Customer Visits for Entrepreneurs

Provides practical guidelines for conducting customer visits to explore and validate demand for an entrepreneurial offering. Reviews conditions under which visits will yield superior insights, compared to other research methods. Describes criteria for selecting visit sites; how to plan for visits; how to conduct them most effectively; and how to debrief after visits. The note is therefore relevant to MBA, Executive Education, Field Study, or project contexts where the focus is startups, entrepreneurial management, new product development, business development, or innovation.