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"Marc Albanese is the co-founder of\u00A0Smart Vision Labs.\u00A0This post is part of the\u00A0Lessons Learned\u00A0series\u00A0featuring NYU entrepreneurs\u2019 first-hand accounts of challenges faced in starting a business and\u00A0the lessons learned along the way.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nA couple of weeks ago, I was invited to the\u00A0World Founder Forum\u00A0hosted by FOUNDER.org in Paris. As part of the event, the incoming Founder class of 2015 (Smart Vision Labs is a member of the class of 2014) peppered our class with questions about our experiences as being entrepreneurs.\r\n\r\nOne question in particular really resonated with me \u2014 how do you deal with being told \u201Cno\u201D? This conversation reminded me\u00A0of\u00A0 a key lesson I learned during my first two weeks at\u00A0Summer Launchpad: hearing no, especially when holding early customer interviews, can be a good thing.\r\nBut first, getting to no can be tricky\r\nOne of the core tenants of the Lean Startup methodology is to get out of the building and test your hypothesis. This starts with interviewing prospective customers.\r\n\r\nHowever, the questions asked could easily bias and taint the views of your interviewee. For instance, how would somebody respond to \u201CHi! I invented this really cool app that organizes 1980s music by the clothes the artists are wearing. What do you think?!? Isn\u2019t it awesome? Don\u2019t you just love the\u00A080s!*\u201D\r\n\r\nIf he or she responded \u201Cyes,\u201D was it\u00A0because they didn\u2019t want to hurt your feelings? Or, if they answered \u201Cno\u201D to this pointed question, did it help you understand your customer? Not really.\r\n\r\nA better approach might start with asking \u201CTell me about your process for listening to music. What do you like most about how your music is organized? What do you like least? What are your views on fashion and music?\u201D\r\n\r\nWith this line of questioning, you can gain insights that help you better understand the pain points of your customer. Then, once the core behavioral questions are answered, show the app and gauge response.\r\nWhy I like &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; (\u2026sometimes)\r\nEvery meeting\u00A0with a prospective customer, channel partner, or investor, is an opportunity to learn more about how the world views your idea, team, and business model. There is data in every interaction, and while affirmation feels good, sometimes a \u201Cno\u201D\u00A0followed by a careful explanation\u00A0can provide the most useful learning for a team (though, be warned that not all data is actionable or useful).\r\n\r\nAt one end of the spectrum, a steady series of negative reactions from customer interviews can help steer a team away from targeting the wrong demographic or from even wasting capital and time on building a product nobody wants.\r\n\r\nBut in other less drastic cases, \u201Cno\u201D can help you identify and address potential issues that can turn into strengths.\r\n\r\nFor instance, when Smart Visions Labs started discussing our technology with optometrists, several brought up accommodation as a potential roadblock for using autorefractors (a process in which the optical power of the eye changes as the subject changes focus which can play havoc with prescriptions).\r\n\r\nThis feedback lead us to the leading figure in accommodation. He indicated that our design, when used in a particular way with the smartphone, can nearly eliminate accommodation which\u00A0is a huge advantage over the standard desktop autorefractors used by optometrists today. Now when we speak with optometrists,\u00A0we\u00A0raise the issue of accommodation.\r\nWhat about hearing \u201Cno\u201D from investors?\r\nThis one can be more difficult. But again, every meeting can have value.\r\n\r\nThere are two rules that will help lessen the blow of a \u201Cno\u201D from investors: 1) don\u2019t pitch to your target investor first, and 2) ask for feedback if the investor passes.\r\n\r\nPerhaps your story wasn\u2019t clean. Or, your go-to market wasn\u2019t well defined. Or your team was not complete enough. Next time around, take the feedback into consideration and consider adjusting accordingly if you agree.\r\nAre you pushing hard enough?\r\nBut, what if all your early interviews go well \u2013 and the prospective customers can\u2019t stop shaking their head up and down. Is it possible that you are not pushing hard enough with your assumptions? Perhaps there is value to finding the upwards bounds of your target customer\u2019s pain points.\r\nThis is fun\r\nSure, \u201Cno\u201D is no fun, and ultimately the goal is to get to \u201Cyes.\u201D But, the process of identifying what works and what doesn\u2019t can be very rewarding and will lead to the best outcome. So get out there. Get to \u201Cno\u201D\u2026 and then get to \u201Cyes.\u201D"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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