Customer Development Researcher — User Interviews & Marketing Research (University Marketplace)

I'm building an early-stage online marketplace focused on university communities, and I'm looking for a customer development researcher to help me learn directly from potential users. Your job will be to reach out to people in and around university communities (students, recent grads, and others), have short structured conversations with them, and report back what you learn. The goal is twofold: 1. Customer development — understand how people currently solve the problem our marketplace addresses, what frustrates them, and what would make them try a new option. 2. Marketing channel research — find out where these users actually spend attention and which channels (campus groups, social platforms, email lists, word of mouth, flyers, ambassadors, etc.) would be most effective for reaching them. What you'll do: - Identify and message potential users through channels you have access to (I'll provide guidance and a script you can adapt) - Conduct short conversations or interviews (10–20 minutes, chat or call) - Take structured notes using a simple template I'll provide - Summarize findings weekly: common patterns, objections, promising channels, and direct quotes Compensation: - Fixed price per completed, documented interview (rate negotiable — propose your per-interview rate in your application) - Starting with a small pilot batch of 5–10 interviews; strong potential for ongoing work if the results are good You're a good fit if you: - Have done user interviews, market research, or customer discovery before - Are comfortable doing cold outreach in a friendly, non-spammy way - Write clear, organized summaries in English - (Bonus) Are connected to a university community or have done campus marketing To apply: Briefly describe a past project where you talked to users or did outreach, and tell me your proposed per-interview rate.