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Customer interviews in B2B SaaS are about one thing: finding a painful, budgeted problem and the person who owns it. Good questions dig into what people already do and pay for, not what they say they would buy. Here is how to find the right people and what to ask them.

All guidesFor founders of a B2B SaaS

1. Pick one job title and one situation

Interview a narrow group, not "small businesses." Write one line like "RevOps managers at 20-200 person SaaS companies who clean CRM data by hand every month." Every interview should fit that line. If it does not, you are collecting noise.

2. Find people where they already talk

Search LinkedIn for the exact title plus company size, and check communities like RevGenius, Pavilion's free content, r/sales, r/sysadmin or the Slack groups for your niche. Search Reddit with something like "site:reddit.com hate updating salesforce" to find people describing the pain in their own words. Note the names of people who complain in public. They are your first list.

3. Ask for 20 minutes, not a demo

Keep the ask small and honest. Example: "Hi Sam, I'm building a tool for RevOps teams who clean CRM data manually. Not selling anything yet. Could I ask you 4 questions about how you handle it today? 20 minutes, any day this week." Send 15 a day and expect a handful of yeses.

4. Open with the last time it happened

Ask about a specific recent event, not opinions. Use: "Walk me through the last time you had to fix bad data in the CRM. What triggered it? What did you do, step by step?" Follow up with "How long did that take?" and "Who else got pulled in?" Specific stories show you real cost and frequency.

5. Find out what they already pay for

Budget is the line between a nice idea and a business. Ask: "What tools or people do you use for this today? What does that cost? Who signed off on it?" If they have tried and paid for something, the pain is real. If they have never tried anything, it may not be worth solving.

6. Map who buys and how

In B2B, the user is often not the buyer. Ask: "If you found a tool that fixed this, what would happen next? Who would need to approve it? Is there a security review or procurement step?" This tells you whether you are selling to a manager with a card or a VP with a six-month cycle.

7. End with a real commitment

Close every call with a concrete next step that costs them something. Example: "If I build a version that does X by the end of the month, would you pay $200 a month for a pilot?" or "Can you intro me to the person who would approve it?" A yes to money, time or an intro counts. "Sounds cool, keep me posted" does not.

8. Log patterns after every call

Right after each call, write the exact phrases they used, the cost of the problem, current tools and the next step. After 10 calls, look for the problem three or more people described the same way. Hulby, an AI cofounder, does this outreach, note-taking and follow-up daily for founders so the interviews keep coming.

People asking this right now

Real, public posts from the last few weeks. Each one is somebody you could help today.

Mistakes to skip

  • Asking "Would you use a tool that does X?" which invites polite yeses instead of facts.
  • Pitching your product in the first ten minutes and turning the interview into a sales call.
  • Interviewing anyone who will talk, instead of one job title in one situation.
  • Ending calls without asking for money, a pilot or an intro to the buyer.

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Questions

How many interviews do I need?

Aim for 10 to 15 with the same job title. Patterns usually show up by then. If they do not, your target group is too broad.

Should I offer a gift card to get interviews?

No need. Most B2B people will give 20 minutes to talk about a problem they hate. A short, specific, honest ask works better than a reward.

Can I interview people at companies I want as customers?

Yes, and you should. Just be clear you are not selling yet. Some of the best interviews turn into pilots later.

What if nobody replies to my outreach?

Make the message shorter and more specific to their role and pain. Try a different channel, like a niche Slack group or a comment reply on LinkedIn, and send more messages each day.