Listen like it matters. Build Cohort 2 from what they say.
11 questions · 30 minutes per student · Mom Test rules · Sean Ellis PMF signal · marketing-grade testimonials. Walk out with the one thing to change and the one quote to put on your landing page.
⏱ 30 min/student
👥 1:1 video or in-person
🎯 11 questions · 4 phases
🧠 Mom Test + JTBD + Sean Ellis
Why this matters · 60 sec read
★ The interview is the product decision
You're sitting on a cohort of 25 shippers. The next 10 hours of conversation will give you 3 things money can't:
The ONE thing to change for Cohort 2 — not 17 things. The biggest lever.
Marketing-grade testimonials — specific dollar amounts, before/after, real names. The kind that sell C2 in 3 sentences.
Your PMF signal — Sean Ellis: if 40%+ say "very disappointed" Build Sprint shut down, you have something rare.
The trap to avoid: opinion-mining ("what did you think?"). The Mom Test rule: ask about specific past behavior, not future opinions. People lie about opinions to be nice. People can't lie about what they actually did last Tuesday.
01 Before the call · 5 min prep ritual
Open a fresh doc per student. Title it Cohort1_Feedback_[Name].md. Add these 4 lines:
What did they ship? (their project · 1 sentence)
What were they stuck on most? (recall from cohort chat / pod feedback)
Did they convert to paid users yet? (the win signal — yes/no/in-progress)
One personalized question for them (use P01 in the Prompt Pack to auto-generate this)
Format options:
🎥 Video call (recommended) · Zoom/Loom · record with consent. Auto-transcribe with Fireflies / Granola / Otter. The transcript is gold.
👋 In-person at NS · same questions · record voice memo on phone (ask permission). Transcribe later.
📝 Async written · only if the student can't do live. Same questions in a Notion form. You'll lose 50% of the signal — body language and pause-length carry meaning.
Recording disclosure script (10 sec, beginning of call):
"Mind if I record this? It's just for me — I'll use the transcript to make Cohort 2 better. Nothing gets shared publicly without your say-so. Cool?"
"Walk me through how the past 4 weeks have actually changed your work day."
Why this questionForces past-tense, behavioral framing. They tell a story (not give an opinion). You'll learn what changed in their actual life — which is the real product.
Listen forSpecific time-of-day rituals · new tools they keep open · the thing they stopped doing · emotional language ("I used to dread...", "now I just...")
Phase 2 · Outcomes · 6 min
Q2Concrete win⏱ 3 min
"What did you actually ship that you wouldn't have shipped without Build Sprint?"
Why this questionThe counterfactual is the value. "I would have built it anyway" = no value. "I never would have launched" = transformational. This question separates them.
Listen forThe artifact (URL · screenshot · demo link) · the timeline ("in week 2 I had..." vs "I'd been stuck on this for a year") · the unblock moment
If vague, probe:
"Can you send me the link after the call?"
"Before Build Sprint, what was stopping you from shipping it?"
"How many actual users does it have right now?"
Q3Testimonial gold⏱ 3 min
"Tell me about the moment in the program where you felt 'oh — this is working.' What happened that day?"
Why this questionThe aha moment is the most quotable thing you'll get. It's specific, it has narrative, it has emotion. This is your landing-page testimonial.
Listen forDay number ("Day 7..."), specific feature ("when I shipped my first Stripe checkout..."), a named person who reacted ("a friend texted me..."). Mark this section in your notes — you'll quote it.
If they pause, prompt with:
"Was it a specific session? A specific prompt? A moment in the cohort chat?"
"Was there a moment your partner / friend / boss noticed something different?"
Phase 3 · What worked · 10 min
Q4Forced ranking⏱ 3 min
"Which session would you immediately recommend to a friend? Which one would you skip?"
Why this questionForced ranking is the cheat code for honest feedback. "What did you like?" gets a polite list. "Which would you skip?" makes them pick — and that's the data you need.
Listen forRecurring sessions across interviews (your peaks and valleys). If 5 people say "skip Day 11" → that's a Cohort 2 redesign signal.
Probe deeper:
"Why that one specifically? What made it click / not click?"
"If you had to redesign the skip-it one, what would you do instead?"
Q5Behavior, not opinion⏱ 2 min
"Which AI prompt from the kits did you actually paste into Claude or Cursor the MOST? Why?"
Why this questionUse vs. opinion. They might say all the prompts were "great" but only 2-3 are in their daily flow. Those are your hits — make Cohort 2 lead with those.
Listen forSpecific prompt names · whether they MODIFIED the prompt (signal of value: they kept it but tailored it) · whether they SHARED it with anyone outside the cohort
Q6Cohort dynamic⏱ 4 min
"Think about the cohort. Who's a builder you watched closely or learned from? What did they do that you copied?"
Why this questionThree signals at once: (a) is cohort value real or theatre? (b) who are your hero-students for testimonials? (c) what behaviors are spreading peer-to-peer? Those are Cohort 2 norms.
Listen forNames that come up across multiple interviews (your star alumni) · specific behaviors ("she posted daily on LinkedIn", "he showed his Stripe number") · whether they made friends or just classmates
Phase 4 · What to fix · 6 min
Q7The big lever⏱ 3 min
"If you were running Build Sprint Cohort 2, what's the ONE thing you'd change?"
