Customer discovery is structured interviewing of potential customers to test whether a problem is real and worth solving before you build. It is listening, not pitching. For ocean scientists, that means writing your research up as a problem hypothesis, picking one operator segment, getting warm introductions, and asking about specific past events instead of opinions on your idea.
What is customer discovery, and how is it different from pitching?
Customer discovery is interviewing potential customers and stakeholders to test whether a problem is real. The Learning and Teaching Hub at Arizona State University says it is not asking a customer to design the solution, and it is not selling the design or demonstrating its features. Its goal is to listen, not to pitch an idea for feedback.
The NSF I-Corps program describes customer discovery as talking to potential customers, partners and other industry stakeholders, then using the interview results to evaluate commercial potential. A useful test for your planned conversations: if you would open with slides of your sensor or material, you are pitching. If you would open with questions about the operator's week, you are doing discovery.
How do you turn a research finding into a problem hypothesis?
Write one falsifiable statement that names the operator, the task, the current workaround and the result that would prove you wrong. Steve Blank's customer development notes say to test your hypotheses, and that two are fundamental: problem and product concept. Test the problem first. If your research is still at the stage of deciding what is commercial, our guide to turning ocean science research into a startup covers that earlier step.
Use this template: "[Operator type] struggles to [task] because [cause]. Today they handle it by [workaround]. I am wrong if fewer than [number] of the operators I interview have faced it in the past [period] or if they treat it as minor."
Example: you have a model that predicts harmful algal bloom onset. Your hypothesis might read: "Shellfish farm managers struggle to time harvests because bloom warnings arrive late. Today they rely on state sampling notices and their own observations. I am wrong if most of the farms I interview have not lost a harvest window to a late warning in the past two years." Notice that the statement says nothing about your model.
Which marine operators are there?
Fishing, charter, shipping, aquaculture and port operators differ in who decides, how they work and what they pay for. This table is general professional knowledge, so confirm each point in your first conversations.
| Segment | Who usually decides | When reachable | Ask about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial fishing | Owner-captain | Shore days, off-season | Trip decisions, gear loss, regulations |
| Charter | Owner or captain | Between trips, slow season | Cancellations, safety, customer experience |
| Shipping | Fleet or technical manager ashore | Office hours, planned port calls | Fuel, compliance, schedules |
| Aquaculture | Farm manager or owner | Daily routines, before harvests | Water quality, stock losses, monitoring |
| Ports | Port authority staff, terminal operators | Business hours, by appointment | Congestion, environmental permits, reporting |
Note that the person who uses a tool is not always the one who buys it. On a larger vessel the captain may use it while a manager ashore holds the budget, so plan to speak with both.
Which operator should you interview first?
Start with the segment where your hypothesis is sharpest and you can reach people fastest, then widen. If two segments tie, choose the one where you already have a trusted contact, because a warm introduction beats a better-fitting stranger.
Plan for volume. NSF says each national I-Corps team is expected to conduct at least 100 interviews with potential customers and other stakeholders in their proposed target markets. Steve Blank's Hacking for Oceans classes, as he describes them in TechCrunch, require students to talk to 100 customers or beneficiaries in 10 weeks. You do not need that many to begin. Aim for ten in one segment, and see whether the answers converge before you add another.
How do you find operators and get introductions?
Use warm introductions from trade contacts, events and partners, and send a short, honest request that says you are researching a problem. Marine trade associations, dockmasters, extension agents, marina staff and previous research collaborators all know operators personally. Ask each of them for two names. Our piece on how Florida founders build blue economy partnerships explains how to find those contacts.
For the request itself, adapt the template in the TechCrunch piece, which has you say who you are, name your university, say you are investigating whether a problem would be valuable to solve, and ask if they would be willing to speak. Adapted:
"Hello, my name is [name]. I'm a researcher at [university]. I'm not selling anything. I'm investigating whether [late bloom warnings] cause real problems for [shellfish farms]. Could I ask you a few questions about how you handle it? Fifteen minutes at the dock or by phone, whenever suits your schedule."
How do you earn an operator's trust?
Respect their time and weather windows, say plainly that you are not selling, and show up where they work. Cancel without fuss when a weather day or a catch changes plans. Offer to come to the dock rather than asking them to come to campus. Credibility with operators is earned on the water, not in a deck, so listen more than you talk, thank them, and send a short note afterward summarizing what you learned. Operators talk to each other, and a respectful researcher gets named in the next introduction.
What questions should you ask?
Ask about the last time the problem happened, what it cost and what they did, not whether they would like your idea. The ASU guide advises focusing on behaviors and gives sample prompts such as "Tell me about a problem," "What part of that is most stressful or annoying?" and "How have you tried to address that?" Being told an idea is cool is not useful data.
Here are leading questions beside rewrites for a dock or vessel:
- Leading: "Would a bloom forecast help your farm?" Rewrite: "Tell me about the last time water conditions changed your harvest plans."
- Leading: "Would you pay for better weather routing?" Rewrite: "What did you do the last time a forecast was wrong? What did that cost you?"
- Leading: "Don't you hate manual logbooks?" Rewrite: "Walk me through how you record a trip, start to finish."
- Leading: "Is fuel a big problem?" Rewrite: "What did you change in the last year to manage fuel, and why?"
How do you run the interview on a vessel or dock?
Keep it short, pick a quiet moment, take notes by hand, and watch for workarounds and interruptions. Fifteen to thirty minutes is a fair request. Start before departure or after unloading, not during a task. A phone recording can feel intrusive on a working deck, so ask permission or write by hand and fill in gaps right after.
Listen for things the operator does not frame as problems: a handwritten tally, a call to a friend for conditions, a repeated trip back to port. Those workarounds point to real pain. If they interrupt to handle a line or a customer, wait, and pick up where you left off. Do not demonstrate your technology. If they ask about it, say you are not there yet and ask what they would need to see.
What do you do after the interviews?
Compare the answers with your hypothesis, then decide whether to refine it, switch segment or stop. Tally how many operators described the problem unprompted, what they spend on it and how they work around it today. If your "I am wrong if" condition was met, that is a result, and a cheap one. Only when the problem holds up should you think about prototyping or funding.
If you want a second pair of eyes on your hypothesis or interview plan, you can reach out to us through the Founding Blue site and tell us which operator segment you are considering.