User Research & Validation Plan
Key Assumptions to Validate
| Assumption | Risk | Method | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suburban homeowners will actively exchange skills with neighbors. | High | Interviews, surveys | 70% confirm willingness to participate |
| Users value skills equally (1 hour = 1 credit). | Medium | Prototype testing | 80% agree with egalitarian principle |
| Trust and safety features are critical for adoption. | High | Interviews, surveys | 90% cite trust as a key concern |
| Users will pay $4.99/month for premium features. | Critical | Pricing tests | 10+ pre-orders at target price |
Customer Discovery Interview Guide
Part 1: Background & Context
- Tell me about your neighborhood and community involvement.
- How often do you interact with neighbors?
- What challenges do you face in getting help or offering help?
Part 2: Problem Exploration
- Have you ever tried to exchange skills with neighbors? What worked or didn’t?
- What’s the biggest barrier to exchanging skills in your community?
- How would you feel about a system that tracks exchanges?
Part 3: Solution Exploration
- What features would make you trust a skill exchange platform?
- How much would you pay for a service like this?
- Who else in your community would use this?
Validation Experiments
Landing Page Test
Create a landing page with:
- Headline: "Exchange Skills with Neighbors, No Money Needed"
- CTA: "Join the Waitlist"
- Success Metrics: >5% signup rate, >1,000 visitors
Wizard of Oz MVP
Manually match users in a pilot community:
- Collect skills via Google Form
- Manually match users via email
- Measure exchange completion rate
8-Week Validation Timeline
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Go/No-Go Criteria
| Metric | Target | Actual | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signup Rate | >5% | TBD | ☐ |
| Exchange Completion Rate | >70% | TBD | ☐ |
| Pricing Acceptance | >60% at $4.99 | TBD | ☐ |