Why this questionForcing function. "What could be better?" gets 5 weak ideas. "ONE thing" gets the one that's actually been bugging them. If the same change comes up from 5+ students, that's your Cohort 2 redesign priority.
Listen forThe same change repeated by different students (your priority list). Distinguish "more X" (additive · easy fix) vs "instead of X" (replace · big redesign).
If they say "nothing":
"Okay, then what's the ONE thing you'd protect — that we should never change?" (also valuable data)
Q8Silent friction⏱ 3 min
"Was there a moment you got stuck and DIDN'T ask for help? What stopped you?"
Why this questionReveals unspoken friction — the gap between "I had a question" and "I asked." Could be social (felt dumb) · structural (didn't know the channel) · timing (asked too late). Each has a different Cohort 2 fix.
Listen forPhrases like "I didn't want to look stupid" (psychological safety issue) · "I didn't know if it was the right channel" (UX issue) · "I figured it out eventually" (you lost 2 days of velocity)
Phase 5 · Future intent · 5 min
Q9Sean Ellis · PMF⏱ 1 min
"If Build Sprint shut down tomorrow and Cohort 2 never happened, how would you feel?"
Give them 3 options: (a) Very disappointed · (b) Somewhat disappointed · (c) Not really disappointed
Why this questionThe Sean Ellis test. Industry benchmark: if 40%+ of users say "very disappointed," you have product-market fit. Below 40% = keep iterating. This single number anchors investor conversations and Cohort 2 pricing.
Listen forThe number AND the reason. Track in your synthesis sheet. Calculate the % at the end.
Always follow with:
"What's the main reason for that answer?" (the rationale is more useful than the score)
Q10Repeat intent⏱ 2 min
"Would you do Build Sprint Cohort 2 if it existed? Why or why not?"
Why this questionTests if your product has a second arc. If most C1 students would re-enroll → there's expansion revenue. If they say "I already learned what I needed" → you need to design C2 as a different level (Advanced · Scale · Distribution), not a repeat.
Listen for"I'd do an advanced version" → C2 product spec writes itself. "I'd send my co-founder" → referral path. "I'm good" → they extracted value, now design for new buyers.
Q11Referral language⏱ 2 min
"Who in your network would you tell about Build Sprint? Walk me through what you'd actually say to them."
Why this questionTwo payoffs: (a) the persona description ("my friend Sam who's been stuck on his SaaS for 8 months") = your next ICP, and (b) THE WORDS THEY USE to describe Build Sprint = your next landing page headline. Steal their words. They sell it better than you do.
Listen forThe persona (job · stage · pain) · the verbatim phrasing ("it's like a bootcamp for finishing things") · whether they've already told someone
Phase 6 · Close · 1 min
Q12Catch-all⏱ 1 min
"Anything else I should have asked but didn't?"
Why this questionThe "what's on your mind that I missed" question. Sometimes the most valuable signal is something you never thought to ask. 1 in 10 will tell you something gold. Worth the 60 seconds.
End with:"Can I use any of what you said as a testimonial? I'll send you the exact wording before publishing." → Get permission while it's warm.
⚠️ The Mom Test rules · Do / Don't
These are the rules. Print them. The interview will go sideways if you forget them.
✅ DO
Ask about specific past behavior ("Walk me through last Tuesday...")
Ask "why" 3 times in a row to get to the real reason
Embrace silence — count to 5 after their answer. They'll add the gold.
Mirror their words — "You said 'stuck.' What does stuck look like?"
Get concrete — names · dates · dollars · URLs
Take notes verbatim when they say something quotable — exact words matter for testimonials
Ask permission to follow up in 2 weeks if you need it
❌ DON'T
Ask hypotheticals ("Would you pay $X for...?" — they'll lie to be nice)
Pitch Cohort 2 during the interview — you'll bias every answer after
Defend the program when they criticize — say "tell me more"
Leading questions ("Don't you think the deck was great?")
Talk more than 20% of the time — you're listening, not teaching
Fix things in real time — capture, don't act
Skip the recording disclosure — get explicit consent
📊 After the interview · synthesis ritual
Within 24 hours of each call (while it's fresh):
Run Prompt P03 in the Prompt Pack on the transcript → get themes, testimonials, and the surprise of the day. ~5 min.
Copy the verbatim quotes into your master "Testimonial Bank" doc · tag with student name + permission status.
Drop the Sean Ellis answer into your PMF tracker (count of A / B / C).
Add 1 line to the "Cohort 2 Changes" doc — what THIS student told you to change.
After ALL interviews are done (week-end ritual):
Run Prompt P04 (cross-interview synthesis) on all transcripts → ranked themes, ranked changes, top 5 testimonials.
Run Prompt P06 → your Cohort 2 redesign brief (which sessions to keep, redesign, kill, add).
Run Prompt P05 → the cohort recap email ("Here's what you taught me. Here's what changes.") · send to all 25.
The best founders interview customers like a documentary filmmaker, not a marketer. You're trying to learn the truth — not validate the pitch.
— Rob Fitzpatrick · The Mom Test
🎯 Success criteria · what "great" looks like
25
interviews complete (100% of cohort)
40%+
"very disappointed" (Sean Ellis PMF bar)
5
testimonials w/ named results
3
Cohort 2 changes (prioritized)
1
surprise insight you didn't expect
1
landing-page headline · stolen verbatim
If you hit all 6 → Cohort 2 designs itself. The student feedback IS the Cohort 2 product brief.