Making the space and time to interview people—whether your target audience, funders, investors, community leaders, subject-matter experts, or detractors—ensures that you stay in touch with their needs, preferences, and pain points. This form of primary research enables you to cultivate insights to ensure your innovation offers exactly what these groups of people need.

Identify the key groups of people you would like to hear from, especially your target consumers and end users. Conduct ongoing interviews with these people, and take notes on your discussions.

• Use a variety of engagement methods to reach people (e.g., one-on-one interviews, intercept interviews, focus groups, surveys, collaborative workshops).
• Ask open-ended questions. Don't make the mistake of leading respondents into the answer you want to hear.
• Seek out people to interview whose perspectives are often overlooked, including those from marginalized populations or ‘extreme users’ (i.e., people who wouldn't come first to mind when using your solution). 

• When interviewing people, listen for unexpected impacts or applications of your solution.
• Use what you learn from interviews to refine your theory of change and impact metrics.
• Prioritize responding to feedback that reveals the most urgent and critical needs of your target audience.
• Be open to the feedback you receive, as constructive criticism can challenge your own unintentional biases and lead to more creative ideas.