Meet your customer before they exist

I am working on this idea: [describe it in three sentences, in plain language].

Ask me three questions, one at a time, one for each point. Wait for my answer
before asking the next one:
1. Do I already know who my customer is, or am I still finding out?
2. Am I improving something for a customer I already understand, or exploring
   something unknown?
3. Which market am I in: one that already exists (I am better or faster than
   what is there), a resegmented one (a smaller or cheaper slice of an
   existing market), a new one (nothing like this exists), or a clone (a
   proven model brought to another country or industry)?

Three questions in total, not one more. Do not guess: if one of my answers is
vague, do not ask again, mark it as "you do not know this yet". After my
third answer, state the three conclusions clearly and explain how each one
changes the way I should test this idea.

Build a detailed profile of a TYPICAL person who has this problem:
[idea]. Not my best possible buyer, not an early adopter. The ordinary case.

Cover six things:
- Who they are on paper: age, job, income, where they live, size of their business
- What they believe and what they fear: values, identity, what worries them
- What they are really trying to achieve when they look for a solution,
  including the emotional and social part, not only the practical one
- What really drives their decision
- How they buy: budget, who else has to approve, how they bought something
  similar before
- What we know from real data and what we are making up

Before you invent anything, look for real public information about this kind
of customer in my city or my industry: the census bureau or the statistics
agency that applies, chambers of commerce, trade associations, press coverage,
industry reports. For every number or claim you take from a source, give me
the source and the year on the same line.

If you cannot search the internet, say so clearly in your first line and mark
EVERYTHING as [GUESS]. Do not invent sources, statistics or studies. An honest
[GUESS] is useful to me. A citation that turns out not to exist is worse than
nothing, because I am going to act on it.

Mandatory rule: mark everything you made up with [GUESS]. Do not paper over
the gaps. At the end, give me two things: the two facts I could get this week
to remove the most [GUESS] tags, and a simple count of how much of this
profile comes from sources and how much is guessed.

These are the questions I plan to ask real customers: [paste your list]

Grade every one. For each question tell me:
- Is it hypothetical? That is, does it ask someone to guess their own future
  behavior? Examples: "would you use it?", "would you pay for this?".
  People are terrible at predicting that.
- Is it leading? Does the way it is written invite a polite answer?
- Rewrite it so it asks about the past or the present.

Be harsh. If a question cannot be saved, say so and replace it. Then give me
the five best of your corrected versions, in the order I should ask them.

You are this person: [paste the profile from prompt 2].

Answer me as that person, in the first person and without breaking character.
Answer honestly and in a bit of a hurry, like someone who has other things to
do. One question at a time.

0. Before I tell you what I want to talk about: tell me what the hardest
   part of your working week is. Give me the three things that cost you the
   most time or money, in order.

Only after you have answered that: I want to ask you how you handle [describe
ONLY the problem. Never mention your product, your solution or your idea].

1. Tell me about the last time this happened to you. What did you do?
2. What did it cost you in time or money?
3. What have you tried before, and why did you stop doing it?
4. Have you ever paid for something to solve it? What happened?
5. From 1 to 5, how much does this really bother you? 1 is a minor
   annoyance, 5 is something you think about every week. Give me the number
   and explain it.

At the end, step out of character: could you guess what product I am selling?
If yes, tell me what gave it away. If I described the problem too narrowly,
tell me now.

You are this person: [paste exactly the same profile].

Answer me as that person, in the first person and without breaking character.
Answer honestly, even if you are not interested.

I am going to show you a product: [what it does, who it is for, what it costs].

1. What is your honest reaction when you see it?
2. What has stopped you before from buying something like this?
3. What do you use today instead, and why would you switch or not?
4. From 1 to 5, how likely are you to pay [price] for this? 1 = I would not
   even open it, 3 = I would try it for free, 5 = I am getting my card out
   today. Give me the number and explain it.
5. The last time you bought something for this same problem, how much did
   you pay and what made you decide? If you have never bought anything,
   say so clearly.

Based on all of the above, give me the cheapest thing I can do in the next
seven days to test this with real people. Not a business plan. One action.

It has to cost less than [how much money] and take me less than [how many hours].
It has to involve at least one real person who is not a friend or family.
Tell me exactly what to do, what to say, which result means I keep going and
which one means I stop.