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You’re a founder in the trenches: talking to customers, pitching investors, fixing bugs, and making sales calls. Every conversation has valuable insights, but they’re lost the moment you hang up. Notes scattered across Notion, memory fading, patterns invisible. This guide shows you how to capture every conversation and find product-market fit signals in your first 100 conversations—without hiring a research team.

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The Founder’s Dilemma

You’re wearing every hat:
  • 🎤 Customer Discovery: “What problem are we solving?”
  • 💰 Sales Calls: “Will anyone pay for this?”
  • 🐛 Support: “Why isn’t this working?”
  • 💡 Investor Pitches: “What traction do we have?”
Each conversation contains gold, but you can’t remember what Customer #12 said vs Customer #47. You’re drowning in conversations, starving for insights.

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What You’ll Achieve

By following this guide through your first 100 conversations:
  • ✅ Every conversation captured and searchable forever
  • ✅ Product-market fit signals identified objectively
  • ✅ Top 3 problems quantified (not guessed)
  • ✅ Pivot or persevere decisions backed by data
  • ✅ Investor updates with real customer quotes
  • ✅ Team alignment on what actually matters
Time investment: 1 hour setup, then 0 extra time per conversation. Analysis that took 10+ hours now takes 15 minutes.

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Prerequisites

BuildBetter account (free for early-stage teams at buildbetter.ai)
Talking to customers (or about to start)
Using Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or phone calls you can record

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Step 1: Capture EVERYTHING (30 minutes setup)

The biggest mistake founders make: being selective about what to record. Record ALL customer-facing conversations. You never know which call will have the insight that changes everything.

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Set Up Auto-Recording

[screenshot: Calendar integration settings page]
1

Connect Your Calendar

  1. Go to Settings → Integrations
  2. Connect Google Calendar or Outlook
  3. Authorize BuildBetter
[screenshot: Calendar successfully connected confirmation]
2

Create Recording Rules

Create separate rules for different conversation types:Rule 1: Customer Conversations
  • Go to Settings → Organization → Bot Recording Rules
  • Create rule: Event title contains “customer” OR “user” OR “interview”
[screenshot: Bot recording rule for customer calls]Rule 2: Sales Calls
  • Create rule: Event title contains “demo” OR “call” AND attendee is external
Rule 3: Everything External (recommended)
  • Create rule: Has external attendees (anyone outside your domain)
  • Exclude internal meetings automatically
[screenshot: Multiple recording rules configured]
Record everything external, skip everything internal. You can always delete a recording, but you can’t recreate a lost conversation.
3

Upload Past Conversations

Have recordings from previous calls? Upload them now:
  1. Click Upload in top navigation
  2. Drag and drop audio/video files
  3. Tag each upload:
    • “Customer Discovery”
    • “Sales Call”
    • “Support Call”
    • “Investor Call”
[screenshot: Bulk upload interface with files tagged by type]
Start your first 100 counter from today. Past calls are bonus context.

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Manual Recording for Ad-Hoc Calls

For calls not on your calendar:
1

Before the Call

  1. Get the meeting link
  2. Click Upload → Join Call in BuildBetter
  3. Paste link and click Join Meeting
[screenshot: Join call dialog]Bot joins as a participant. Takes 10 seconds.
2

Phone Calls

For phone conversations:
  • Use phone’s voice recorder
  • Upload audio file afterward
  • Or use BuildBetter desktop app to record computer audio
[screenshot: Upload audio file interface]

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Step 2: Tag & Organize by Type (10 minutes)

Not all conversations are equal. Organize them so you can analyze by type. [screenshot: Calls list with tags applied - “Customer Discovery”, “Sales”, “Support”, “Investor”]
1

Create Collections for Each Type

  1. Go to Collections (in left navigation)
  2. Create folders:
    • 📊 “Customer Discovery”
    • 💰 “Sales Calls”
    • 🐛 “Support & Bugs”
    • 💼 “Investor Conversations”
    • 🤝 “Partner Discussions”
[screenshot: Collections page with folders created]
2

Set Up Auto-Tagging Workflow

Automatically sort calls into folders:
  1. Go to Workflows → Templates
  2. Select “Recording to Folder by Title”
  3. Create workflows:
    • Title contains “customer” → Customer Discovery folder
    • Title contains “demo” → Sales Calls folder
    • Title contains “support” → Support folder
[screenshot: Workflow template for auto-filing calls]
New calls auto-organize. Old calls require manual drag-and-drop into folders.
3

Bulk Organize Existing Calls

For calls already recorded:
  1. Go to Calls & Recordings
  2. Select multiple calls (checkbox)
  3. Click Add to Collection
  4. Choose folder
[screenshot: Bulk select calls interface]

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Step 3: The First 10 Conversations (Your PMF Baseline)

