Customer research is vital to understand potential customers and their problems for a successful entrepreneurial venture.Customer research helps to understand a specific group of customers or businesses one plans to serve.The primary goal is to validate the need for a product before investing heavily in development.Conduct in-depth, one-on-one interviews with potential customers to get qualitative insights.Surveys can validate the insights obtained from interviews, but qualitative research allows a deep understanding of potential customers.Integrating marketing and sales early in the development process guarantees better alignment and smoother launch.A structured customer research process should include clear goals, preparation, and a set of interview questions.Interviewees should be pre-qualified before diving into a full interview by brief surveys or a 5-minute conversation.Conducting interviews should be done in person or via video call and should be limited to two or three interviews a day.Immediately after each interview, start analysing, and distil findings into key actionable insights.