How to do (and what to expect from) early stage customer development

I've often heard corporate salespeople use the ABC (Always Be Closing) mantra, but Rob is so right ... for start-ups, it's ABT (Always Be Talking). And his comment about the conversations having a "goal" is perfect. You really do need to know what you're trying to learn before you start.

Reframing the customer dev relationship as an advisor relationship and the mom test are two of the best ideas I've heard on customer development.<p>Going over to devour his blog...