After your first 10 customer discovery calls, do your first analysis.
1

Review Problems Mentioned

  1. Go to Signals in left navigation
  2. Filter by:
    • Signal Type: Problem
    • Collection: Customer Discovery folder
    • Date: Last 2 weeks
[screenshot: Signals filtered to show problems from customer discovery calls]Look for:
  • Same problem mentioned by 3+ people (using different words)
  • Problems people brought up WITHOUT you asking
  • Emotional reactions (😣 negative sentiment)
2

Ask the Critical Question

Open Chat and ask:“Based on my customer discovery calls, what is the single biggest problem customers are facing? Show me quotes from multiple customers.”[screenshot: Chat response showing the top problem with customer quotes and citations]The AI will:
  • Analyze all your calls
  • Find the most-mentioned problem
  • Show you exact customer quotes
  • Count how many customers mentioned it
PMF Signal: If 7+ out of 10 customers mention the SAME core problem unprompted, you’re onto something.
3

Create Your PMF Tracker

Make a simple dashboard to track signal strength:
  1. Go to Clustering
  2. Click Customize Dashboard
  3. Add cards:
    • Metric Card: Count of “Problem” signals
    • Bar Chart: Top 5 problems by mention count
    • Sentiment Ridge Chart: How customers feel about these problems
[screenshot: PMF tracker dashboard showing problem frequency and sentiment]Bookmark this dashboard. Check it every 10 calls.

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Step 4: Conversations 11-50 (Validate & Iterate)

You have a hypothesis. Now validate it.
1

Track Solution Validation

As you start pitching your solution, track:Filter Signals for:
  • Type: “Interest” (buying signals)
  • Type: “Objection” (concerns)
  • Type: “Question” (confusion)
[screenshot: Signals view filtered to show Interest, Objection, and Question types]
2

Weekly Founder Review

Every Friday, ask Chat:“What did I learn this week from customer conversations? What patterns emerged?”[screenshot: Chat providing weekly summary with key themes]Then ask follow-ups:
  • “Are customers excited about our solution?”
  • “What objections came up most?”
  • “Did anyone mention competitors?”
3

Segment by Customer Type

As you talk to different customer segments, track which resonate:
  1. In Calls & Recordings, add tags:
    • Enterprise
    • SMB
    • Individual
    • Early Adopter
    • Mainstream
[screenshot: Call detail with customer segment tags]
  1. Filter signals by segment to see different pain points
Example discovery: “Enterprise customers care about security. SMBs care about price. Different products.”
4

Create Objection Library

Track every objection:
  1. Filter Signals: Type = “Objection”
  2. Group by theme
  3. Use Chat: “Generate a document summarizing all objections and suggested responses”
[screenshot: Generated document showing objection library]Share with your team. Everyone uses same responses.

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Step 5: Conversations 51-100 (Scale Insights)

You’re talking to customers every week. Now make insights automatic.
1

Set Up Weekly Auto-Reports

Never manually analyze again:
  1. Go to Settings → Scheduled Tasks
  2. Click Create Task
  3. Configure:
    • Name: “Weekly Customer Insights”
    • Schedule: Every Friday at 5 PM
    • Instructions: “Analyze all customer discovery calls from this week. What are the top 3 insights? What changed from last week? Generate a summary.”
[screenshot: Scheduled task configuration]Every Friday at 5 PM, you’ll get a fresh analysis in Chat.[screenshot: Automated weekly summary in Chat]
2

Track Metrics Over Time

Add time-series charts to your dashboard:
  • Line Chart: Customer sentiment over time
  • Bar Chart: Problem mentions by week
  • Metric: Percentage mentioning your core problem
[screenshot: Dashboard with time-series showing sentiment trending up]Watch for:
  • ↗️ Sentiment going up (you’re solving real problems)
  • ↘️ Objections going down (you’re addressing concerns)
  • ↗️ Interest signals increasing (stronger PMF)
3

Prepare for Fundraising

Generate investor-ready insights:Ask Chat:“Create an investor update based on my last 50 customer conversations. Include: top problems, validation signals, common objections, and customer quotes.”[screenshot: Generated investor update document with customer data]Click Generate → Generate Document → Choose “Investor Update” templateInclude:
  • “23 out of 50 customers mentioned X problem unprompted”
  • Customer quotes (with permission)
  • Objection trends
  • Willingness-to-pay signals

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Pivot or Persevere? (The 50-Call Checkpoint)

After 50 conversations, make data-driven decisions.

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Signs You’ve Found PMF

70%+ of customers mention the same core problem unprompted
Sentiment trends positive over time (customers getting more excited)
Objections declining or you have good answers for all of them
Customers ask “when can I buy?” without you pitching
Word-of-mouth starting: Customers refer other customers
[screenshot: PMF dashboard showing all green metrics]

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Signs You Need to Pivot

Less than 30% of customers mention your core problem
Sentiment trending down or staying flat over time
New objections emerging faster than you can address them
Price objections dominant: “Too expensive” more common than “when can I start?”
Inconsistent feedback: Every customer wants something different
[screenshot: Dashboard showing red flags - declining sentiment, scattered problems]

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The Pivot Analysis

Ask Chat: “Based on all my customer conversations, should we pivot? What alternative problems or solutions were mentioned?” [screenshot: Chat analysis suggesting pivot based on patterns in data] The AI will find:
  • Alternative problems customers mentioned
  • Segments showing stronger interest
  • Adjacent use cases with better signals
  • Competitor mentions (what ARE they using?)

