Discovery Interview
Also known as: Exploratory Interview, Problem Interview, Customer Discovery Interview
A structured stakeholder conversation designed to generate unbiased data about problems, behaviors, and needs — before any solution is introduced.
Full Definition
Discovery interviews are the primary tool for problem validation in early-stage healthcare innovation. They differ from validation interviews (which test a solution) and sales calls (which advance a commercial relationship). The goal is to understand the stakeholder's reality on their own terms, without the interviewer's hypotheses contaminating the data. VERITAS provides the ruleset for conducting discovery interviews correctly.
Example
A CRAASH team conducts 15 discovery interviews with surgeons before building any prototype. They learn the problem they identified is real but affects a different part of the workflow than they assumed — a finding that changes their entire commercial strategy.