Perspective · Customer insight

Dalton Caldwell

Look for concrete signs that the product is needed.

customer conversations
needs
product market fit
early customers
validation

Dalton Caldwell — Look for concrete signs that the product is needed

Inherited source references. Read the original before attributing advice to the person. These applications are not quotations or an official collaboration.

Ask what someone did the last time the problem occurred, not just what they think of the idea.

Write for a specific group with a clear need for the solution.

Questions to work with:

What has the customer already tried?

Which behaviour would show that the offer helps?

Sources from the original project:

Dalton Caldwell on how YC startup advice holds up in the age of AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm9UxxVwGsQ

Setting goals before product-market fit: get users who love it, skip the graphs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHiKsF0JXPk

Dalton Caldwell (YC): don't die, pivot toward what you know, avoid tarpit ideas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7LvNTbaqSI

Use this perspective to examine the brief. Write directly in English in the brand’s voice. Preserve facts and terms; do not use the person’s name as product evidence.

Image source ↗ · via The Brains

How to use Dalton Caldwell’s perspective

Ask what someone did the last time the problem occurred, not just what they think of the idea.
Write for a specific group with a clear need for the solution.

Our own applications for copy – not quotations and not an endorsement.

Questions to work with

What has the customer already tried?
Which behaviour would show that the offer helps?

Sources from the original project

Inherited source references. Read the original before attributing advice to the person. These applications are not quotations or an official collaboration.

Frameworks that pair with this perspective

April Dunford · OfferShow the difference that mattersPositioning as April Dunford describes it: start with what customers would otherwise choose, identify what you can do…Joanna Wiebe / Copyhackers · Customer insightTake your words from customersJoanna Wiebe and Copyhackers argue that copy starts with research: gather how customers themselves describe the…James Clear · Customer insightWrite for the habit, not just the clickIn Atomic Habits, James Clear describes four laws of behaviour change, tied to the four stages of a habit (cue…

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