current workaround.
Three questions to replace
Replace “Would you use our product?” with “What did you do the last time this happened?”
Replace “Is this a big problem?” with “What happened because of it?”
Replace “Do you like this feature?” with “What would you stop doing if this worked?”
Use it with Runa
Put the hypothesis and questions in your meeting notes before the call. Let Runa capture the spoken record while you listen. Afterward, review the transcript, save supporting quotes with timestamps, and keep observations separate from interpretations. Across several calls, ask about repeated problems and check the source conversations before deciding what to build.