Singapore solo founders: ask about the customer problem before pitching

The problem

You have a business idea but founder mixers may contain few people who face the customer problem.

Choose the uncertainty you need to reduce

Write one assumption about the problem before choosing an event. In an invented example, a solo founder believes a small business misses bookings because staff copy enquiries between channels. The uncertainty is whether copying causes a missed handover, not whether people like a proposed booking app. DesignSingapore’s customer-research article discusses observation, interviews, a research question and prototype testing. It provides context for investigating the task; use the suggested conversation sequence below to prepare your own task question. Choose a learning setting for an uncertain problem and presentation practice when the immediate gap is explaining a proposal.

• DesignSingapore: understanding customers through design ↗ · Source checked 20 October 2026

Bring an honest brief when no product exists

Prepare four lines: who needs to do what; the account or observation you already have; what you are only assuming; and the question you want help planning. Write “none yet” if you have no relevant accounts or observations. You can add a separate sketch labelled hypothetical concept, with its unsupported behaviour clearly marked. In an invented preparation example, a founder draws an enquiry moving to a capacity decision and then to a reply. The brief says that the proposed screen does not run or accept bookings and that the cause of delay is still unknown. Ask for help choosing what to investigate, rather than presenting the drawing as a tested workflow. A polished sketch is not evidence that customers use or want it. Before booking, ask whether an idea-stage case is accepted or the exercise requires a working prototype, existing research or another prerequisite. Bring the material the actual format calls for; no product does not automatically admit or exclude you.

Match the room to the conversation

Compare three formats by the work they allow. A sector discussion may include people with relevant task experience, but confirm whether introductions and questions are part of the programme. A discovery workshop may teach you to prepare research without supplying actual customers. A pitch session can help you practise presenting without establishing that the problem matters to prospective users. Record the stated participants, permitted activity and question you expect that activity to answer. In its overview checked on 8 October 2026, SME Centre @SMCCI describes advisory, diagnostics, group projects and capability workshops as separate services; none of those categories promises a customer interview or current place. For the separate user-versus-buyer question, use the existing guide on finding the missing adoption perspective.

• SME Centre @SMCCI business support ↗ · Source checked 8 October 2026

• Identify whether the missing perspective is a user, buyer or approver →

Open with the task and ask permission

Use a short opening such as: “I am learning how small teams handle booking enquiries. Is this a task you deal with, and would you be comfortable describing one recent example?” Say what you are learning rather than disguising a sales conversation as research. A person can decline, describe only general practice or have no relevant experience; accept that answer and do not press for introductions or private records. If the event is a class, follow its exercise and ask the organiser whether independent participant conversations are appropriate. Permission for a brief chat does not also establish permission to record or use contact details.

Follow one recent task before showing the idea

Ask four connected questions: “What prompted the last enquiry?”; “What happened from receiving it to confirming or closing it?”; “Where, if anywhere, did the task become difficult?”; and “What did you do instead?” Let the account change your next question. In the invented booking example, a participant says staff copied a message correctly but waited for an unavailable colleague to confirm capacity. Ask what information or decision was missing at that point. Do not rewrite that account as proof that copying caused the delay, or ask “Would my app fix this?” before understanding it. A general claim that the process is frustrating is a useful opening for a concrete example, not a reason to supply the cause yourself.

Record the account separately from your explanation

Add a context line noting the person’s relationship to you and their relevant firsthand task experience. A friend may know the work; a stranger may not. Judge the account and its limits rather than where you met. Use five fields after an appropriate conversation: task and circumstance; what the person reported; what you directly observed, if anything; your interpretation; unanswered question. For the invented example, “waited for capacity confirmation” belongs under the reported account, while “needs a shared capacity display” is the founder’s proposed explanation or solution. An event chat may provide no direct observation at all; leave that field empty. Keep a praise comment separate from the task account and from any actual follow-up agreement. One conversation can challenge your assumption or suggest a question. It does not establish how often the problem occurs across Singapore businesses or prove willingness to buy.

Ask for the next useful check

Choose the next question from the gap in the account. If a delayed booking might reflect unclear responsibility or unavailable information, ask how a timely handover differs from the delayed one. If the person has only heard about the task, record that limit rather than treating the account as firsthand experience. When follow-up would help, ask whether they want a narrowly described further conversation and use only the contact route they agree to. Bring an invented or authorised simplified case to a peer workshop when the real material cannot be shared. Do not upload somebody’s messages or booking records merely because a facilitator requests examples. Turn that next question into four fields: assumption; permitted check; observation that would distinguish explanations; decision to reconsider if the assumption does not hold. In the invented booking case, the assumption is that copying an enquiry caused the delay. A planned check could compare an appropriately shared account of a timely handover with a delayed one, asking whether the message was copied and whether the capacity decision was available. If both accounts describe correct copying but differ at the capacity step, reconsider building around copying alone and investigate that decision point. This would challenge the proposed cause without proving the alternative or demand for a product. Mark unavailable evidence as missing. Choose one interpretable check before changing several parts of a workflow; a peer’s suggested experiment is still a plan until the appropriate process and permissions are established.

Check what a mentoring offer actually provides

Put your current discovery question beside the advertised offer. Is it a speaker’s talk, a group discussion, feedback on a participant case, an application for mentor matching or ongoing support? Ask who answers questions, how much of the format accommodates your case, and what selection or matching step applies. Record what would confirm the actual person, session and support arrangement, then check any fees, duration and follow-up commitments. A submitted application is not a confirmed mentor relationship, and a talk by an experienced founder does not establish individual support afterward. Choose the activity for the help it actually offers; keep any later programme decision separate. If the discovery question remains unanswered, record that gap rather than treating an adviser’s confidence as customer evidence.

Decide whether this event serves the learning task

Before booking, complete a small comparison: the assumption I am examining; the relevant experience described in the invitation; the activity available to me; and the unanswered condition that could change my choice. An attractive speaker list without a suitable conversation format may still serve another purpose, but it does not fill this evidence gap. After attending, write what changed in the assumption and what remains unknown. If you only practised asking questions with other founders, keep that as preparation rather than customer evidence. Use Boardzip’s current search after defining the task and format. Check the organiser’s actual admission and participation terms; a matching startup topic does not promise prospective customers or permission to interview them.