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    INTERMEDIATERESEARCH07 de mai. de 2026

    Customer Interview 5-Why

    5-Why script for customer discovery: every Why about past behavior (never future intent), with the signal to listen for, follow-ups for socially-correct answers and a verbal bridge to the next one. Post-call summary template included.

    View on GitHub
    WORKS IN
    CLAUDEany setup

    Pure-LLM skill. No MCP, no paid tool required. Works on Claude.ai web, desktop and Claude Code.

    WORKS BEST WITH
    • Filesystemoptional

      saves the post-interview summary to ~/discovery-notes/<date>-<company>.md automatically — the next interview reads it and avoids re-asking

    • Google Calendaroptional

      checks the real duration of the scheduled call and adjusts the script (45min vs 30min) with time left for the summary

    TAGS
    foundercustomerinterview5-whydiscovery

    What this skill does

    A customer interview script based on the 5-Why method. Digs from the problem the interviewee states down to the root problem in at most 5 questions. Structures every Why to avoid leading questions and hypothetical answers.

    When to use

    • Early-stage customer discovery (no product yet)
    • When conversion dropped and you need to understand why
    • Before changing positioning or pivoting

    Don't use for:

    • Sales calls (use discovery-call-script)
    • Validating a specific feature (use prd-writer with discovery)

    How it works

    1. You give it: the hypothesized problem (1 sentence) + ICP
    2. The skill generates Why #1: a question about past behavior
    3. For each Why, it suggests the signal to look for and 2 follow-ups
    4. Flags where you will probably hit the 'socially correct answer'
    5. Gives you the transition between each Why (a natural verbal bridge)
    6. Ends with a summary template for you to fill in after the interview

    5-Why principles

    • ALWAYS ask about the past: 'the last time you...', 'tell me about the time you...'
    • NEVER ask about the future/intent: 'would you pay for this?'
    • 5 is a ceiling, not a target. Stop when you hit the root problem
    • Careful with a literal 'why?' (sounds like an interrogation). Use 'how' / 'what happened'
    • Write down the verbatim quote, not a paraphrase

    Output example

    5-Why Interview — ICP: small digital agency
Hypothesis: agencies pay for ready-made AI workflows

Why #1
"Tell me about the last time you had to audit a client's SEO"
Signal: describes a manual process with 3+ tools
Follow-up: "how long did that take?" / "was the result good?"

Transition: "if it's that annoying..."

Why #2
"Why haven't you built a template / SOP for it?"
Signal: previous attempts that failed
Follow-up: "what blocked it?"
Careful: may hit 'I don't have time' (socially correct answer)
Dig deeper: "who on the team tried? how far did they get?"

Why #3
"Who decides how money gets spent on tools today?"
Signal: reveals the approval chain
Follow-up: "what was the last tool you bought? how did that go?"

...

Summary template (fill in after the call)
Company: ___ | Size: ___
Root problem identified: ___
Gold quote: ___ (to use on a landing page/cold email)
Would they pay? How do we know? ___
Next person they recommended interviewing: ___

    Pre-reqs

    None.

    Build.

    Work.

    Dream.

    Create.