outcome. Keep it real. For TradeYa, the big question at the Suspect stage was “Where were our customers coming from who would become long-term customers?” We wanted to know which of our channels (Twitter, Facebook, Google Ads, or organic search) was the most effective. We needed to do more of whatever was working. After our suspect landed on a TradeYa page, the validated learning became more specific to the suspect’s actions. What types of goods or services had the most people bidding to trade? For goods, was it laptops or furniture? For services, was it web consulting or day laborers? Were people trading more goods than services? We wanted answers to help us fine-tune the site and match the enthusiasm demonstrated by early adopters when Jared was providing concierge service. We needed to understand at a granular level who they were, where they came from, and what things they were most interested in trading. The things you expect and need to learn about your customers go here (Figure 9- 14). You are trying to devise a predictable and scalable methodology for generating engaged and evangelistic users. To get there you need repeatable outcomes from your experiments and metrics. You will notice that the questions become more specific about your customer’s behavior as their engagement with your product progresses down the funnel. Figure 9-14. Validated Learnings cell in the TradeYa Funnel Matrix You need to use every logic circuit in your brain to ensure that these questions are answerable and measurable. How much traffic has come to the top-level home page from organic search compared to an item page from social media?