The story in brief
I-Corps provides a useful example of researchers learning about potential applications through contact with the intended setting. The transferable practice is investigating assumptions before treating them as demand.
The U.S. National Science Foundation’s I-Corps programme uses experiential education to help researchers explore the commercial potential of technologies. Its stated mission concerns reducing the uncertainty between laboratory work and wider implementation. For founders elsewhere, the useful lesson is the learning approach, not an assumption that a U.S. programme is available to every applicant.
A conversation should investigate behaviour
Ask how someone currently handles the problem, what makes it difficult and what they have already tried. Those questions often reveal more than asking whether they like a proposed idea. A polite response to a demonstration is different from evidence that the problem is important enough to change an existing routine.
Carry the learning back to the team
Our editorial suggestion is to record what was observed, what was inferred and what still needs checking. Look for recurring patterns across relevant people while preserving disagreements that may reveal different user groups. The purpose is to improve the venture’s assumptions before development hardens around them. Research translation becomes a series of informed decisions rather than a single leap from invention to launch.
Ask about the last time the problem occurred
A prospective user may politely endorse an idea without needing it enough to change their behaviour. Ask instead about a recent experience: what happened, how they handled it and what made the situation difficult. Listen for existing alternatives and the people involved in deciding to adopt something new. Avoid turning every conversation into a presentation of the solution. After several interviews, compare what the team heard with the assumptions it began with. The purpose is to reduce uncertainty, including the possibility that the original use case is weak. This approach can inform founders elsewhere without implying that a particular programme accepts applicants from every location or background.
Put the idea to work
Use these questions to investigate the idea in your own context.
- Write the customer assumption you want to investigate.
- Ask about a recent real experience before explaining your idea.
- Record evidence that challenges the proposed use case as carefully as supporting evidence.
A closer look
Is customer discovery the same as asking whether people like an idea?
No. It investigates real behaviour, constraints and existing ways of handling a problem. Positive opinions can be interesting, but they do not alone demonstrate demand or explain how a customer would adopt a new solution.
Sources & editorial note
This guide draws on the sources below. Our practical questions and analysis are editorial interpretation. Historical documents describe their own period; use current official programme information for availability, terms and applications.
- National Science Foundation: I-Corps mission and experiential approach
- National Science Foundation: I-Corps teams and commercial exploration
See our editorial standards or request a correction. For another perspective, read A different kind of ambition: the Zerodha story
