We have to draw a line between "Customers" as in "Customer interviews" as in "People I want to learn about to maybe build something for who MIGHT become actual

We have to draw a line between "Customers" as in "Customer interviews" as in "People I want to learn about to maybe build something for who MIGHT become actual customers with money later" -- and actual customers, who are already paying you money. It's easier to get actual information out of actual customers, because they have something concrete to start with (your existing product). Speculating about potential problems with Customers™ of the first kind doesn't work so well. I don't think any of my products were products people would have complained about to start with, but once we (yes!) educated them, they were excited. Part of education means clearly showing the potential customer what pain they're in that they're currently ignoring. Most people block out daily pain & annoyances… even big ones. After all, if they haven't seen hope that it'll get better, why constantly be upset by it? Natural human coping mechanism. I think this is where big wins exist.