You know that moment when you have a business idea that feels solid, but you're staring at your laptop wondering: "Who the hell am I supposed to talk to about this?"
You've read all the customer development books. You know you need to get out of the building and talk to real people. But when you actually try to find potential customers to interview, you hit a wall.
Cold LinkedIn messages get ignored. Your personal network is too small or too biased. Facebook groups feel spammy. Reddit posts get buried or deleted.
We've been there. And after watching dozens of founders struggle with the same problem, we decided to solve it.
The Problem Every Founder Faces
Here's what happens: You have an idea. Maybe it's good, maybe it's terrible—you honestly don't know. The smart move is to validate it before building anything.
So you start looking for people to interview. You need folks who fit your target customer profile and are willing to spend 30 minutes explaining their problems to a stranger.
This should be simple. It's not.
Most founders try:
- Posting in Facebook groups (gets deleted or ignored)
- Cold outreach on LinkedIn (2% response rate if you're lucky)
- Asking friends and family (who lie to be nice)
- Reddit posts (buried in minutes)
- Twitter polls (surface-level responses)
After weeks of this, you're frustrated, behind schedule, and starting to wonder if you should just build the damn thing and hope for the best.
That's exactly how bad products get built.
Why Traditional Methods Fail
The core problem isn't that people don't want to help. It's that the incentives are misaligned.
When you cold message someone on LinkedIn asking for a "quick 15-minute chat about their workflow," you're asking them to:
- Trust a stranger
- Give up their time
- Share potentially sensitive information about their job
- Get nothing in return except the warm fuzzy feeling of helping an entrepreneur
Most people scroll past.
The few who do respond often give you what they think you want to hear rather than brutal honesty. After all, they're doing you a favor—why would they crush your dreams?
Our Solution: Cotsumer
Cotsumer flips the script. Instead of you hunting for people to interview, we find qualified participants and bring them to you.
Here's how it works:
1. You tell us who you need to talk to
Define your ideal customer profile—job title, industry, company size, specific challenges they face.
2. We source qualified participants
We run targeted outreach to find people who match your criteria and are willing to participate in a paid interview.
3. You get a calendar of confirmed interviews
Real people, pre-screened, compensated fairly for their time, ready to give you honest feedback.
4. You conduct the interviews
We handle the logistics. You focus on asking great questions and learning.
Why This Changes Everything
Participants give honest feedback because they're being compensated professionally. This isn't charity—it's a transaction. They can afford to tell you your idea sucks if it actually sucks.
You get higher-quality conversations because participants are pre-qualified. No more wasting time talking to people who aren't actually your target customer.
You move faster because the hardest part (finding people) is handled for you. Instead of spending weeks on outreach, you can be interviewing customers within days.
You get unbiased insights because participants don't know you personally and have no reason to protect your feelings.
Who This Is For
Cotsumer is built for founders in that messy early stage where you have an idea but haven't built anything yet. You know you need customer research, but you're stuck on the logistics.
This isn't for established companies with research budgets and customer lists. It's for the entrepreneur working nights and weekends who needs to validate an idea before quitting their day job.
If you're past the "shower thoughts" stage but before the "building an MVP" stage, this is for you.
What's Next
We're starting with a small group of founders to refine the process and prove the concept. If you're struggling to find people to interview about your business idea, we want to help.
The early access is intentionally limited—we'd rather do this right for a few founders than poorly for many.
Ready to stop hunting for interview participants and start talking to customers?
Apply for early access and tell us about your idea. We'll let you know if we can help you find the right people to validate it.