The Founder’s 1‑Page Research Pack: Turn 10 Interviews into a Build‑or‑Kill Recommendation (and a One‑Page Spec)

Ten interviews is a practical balance for early founders: enough diversity to see patterns, small enough to synthesize quickly. The goal of synthesis is not a long report — it’s to convert raw quotes into repeatable observations and a clear recommendation. Treat each interview as one data point in a simple, auditable grid that yields frequency plus evidence.

Good synthesis connects multiple data points into a cohesive theme and separates observations from solutions. That makes your recommendation traceable: stakeholders (co‑founders, contractors, early users) can see which interviews supported which claims and how the decision was reached.

Run this workflow immediately after you finish the 10th interview. Use a shared Google Sheet or Notion page and work in two passes: (A) rapid extraction — 10× 5‑minute rows; (B) synthesis and scoring — 1 pass through the grid to create themes and a recommendation.

Pass A — rapid extraction: create one row per interview with 5 columns: persona, core problem described, behavior observed (not claimed), most persuasive quote, friction point. Keep each cell 10–25 words. This yields a compact dataset you can scan quickly.

Pass B — scoring & clustering: copy the 10 rows into the synthesis table below, add a 5‑factor score for each interview (problem severity, frequency, willingness to pay/time, workaround strength, and fit with your go‑to‑market). Sum the scores and use thresholds to nominate build / iterate / kill. Then cluster the 10 interview quotes into 3 top themes and extract 2–3 supporting quotes per theme.

Below is the table you can paste into a sheet and use immediately. Each interview is a row. Keep entries short so you can scan and sort. After filling all 10 rows, sort by total score to see the highest‑priority data points.

Scoring rubric (0–3 per factor; 0 = no evidence, 3 = clear, repeated evidence): 1) Problem severity (how big of a pain?), 2) Frequency (how often it occurs?), 3) Willingness to pay or trade time (explicit or implied), 4) Workaround strength (is there an easy existing solution?), 5) GTM fit (is this aligned with how you reach users?). Use thresholds: 12+ = strong build signal; 8–11 = iterate/prototype; 0–7 = kill or deprioritize.

After the recommendation, draft a one‑page spec that translates the top insight into a minimal deliverable. The spec’s job is clarity: context, user problem, success metric, constraints, must‑have behavior, and a 2‑week deliverable. Keep language implementation‑agnostic but specific about outcomes.

A typical one‑page spec sections: Project title, Recommendation (build/iterate/kill + why, with 2–3 evidence bullets), User story(s) (from interviews), Acceptance criteria (measurable), Minimal UI/flow sketch (3 steps), Non‑goals, Launch metric and owner. This is the exact doc a contractor needs to ship a first prototype or landing page quickly.

Use the one‑page research pack as your canonical artifact in founder meetings: one page for the recommendation, one‑page spec for execution, and the synthesis table as evidence. For decision logs, save the scored sheet and spec with date and signer — it becomes an invaluable audit trail when you revisit decisions.

When talking to early investors or advisors, lead with the recommendation and one or two rapid evidence bullets; the full synthesis table backs up claims and shows disciplined research. Investors value founders who make traceable, data‑driven decisions that can be operationalized quickly.