Once you understand a problem better than your customers you acquire a super-power. When you can articulate a problem more clearly than your customers, they automatically assume that you must also have a solution. So they pay more attention to you and share even more. This helps in further prioritizing the obstacles that stand in the way of their desired outcomes and allow you to build a solution that fits.
How do you tell when an entrepreneur is pitching? Their lips are moving. The way you sidestep this is by talking less and listening more during these interviews.
A golden rule for discovery interviews is focusing on what customers actually did in the past versus asking what they'll do in the future.
Do NOT ask questions like:
Pretend you're a journalist. Your job is to uncover the raw story.
Even if you have already have a narrow early adopter definition, go a bit broader. We want to find the largest subset of early adopters, not the smallest. You'll have ample opportunity to narrow down later.
When you're interviewing customers, you often find that until you break the ice, many customers only give you short answers that skim surface problems. The way to go deeper is to be naturally curious, don't assume anything, and follow-up with qualifying open ended questions like:
It always help to run these interviews in pairs so you can take turns at asking questions while the other takes notes and formulates additional questions. It's also a great way of keeping your confirmation biases in check.