# Expert Interview Methodology (SKILL Execution Flow)

> **Purpose**: Core methodology for Stage 3.5 interview preparation
>
> **Core value**: Acquire industry insights unavailable through public channels, validate business hypotheses, discover opportunity points

---

## I. Info vs Insight

| Type | Description | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|------|-------------|------------|---------------|
| **Info (Information)** | Acquire competitor/industry data, validate competitor strategies | Useful supplement to public information, more targeted competitive intelligence | Data verification risk, measurement discrepancy risk, compliance risk |
| **Insight** | Validate business hypotheses, track industry trends, discover business opportunities | Efficient expert insight, low compliance risk | Requires high research capability from interviewers, needs synthesis and summarization |

**Core positioning**: Expert interviews are an effective supplement to information, but should not be relied upon exclusively

---

## II. SKILL Execution Flow

```
Stage 3 Hypotheses & Plan
       |
Assess whether expert interviews are needed
       | (yes)
Stage 3.5 Interview Preparation
       |
+-----------------------------+
| Step 1: Design interview    |
|         outline             |
| Step 2: Design Test Question|
| Step 3: Screen potential    |
|         experts             |
| Step 4: Generate vendor     |
|         messaging           |
| Step 5: Create shared doc   |
| Step 6: Send notification   |
+-----------------------------+
       |
User conducts interviews
       |
Post-interview processing
       |
+-----------------------------+
| Step 7: Recording transcription |
| Step 8: Organize core Insights  |
| Step 9: Send notification       |
| Step 10: Integrate into         |
|          Evidence Base           |
+-----------------------------+
       |
Stage 4 Research Execution (Track C interview evidence integration)
```

---

## III. Step 1: Interview Outline Design

### 3.1 Two-Outline Principle

**Prepare two outlines**:

| Type | Purpose | Characteristics |
|------|---------|-----------------|
| **Brief outline (external)** | For consulting firms and experts | ~5 items, key questions, appropriately vague wording |
| **Detailed outline (internal)** | For actual interview use | Complete storyline, expanded sub-questions, data definitions, verification information |

### 3.2 Outline Design Principles

1. **Core questions**: Designed following a complete storyline
2. **Key data**: Explicitly list required data and metrics
3. **Sub-questions**: Pre-anticipate answers to core questions, design follow-ups
4. **Verification info**: Internal and external research materials as reference
5. **Pacing guide**: Outline must include time allocation suggestions (e.g., 4 parts x 15min each, 60min total) to help the interviewer manage pacing and avoid front-loading
6. **Hypothesis full coverage**: Every core hypothesis from Stage 3 must have a corresponding question in the outline. If a hypothesis is only in the Hypothesis List but not in the outline, it must be added or noted as "already validated through desk research, no interview needed"

### 3.3 Question Design Principles

> **"Vague questions will only get vague answers"**

| Question Type | Key Points & Flow |
|--------------|-------------------|
| **Asking for data** | Context (provide reason for requesting data) → Clarify data definitions → Direct or indirect verification |
| **Asking about products** | Product name/elements → Product value/customer journey → Quantified results/cases/differences from competitors |
| **Asking about strategy** | Business status/results → Forward-looking goals/how to achieve them |
| **Asking about business model** | Supply (products & services) → Demand (users) → Customers → Revenue model/profitability |
| **Asking about market size** | Scale/historical growth → Core industry drivers → Driver trends |
| **Asking about competition** | Major players → Top 5-10 market share/concentration → Share change trends |

**Follow-up depth requirement**: Each core question must have **2-3 specific follow-up angles** designed, not just 1 generic follow-up. Follow-ups should provide specific dimension prompts to help the interviewer react quickly during the session.

```
❌ follow-up: Can you elaborate?
✅ follow-up:
   - What are the main barriers? Brand trust, raw material traceability, or channel barriers?
   - Have these barriers changed over the past 3 years? How did new entrants break through?
```

