founders paras chopra, chapter by chapter
59. Ask What People Did, Not What They Will Do
Past behavior is a firmer signal than imagined intent or post-hoc explanation.
People are optimistic about future behavior and skilled at inventing rational explanations for past choices. “Would you buy this?” invites a respectable answer, not a forecast. Detailed memory of actual attempts, purchases, and compromises is less fictional and reveals the context in which decisions really happen.
Run interviews like a documentary reconstruction: ask for the last specific event, who was present, what happened first, where they searched, and what they paid or abandoned. Avoid leading questions. Compare multiple stories for repeated patterns, using stated reasons as clues rather than truth.
Original sketch and model by Paras Chopra. Read the source chapter.