Customer Segment Slicing
Use this skill before customer conversations, traction tests, sales outreach, or
persona work when the target customer is too broad to produce consistent
evidence. A useful segment is a who-where pair: who has the problem and where
the team can find them.
Source Traceability
Primary source: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, especially chapters 6-7.
Guidance is paraphrased for this MIT repo; authoring notes used converted EPUB
lines 2791-3610.
Slicing Workflow
- Start with the broad audience or market.
- Split by demographics, role, use case, behavior, buying context, urgency, or
current workaround.
- For each slice, state the motivation or problem that makes them care.
- Keep slicing any group that still produces mixed goals or feature requests.
- Add where to find each group: communities, events, tools, platforms, job
titles, search queries, partners, directories, or physical locations.
- Score the slices by reachability, expected value, urgency, consistency, and
team fit.
- Pick one starting segment for the next discovery or traction pass.
Useful Segment Tests
Ask:
- Would most people in this slice share the same problem or goal?
- Can we find at least five of them this week?
- Do they already spend time, money, attention, or reputation on this problem?
- Would their feedback point toward one product direction rather than many?
- Are there hidden stakeholders, buyers, users, or partners?
- Is this slice narrow enough to learn from but valuable enough to matter?
Output Format
# Customer Segment Slicing
## Broad Segment
[Starting audience.]
## Candidate Slices
| Segment | Problem or Goal | Where To Find Them | Current Behavior | Reachability | Value | Urgency | Consistency | Fit |
|---------|-----------------|--------------------|------------------|--------------|-------|---------|-------------|-----|
## Recommended Starting Segment
[One who-where pair.]
## Why This Segment
- Strong shared motivation:
- Easy access path:
- Evidence to gather:
- Risks:
## Next Conversations
1. [Person/source]
2. [Person/source]
3. [Person/source]
Workflow
Use workflows/slice-customer-segment.md for a full segmentation pass.
Quality Bar
- Do not accept categories like "students", "businesses", or "creators" without
further slicing.
- Do not optimize positioning or features from mixed-segment feedback.
- Do not choose a segment that cannot be found.
- Do not talk only to impressive people if they are not representative users,
buyers, or stakeholders.
1---2name: customer-segment-slicing3description: Narrow broad customer categories into specific, reachable who-where segments for customer discovery, positioning, traction tests, sales outreach, or SEO personas. Use when feedback is inconsistent, the market is too broad, personas are vague, users request too many different features, or the team does not know where to find target customers.4license: MIT5---67# Customer Segment Slicing89Use this skill before customer conversations, traction tests, sales outreach, or10persona work when the target customer is too broad to produce consistent11evidence. A useful segment is a who-where pair: who has the problem and where12the team can find them.1314## Source Traceability1516Primary source: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, especially chapters 6-7.17Guidance is paraphrased for this MIT repo; authoring notes used converted EPUB18lines 2791-3610.1920## Slicing Workflow21221. Start with the broad audience or market.232. Split by demographics, role, use case, behavior, buying context, urgency, or24 current workaround.253. For each slice, state the motivation or problem that makes them care.264. Keep slicing any group that still produces mixed goals or feature requests.275. Add where to find each group: communities, events, tools, platforms, job28 titles, search queries, partners, directories, or physical locations.296. Score the slices by reachability, expected value, urgency, consistency, and30 team fit.317. Pick one starting segment for the next discovery or traction pass.3233## Useful Segment Tests3435Ask:3637- Would most people in this slice share the same problem or goal?38- Can we find at least five of them this week?39- Do they already spend time, money, attention, or reputation on this problem?40- Would their feedback point toward one product direction rather than many?41- Are there hidden stakeholders, buyers, users, or partners?42- Is this slice narrow enough to learn from but valuable enough to matter?4344## Output Format4546```markdown47# Customer Segment Slicing4849## Broad Segment50[Starting audience.]5152## Candidate Slices53| Segment | Problem or Goal | Where To Find Them | Current Behavior | Reachability | Value | Urgency | Consistency | Fit |54|---------|-----------------|--------------------|------------------|--------------|-------|---------|-------------|-----|5556## Recommended Starting Segment57[One who-where pair.]5859## Why This Segment60- Strong shared motivation:61- Easy access path:62- Evidence to gather:63- Risks:6465## Next Conversations661. [Person/source]672. [Person/source]683. [Person/source]69```7071## Workflow7273Use `workflows/slice-customer-segment.md` for a full segmentation pass.7475## Quality Bar7677- Do not accept categories like "students", "businesses", or "creators" without78 further slicing.79- Do not optimize positioning or features from mixed-segment feedback.80- Do not choose a segment that cannot be found.81- Do not talk only to impressive people if they are not representative users,82 buyers, or stakeholders.
ConcertoNotes