Who Is Your Real Customer? Focus, Make Trade-Offs, and Conduct In-Depth Interviews Before Building

As expected, when the godfather of semiconductors talks about “customers,” the response is different. Many people do not understand TSMC’s business model. A business model is determined by “who the customer is,” not “what the product is.” TSMC’s model is semiconductor manufacturing services; its customers are “other semiconductor companies,” all in European and American markets. They want genuine technical support and progress. Business is not about personal connections or saving face, so one of his most frequent activities is visiting customers across Europe and America. --- Robin: “Who is your real customer?” First, make trade-offs and focus. Remember: from a vast river, take just one ladleful. You cannot try to build a product that satisfies everyone at the start of a business, or attempt to create an all-encompassing platform when you have no resources. Next, spend time understanding your customers. Before you thoroughly understand your target customers, do not rush headlong into building. Conduct in-depth interviews with them first to confirm demand. (Of course, starting with your own needs provides a niche entry point; I have mentioned that many times on Facebook.) Interview customers, confirm demand, build an MVP, put it in customers’ hands to validate it and gather feedback, then iterate quickly. Before taking those steps, do not spend too much time looking for investors. They will ask what demand interviews you have conducted, what feedback and validation you have obtained, and what data you have collected. Investors do not want a CEO who acts on instinct alone. Investors will ask to see the back-end data directly and request customer interviews.