### 3.4 Exploratory Questions (Uncovering Industry Know-how) ⭐

> **Core value**: The most valuable thing from experts is "what's not in reports" — industry know-how, non-consensus views, edge opportunities

| Question Type | Purpose | Example Question |
|--------------|---------|------------------|
| **Know-how** | Uncover tacit industry knowledge | "What key factors in this industry do you think people easily overlook?" |
| **Counter-consensus** | Challenge mainstream views | "What direction is everyone pursuing but is actually wrong?" |
| **Hypothetical** | Borrow the expert's imagination | "If you had $5 million to invest in this sector, what would you do?" |
| **Edge** | Discover niche opportunities | "Are there any niche opportunities you think have potential?" |
| **Failure** | Lessons learned | "What are the easiest pitfalls in this industry?" |
| **Open secret** | Reveal unspoken rules | "What are the 'open secrets' of this industry?" |

**Usage principles**:
- Place in the second half of the interview, when the expert is warmed up
- Don't interrupt the expert's sharing; follow-ups are more important than preset questions
- Record the expert's "offhand remarks" — these are often the most valuable insights
- **Exploratory questions must also have specific follow-up dimensions** to prevent vague answers. For example, "Any niche opportunities with potential?" should follow up on specific dimensions (category/channel/team/technology); "What are the easiest pitfalls?" should follow up with "Can you give a typical failure case? What was the root cause?"

### 3.5 Outline Example

```
[External Outline - Enterprise SaaS Company Research]
1. Business model and profitability outlook for enterprise SaaS companies?
2. Industry development trends and opportunity assessment?
3. Impact of top client strategy adjustments on the industry?
4. Approximate revenue scale and growth trajectory over the past two years?
5. With increasing competition, where are the company's competitive advantages?

[Internal Outline - Detailed Version]
Business questions:
- How is the enterprise services industry developing, compared to previous years?
- With increasing homogeneity among SaaS companies, views on development and opportunity points?
- Which verticals are expected to have opportunities and faster growth going forward?

Data questions:
- Annual revenue/profit for the past two years, YoY growth?
- Of annual revenue, how much comes from new customers?
- Revenue breakdown by business segment and proportions?
- Standard pricing for core products, and overall average deal size?
- Market share distribution of key players, changes over the past two years?
```

### 3.6 The Art of Quantitative Questions

**Problem**: If all questions are quantitative, expert rejection probability is extremely high (suspicion or feeling of low value)

**Better approach**:
- Add appropriate qualitative or macro questions to dilute quantitative questions
- Select high-priority core data points at the beginning of research to reduce question count
- Data definitions matter, but sometimes appropriate compromises are needed

---

## IV. Step 2: Test Question Design

### 4.1 Definition

Select **2-3 core questions that best identify whether the expert is qualified** from the interview outline as Test Questions.

### 4.2 Design Principles

- Can quickly assess the expert's depth of knowledge on the topic
- Can gauge the expert's willingness to answer
- Can judge information granularity
- Typically selected from: company's historical operations, financial data, industry scale

### 4.3 Example

```
Test Question Examples (Enterprise SaaS Research):
1. What's the approximate overall revenue scale of the company?
2. What does the distribution of major client industries look like?
3. What are the pricing for core products and the overall average deal size?
```

---

## V. Step 3: Expert Screening

### 5.1 Expert Profile Essentials

- **Employment status**: Currently employed, or departed within the last 6 months at most
- **Basic info**: Industry/company/function/level
- **Special roles**: Large event operations/specific project leads, etc.
- **Other indicators**: Good interview feedback, interview count

### 5.2 Screening Methods

| Method | Approach | Pros | Cons |
|--------|----------|------|------|
| **Active precise screening** | Specify target expert profiles including employment status, company, function, level | High expert-match quality | Fewer backup experts, may miss related experts |
| **Passive broad screening** | Request full expert lists for target companies or industries | Fast response | May include experts with limited depth |