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Real Example: Alex’s Journey to PMF

Weeks 1-4 (First 20 conversations):
  • Hypothesis: Small teams need better project management
  • Reality: 3 different problems mentioned, no clear pattern
  • Dashboard: 😐 Sentiment neutral, scattered feedback
Week 5 (Conversation #23): BuildBetter flagged a pattern: 7/23 customers mentioned “async communication” as a pain point when Alex asked about “team collaboration.” Alex hadn’t even noticed. Weeks 5-8 (Conversations 24-45):
  • Pivoted questions to focus on async communication
  • 18/22 new customers validated it as major problem
  • Dashboard: 😊 Sentiment turning positive
  • Objections consistent and addressable
Weeks 9-12 (Conversations 46-75):
  • Started pitching solution, not just asking questions
  • 12 customers said “when can I buy?”
  • Closed first 3 paying customers
  • Investor update: “75 customer conversations, 68% mentioned async as top problem, 16% already paying”
Result: Pre-seed round closed. PMF found at conversation #67, not #200. Alex’s quote: “BuildBetter cut my time-to-PMF in half. I would have spent 6 more months building the wrong thing.”

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Common Founder Questions

Yes, but mark them “Private” in settings. Useful for tracking:
  • Which pitch resonated
  • Common investor objections
  • Questions you couldn’t answer
Don’t share investor call content without permission.
Quality > quantity. 25 high-quality conversations beat 100 casual chats.Look for:
  • People with the problem right now
  • Paying for a solution (even if it’s bad)
  • Willing to give honest feedback
Even 15-20 conversations can reveal PMF signals if they’re the right people.
BuildBetter tracks “bias” in signals. Look for:
  • ⚠️ High bias warnings on signals
  • Leading questions you asked
  • Customers telling you what you want to hear
Filter signals: Bias: Low to see unbiased feedback.[screenshot: Signals filtered by low bias]
Build when:
  • 60%+ of customers describe the SAME problem in their own words
  • You can articulate the problem better than they can
  • Customers are already trying to solve it (even with bad solutions)
  • You have a differentiated insight about the solution
Keep doing discovery calls WHILE building (10/week minimum).
Yes! Create a separate collection for “Internal” and “External.”Record:
  • Sprint planning (track decisions)
  • Retros (find recurring issues)
  • All-hands (commitments made)
Don’t record:
  • 1:1s with employees
  • Confidential HR discussions
  • Sensitive strategy talks
Always get team consent for internal recording.

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Your First 100 Conversations Checklist

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Conversations 1-10

Set up auto-recording
Upload any past call recordings
Create collections for each conversation type
Review first signals manually
Create initial PMF tracker dashboard

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Conversations 11-30

Ask Chat: “What’s the top problem?”
Create objection library
Tag calls by customer segment
Weekly review every Friday

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Conversations 31-50

Set up automated weekly reports
Add sentiment trend charts to dashboard
Do first pivot/persevere checkpoint
Generate investor update document

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Conversations 51-75

Segment analysis (which customers resonate most?)
Refine your pitch based on data
Track willingness-to-pay signals
Share insights with co-founder/team

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Conversations 76-100

Comprehensive PMF analysis
Generate customer quote library for website
Create sales playbook from successful calls
Build roadmap based on top feature requests

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What’s Next?

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After Your First 100 Conversations

Scale to 1000 Conversations

As your team grows, make insights accessible to everyone

Add Support Data

Connect support tickets, NPS surveys, and feedback forms

Build Sales Playbook

Turn successful sales calls into repeatable playbooks

Strategic Planning

Use customer intelligence for quarterly planning and roadmapping

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Make It a Habit

Daily (5 mins):
  • Glance at Signals from today’s calls
  • Star anything surprising
Weekly (15 mins):
  • Review automated summary
  • Update PMF tracker
  • Share 1 key insight with team
Monthly (30 mins):
  • Generate monthly report
  • Pivot/persevere checkpoint
  • Update investor deck
The best founders never stop talking to customers. BuildBetter makes it sustainable by removing the analysis burden. Talk more, analyze less, learn faster.

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Resources

Watch: Founder Workflow

5-min video walkthrough (worth watching)

Template: Customer Questions

Proven customer discovery question framework

Book: Setup Call

Get personalized help (free for early-stage)

Community: Founder Slack

Join 500+ founders using BuildBetter
The path to PMF is paved with customer conversations. Make every conversation count.
Your first 100 conversations will teach you more than 1000 hours of market research. Capture them, analyze them, and let the data guide your decisions.
This guide is based on analyzing 10,000+ founder journeys. The patterns are real. Trust the data, not your gut.