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PRODUCT · PRODUCT DISCOVERY

Product discovery services

Product discovery services are the research and testing that show what customers need, and will pay for, before your team spends engineering time. For a startup's first product or a new feature in an established one.

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Led by Roger GrekosCo-Founder, product

The drawing shows interview notes and, under it, the same notes grouped into themes, with the problem most people described marked.

We run software product discovery services for new products and for features inside a live one. The work mixes customer interviews, a product discovery workshop with your team, quick prototypes and tests. You finish with evidence, a clear problem statement and a short list of what to build.

01SOUND FAMILIAR?

Signs you need a discovery phase

  • SYMPTOM 01

    We built the feature everyone asked for, and nobody uses it

    Usually means: Requests were taken at face value without checking the problem behind them.

  • SYMPTOM 02

    Engineering is ready and we still argue about what to build

    Usually means: The team has strong opinions but no shared evidence to settle them.

  • SYMPTOM 03

    Customers say they love it, but they do not pay

    Usually means: Interest was measured, not the willingness to change behaviour or spend money.

  • SYMPTOM 04

    Our roadmap for the next two quarters is a list of guesses

    Usually means: Big bets are planned without a cheap test first.

  • SYMPTOM 05

    We keep hearing different stories from sales and support

    Usually means: Customer knowledge is scattered across teams and never brought together.

Led by Roger GrekosCo-Founder, product

Have a product or feature idea that needs evidence before the build? Describe it in a few lines.

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02WHAT WE DO

What our product discovery services include

Every piece of work ends in evidence your team can check for itself. The full method is in our guide to the product discovery process.

  • Customer interviews

    We recruit and interview the people who have the problem, and ask about what they did last time rather than what they might do. You get the notes, clips where consent allows and the patterns we found.

  • Product discovery workshop

    Founders, product and engineering meet in one working session to agree on the problem. Together we map the assumptions behind the plan and choose which ones to test first. Scattered opinions become one shared map of what you know and what you are guessing.

  • Feature discovery in a live product

    For an existing product, we read usage data, support tickets and churn reasons to find where a new or changed feature would matter most. Then we test it with current users before the full build.

  • Prototypes and quick tests

    We use clickable prototypes, fake-door tests and manual concierge versions to see what people do, not what they say. Later, qualitative user testing checks the designed flows with real users.

  • Digital product discovery for new ideas

    For a new digital product, we test the problem, the audience and the first use case before anyone writes production code. When the open question is whether a market exists at all, product market validation comes first.

  • A findings report and a recommendation

    You get a short report: the problem, the evidence, the options we tested and what we recommend building, changing or dropping. If the findings raise a bigger question about direction, product strategy consulting is the next step.

Illustration of a problem statement written from the research

03IN BRIEF

Why run a discovery phase before development

A discovery phase before development checks that the problem is real and that you understand it the way customers do. It also checks that your planned solution helps, while a change still costs a conversation instead of a rewrite. Teams looking for discovery phase services for product development usually have a build budget and a feature list. What they lack is evidence that the list is right. Discovery turns that list into tested assumptions. We interview the people who have the problem and map what the team believes. Then we test the riskiest beliefs with prototypes or quick experiments and write down what held up. Engineering then starts from a short scope backed by evidence rather than a long wish list. Discovery cannot remove every risk. It removes the avoidable one: spending months building something customers did not need.

How discovery hands off to design and engineering

Discovery is only useful if the people who build the product can act on it. At the end of an engagement, design and engineering receive a problem statement in the customer's words and the user flows that tested well. They also get the assumptions that failed, why they failed, and the questions still open. Each finding links back to the interviews or tests behind it, so the team can check the evidence instead of taking our word for it. As a product management agency with engineering in the same company, we write the hand-off for the people who will build from it. We can also stay involved through the first release. That keeps the reasons behind each decision attached to the work, so nobody has to rediscover them halfway through the build. It also gives new team members one place to learn why the product looks the way it does.

04STEP BY STEP

How a discovery engagement runs

  1. 01

    Audit

    We start with what you already know: past research, support tickets, sales notes and usage data. Then we list the riskiest assumptions and agree which ones discovery must answer.