**Practical advice**: Combine active and passive methods to find experts

### 5.3 Information Value by Department

| Expert Type | Available Information |
|-------------|---------------------|
| **Business department** | Single business operational data (quantitative), solution implementation cases |
| **Strategy department** | Industry product/policy/competition/technology trends, competitor strategies |
| **Finance department** | Budget, financial data (quantitative) |
| **Industry expert** | Industry policy, competitive landscape, industry trends |

### 5.4 Expert Resume Assessment

Focus on:
- Whether department and position match the need
- Whether position and work experience descriptions match
- Expert's interview willingness and openness
- Expert's rate multiplier (preliminary budget assessment)

---

## VI. Step 4: Vendor Messaging Generation

### 6.1 Messaging Format (must be strictly followed)

```
Help us find experts in [target area], such as [Company A/B] (preferred), [Company C/D] (secondary), etc., at the [level] position.

We'd mainly like to discuss [core topic description]:

- [Specific point 1]
- [Specific point 2]
```

### 6.2 Messaging Example

```
Help us find experts in the enterprise SaaS industry, such as a top CRM vendor, a top HR SaaS vendor (preferred), a top collaboration platform, a top finance SaaS vendor (secondary), at the product director or business lead level.

We'd mainly like to discuss enterprise SaaS business models, development opportunities, and competitive landscape:

- Business models and profitability outlook for enterprise SaaS companies
- Industry opportunity assessment and trend predictions
- Competitive landscape and market share changes among major players
```

### 6.3 Notes

- Include the most-wanted data points in the external questionnaire
- Sensitive topics should be handled with vague wording (e.g., "approximate scale")
- You can ask the intermediary to convey messages like "please have the expert prepare for quantitative questions"
- After establishing trust in the main interview, use follow-up sessions for more granular information

---

## VII. Step 5-6: Create Shared Doc & Send Notification

> ⚠️ **Environment dependency**: Steps 5-6 depend on shared document tools and notification tools (e.g., Notion/Google Docs + Slack/Teams). If the current environment does not have these tools, write the materials directly to the workspace `interview_guides.md` file and inform the user to share manually.

### 7.1 Shared Document Content

Includes the following:
- Vendor messaging
- Interview outline (external + internal versions)
- Test Questions
- Potential expert list

### 7.2 Notification Content

- Complete content of all materials above
- **Must include shared document link** (or workspace file path)
- **Send to 1-on-1 chat only, not group chat** (unless user explicitly requests otherwise)

---

## VIII. Step 7-10: Post-Interview Processing

### 8.1 Summary Elements

```
📋 Basic Information
- Interview project: [Project name]
- Interview time: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM-HH:MM
- Expert interviewed: [Background and expert evaluation]
- Interview duration: [X] hours
- Expert rate: $[X]/hour

📝 Core Content
- Organized key points (following the research objective storyline logic)
- Briefly summarized core conclusions/questions to verify
- Valuable direct quotes retained

✅ Data Source Labeling
📄 Source: Expert interview - [Expert background]
📅 Interview date: YYYY-MM-DD
🔗 Link: [Shared document link/recording file path]
```

### 8.2 Core Insight Organization Principles

- **Under 200 words**
- Include key conclusions (3-5 points)
- Highlight core insights

### 8.3 Conclusion Output Principles

> **We are analysts, not reporters; we are not information couriers, but processors**

```
Expert interview results (data, qualitative judgments, etc.)
        +
Other information sources + analyst's business judgment
        |
Our conclusions derived from synthesizing multiple sources and logical reasoning
```

**Prohibited**: "Expert XX said..." "Expert XX believes..." as the justification for findings

**Recommended**: Use direct quotes in reports and project communications — conclusions will be more vivid and compelling

---

## IX. Trigger Conditions

- Stage 3 assessment of whether expert interviews are needed
- User mentions "interview," "expert interview," "consultation," etc.
- User requests "design outline," "generate messaging"
- User uploads audio file and requests "transcribe," "organize summary"
