What are some good hacks to get mobile app developers spend 20 minutes on customer interview or try out your MVP?

Steve Blank has already covered this in depth in his book 4 Steps to the Epiphany, as well as a video here: http://startupweekend.wistia.com/medias/tao3s8hf7l My approach is based on his outline, with a twist. 1) I try and conduct the interviews at the customers office or place of work, at minimum on their devide (computer, mobile phone) so I can ask to see how they work. 2) I never try and sell them on a the solution, but work hard to truly understand if/where the problem is. 3) Always provide guidance to the conversation, but ask open ended questions. 4) Ask questions like "What do you do 3 minutes before, and after, you do that action (or use our product)? Other tips would be - Write down the words they use. Metaphors and taxonomies are VERY important to ensuring your product is approachable. - Use 3 simple slides: Problem, Current Solutions, Proposed Solution Hope that helps.

It sounds like you have a wound care physical product? Is that correct? Who will b the end user? Nurses in home health? Hospital nurses and general and trauma surgeons? Who buys products for these end users? Cmo of large health systems? Ultimately, you may need to consider cardinal health, McKesson for distribution? How will you manufacture this product? Check out alibaba for starters. How much will your customer pay for this product? How is it better than what they are using now? Will this product allow burn victims to be discharged earlier? Will it reduce hospitalization in nursing home residents? You will need to assemble a team, probably an MBA for starters... What is the total addressable market? Start a conversation with the buyers for your local healthcare system and ask them their pain points in wound care? Work with a local physician who might be a champion user and persuade administration to try a pilot with your product. In short get one customer who will pay a certain price for it, consider presales, like tile is doing now. This should get you started! Once you have these answers you may be ready for a grass roots fundraising campaign on medstartr! I am happy to help! Best, dr hodge

You should be so lucky that someone will steal your idea. The truth is that its all about execution and not ideas. Facebook wasn't the first social network, they just executed better. Same for Instagram, Yammer and Airbnb - all Billion dollar companies built in public.

I'd avoid the cold email. The best way to get inside big companies like distributors is to "social engineer" a connection to someone there. Find a 2nd or 3rd degree connection on LinkedIn. Hang out at a restaurant near their HQ and look for people with the right badge on. Ask your potential angel for help connecting you. If they can't, they might not be the right investor for your company at this stage. Their investment should get you more than money, it should come with connections, advice and mentoring. Basically, there's no easy way to do this and every situation is different but it's going to take a lot more than a cold email or phone call.

I have built several multi-million dollar businesses using (2) very simple questions: "What makes you say that...." and "Tell me more...." No matter what someone says to you, you just keep asking one (or both) of the questions. If you do it 4 or 5 times in a row you'll learn everything you ever wanted to know.