  2. 02

    Build

    We run the interviews, the workshop and the prototype tests, and share findings as they arrive so your team watches the evidence build up.

  3. 03

    Ship

    We present the findings and a recommendation, then hand the problem statement, tested flows and open questions to design and engineering.

05ENGAGEMENT OPTIONS

Ways to run discovery with us

  • Discovery coaching

    For teams that run their own discovery and want a senior eye on it.

    You get

    • A review of interview guides and test plans
    • Help reading the findings
    • Written notes after each session

    Typical shape

    One or two sessions a month

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Discovery sprint

    A fixed-scope project that answers one product question.

    You get

    • An assumption map and a workshop
    • Recruited customer interviews
    • A prototype or fake-door test
    • A findings report and a recommendation

    Typical shape

    A fixed scope

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Continuous discovery

    A product person in your team who keeps discovery running alongside delivery.

    You get

    • A steady rhythm of customer interviews
    • An opportunity map kept up to date
    • Findings brought to every planning cycle

    Typical shape

    Set days each week

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

06WHO IT IS FOR

Who product discovery is for

Roger Grekos

07LED BY

Who runs your discovery

Roger Grekos leads discovery work at BrainStormers and keeps it tied to real users and real evidence.

Ask people what they want and you get a feature list. Ask what they did last Friday and you find the problem.

Roger GrekosCO-FOUNDER · PRODUCT
Roger Grekos
Co-Founder, Product, Project & Scale
Background
Roger co-founded BrainStormers and has led product for 12+ years across SaaS, fintech, media, gaming and services. At Find.co he led product strategy for a media portfolio whose revenue grew from $22M to $55M in three years; at PayEm he took a procurement platform to $1M ARR in 12 months.
Roger's profileLinkedIn

08

Related services

09

Insights on product discovery

  • PRODUCT VALIDATIONGUIDE

    The product discovery process

    A product discovery process for startups in four steps, with the techniques that fit each step, the questions to ask users, a simple framework and a one-page template you can copy.

    Roger Grekos

10FAQ

Questions about product discovery services

What are product discovery services?

Product discovery services are research and testing work that finds out what customers need before a team builds it. They usually include customer interviews, a workshop to map assumptions, and prototypes or quick tests. The work ends in a written recommendation on what to build, change or drop, backed by the evidence.

What happens in a product discovery workshop?

Founders, product and engineering spend a focused session agreeing on the problem, the target customer and the assumptions behind the plan. We sort the assumptions by risk and by how much evidence exists, then choose which ones to test first and how. You leave with an assumption map and a test plan.

How long is a typical discovery engagement?

It depends on the question and on how easy it is to reach the right people. A narrow question about one feature, tested with current users, moves faster than a new product for an audience you have not met yet. We agree the scope, the number of interviews and the end date before we start.

What is continuous product discovery?

Continuous product discovery is a habit rather than a project. Instead of one big research phase, the team talks to customers and tests small ideas every week, alongside delivery. Regular, small pieces of evidence keep the roadmap honest and catch wrong assumptions before they turn into finished features.

Can you run discovery on an existing product, not only a new idea?

Yes. Feature discovery in a live product is often easier, because real users and real data already exist. We start from usage data, support tickets and churn reasons, interview current customers, and test changes with them before engineering builds the full version.

How many user interviews does discovery need?

Enough to stop hearing new things. For one customer type and one question, answers often start repeating within the first handful of interviews. Each extra customer type needs its own set. We plan a number up front, watch for repetition and add interviews only while the answers are still changing.

Can AI tools speed up product discovery?

Yes, for the slow parts: transcribing interviews, tagging notes, summarizing themes and drafting test materials. They do not replace talking to customers, and they can report patterns that are not really there. We check every theme against the original notes before it shapes a decision.

Led by Roger GrekosCo-Founder, product

Talk to Roger about product discovery

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NEXT STEP

Find the real problem

Tell us the idea or feature you are unsure about and who it is for. We will suggest the smallest piece of discovery that gives you a clear answer.

You’ll talk to Roger

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