Three-Question Research Call
Find market gaps before investing in a new offer
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
This customer-discovery method uses a consistent set of three questions to uncover what buyers value, regret, and most urgently want solved. First, participants identify the action that most helped them scale, revealing proven value drivers. Second, they describe their lowest-return investment, exposing failed expectations and gaps in existing solutions. Third, a “magic wand” prompt removes practical constraints and surfaces the outcome they desire most. Responses are documented across many short calls, then analyzed for repeated patterns and missing puzzle pieces. Rather than immediately launching a new vertical, the team forms a hypothesis about one promising gap and designs a small test to determine whether people want the solution and will pay for it.
Origin
Jasmine Star described using these three questions across roughly 50 research calls while exploring products and services for seven- and eight-figure entrepreneurs on The Jasmine Star Show.
Core principles
- 01Talk directly to the people you intend to serve
- 02Look for repeated patterns rather than isolated requests
- 03Explore disappointing investments as well as successes
- 04Give people permission to describe an unconstrained ideal outcome
- 05Test a suspected solution before building a business around it
How to run it
- 1
Recruit relevant participants
Schedule short conversations with people who resemble the audience you want to serve. Seek enough interviews to distinguish recurring patterns from individual preferences.
Pro tip Jasmine used approximately 20-minute calls and repeated the process dozens of times.
Watch out Do not rely only on friends or people who are unlikely to buy the eventual offer.
- 2
Identify proven value
Ask what the participant has done that produced the greatest contribution to business growth. Probe for why it worked and what changed afterward.
Pro tip Capture the participant's language rather than translating it immediately into your terminology.
- 3
Investigate wasted investment
Ask which business activity delivered the least return and what they wish had been different. Use follow-up questions to uncover the expectation that went unmet.
Pro tip Ask why the investment failed instead of merely recording its name.
Watch out Do not assume that one person's poor result invalidates an entire solution category.
- 4
Create a magic-wand moment
Invite the participant to imagine that any business problem could be solved overnight. This removes perceived feasibility constraints and reveals the outcome they value most.
Pro tip Explicitly state that there is no dumb or unrealistic answer.
- 5
Map patterns and gaps
Compare notes across interviews and mark repeated needs, frustrations, and desired outcomes. Form hypotheses about the missing puzzle pieces connecting them.
Pro tip Store notes in a searchable workspace such as Notion.
Watch out Avoid elevating a vivid one-off comment above a pattern supported by multiple calls.
- 6
Test one puzzle piece
Build the smallest credible test of a promising solution and ask whether participants want it and will pay for it. Expand only after evidence supports the hypothesis.
Pro tip Frame the initiative as a test rather than a permanent new business vertical.
Watch out Do not hire a full operating team before validating demand.
In the wild
A consultant interviews 30 seven-figure founders. Many credit peer access for their growth, regret buying generic courses, and say their magic-wand outcome would be trusted guidance tailored to their current bottleneck. The consultant tests a small facilitated advisory cohort before developing a full membership platform.
→ The consultant validates willingness to pay while limiting development cost and launch risk.
Common mistakes
Pitching during the interview
Turning discovery into a sales call encourages polite or defensive answers instead of candid evidence about the participant's real experience.
Building from one striking answer
A memorable request is not necessarily a market pattern; compare it with responses across the full interview set.
Treating desire as purchase proof
Research produces a hypothesis, but a paid test is still needed to demonstrate demand.
Is it for you?
Best for
Entrepreneurs developing a new offer, entering a market, or expanding an existing product suite.
Not ideal for
Teams seeking statistically representative research without conducting a larger quantitative study.
From the transcript
“So these research calls I started with three questions.”
“So I focused on patterns, I focused on gaps, and I focused on the needs of people.”
“We simply say, what can we do to start testing this theory that this puzzle piece is actually viable, that people want it and people…”
From the episode
Quarter 3 Review: Laying Bricks for BIG Lead Acquisitions