Coaching Students and Teams to Listen to Customer Needs

The objective of this article is to support student and faculty researchers who endeavor to commercialize their technology. We share our experiences as evidence-based lean start-up instructors who coach fledgling start-ups as they attempt to spin out intellectual property from within research institutions. Our instruction is deeprooted in customer discovery-the act of talking with and observing customers to ensure that the solution provided best fits their needs and, as a result, will more likely bear the fruit of a successful commercialization effort.