Getting out and talking to potential customers and stakeholders is one of the three tenets of Blank’s Lean Startup method. Talking to at least 100 people about your hypotheses is essential to determine if the problem is identified correctly and the hypotheses are valid. The other two steps are, first, to articulate the hypotheses and finally, to build a minimum viable product, get customer feedback and, based on that, refine and improve the product or change direction. (Image by istocksdaily/Getty Images)