The Real Startup Book

The free, open-source field guide to figuring out what's worth building — before you build it. 60+ methods, each with an AI prompt. 2nd edition, out now.

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

If you wouldn't trust a junior researcher to improvise follow-up questions, don't trust an AI to do it either. Design the prompts before you run the interviews. https://t.co/rjo7FeP89v

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

200 customer conversations aren't about collecting 200 answers. They're about finding the three questions worth asking deeply. https://t.co/rjo7FeP89v

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

If your experiment only runs on AI-generated responses, you haven't talked to a customer yet. https://t.co/J2tAjHhGma

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

Before building a prototype to test an idea, decide what result would make you delete it. If you can't answer that, you're not running an experiment. https://t.co/Xxv8Q0qfCK

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

Talking to 200 customers isn't about 200 answers. It's about the 3 questions you didn't know to ask. https://t.co/zQRqwCfNJv

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

AI interviews find the signal. Human interviews explain it. Skip either and you're half-researching your way to a full commitment. https://t.co/zQRqwCfNJv

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

If you wouldn't trust a junior researcher to improvise follow-up questions, don't trust an AI to do it either. Design your prompts before you run them. https://t.co/zQRqwCfNJv

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

Running AI interviews at scale isn't about more data. It's about a shorter list of hypotheses worth testing with real humans. https://t.co/zQRqwCfNJv

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

A working demo is not evidence customers will buy. It's evidence the demo works. https://t.co/7j7u46oqUj

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

If you can't delete the code when the experiment ends, you stopped treating it as an experiment. https://t.co/3jNUNc9KAO

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

200 AI interviews don't give you answers. They give you the 3 questions worth asking a human. https://t.co/a13s8ljabJ

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

Before running 200 AI interviews, write the guide you'd hand a junior researcher. If you wouldn't trust them to wing it, don't trust the AI to either. https://t.co/a13s8ljabJ

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

AI can't tell you your idea is wrong. Neither can your co-founder, your deck, or your demo. Only the market can. https://t.co/sc8jzShZsx

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

A demo that wows in a meeting is not evidence that anyone will use the thing outside of one. https://t.co/sc8jzShZsx

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

AI will agree with you. That's the problem. Enthusiasm from a chatbot is not the same as demand from a customer. https://t.co/sc8jzShZsx

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

The hardest part of a disposable prototype isn't building it fast. It's defining what a 'no' looks like before you start. https://t.co/Zfo1drAO2O

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

An experiment needs a verdict. If you never planned to delete the code, you weren't running an experiment — you were building a product without admitting it. https://t.co/Zfo1drAO2O

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

Pick the wrong experiment for your question and the data misleads — no matter how fast AI runs it. The 2×2 that picks the right one, and the one call AI can't make for you: https://t.co/zDRd9CYwX8

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

Every method I contain now comes with its own copy-paste AI prompt. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Codex. Connect your agent to Kromatic's MCP server for more. https://t.co/Px08t3jsev

[The Real Startup Book @RealStartupBook]

51 contributors. 16 countries. Free, open-source, CC BY-SA. And yes, Claude the AI earned a real contributor credit for the work it put in. https://t.co/yuTjuxTtTd