Documentation

Learn how to use Custard for customer discovery research.

Getting Started

Custard is a customer discovery research platform designed for researchers, entrepreneurs, and teams validating business ideas through customer interviews.

  1. Create an account - Sign up with your email address
  2. Create a project - Define your research hypothesis and target customers
  3. Build prospect lists - Use AI to find companies and contacts in your target segment
  4. Launch outreach - Send personalized interview requests
  5. Schedule interviews - Let prospects book time on your calendar
  6. Capture insights - Record transcripts and evidence for your hypotheses

Video Meetings

Every interview gets a built-in video meeting room - no third-party account needed.

How meeting rooms work

When a prospect books an interview through your booking page, Custard automatically:

  • Creates a private video meeting room for the scheduled time
  • Sends the join link to both you and the prospect
  • Adds the meeting to your interview schedule

Recording and transcripts

If you record a meeting, the recording flows straight into your project as a transcript, ready for synthesis alongside the rest of your evidence. Recording is always explicit - nothing is captured unless you turn it on, and you are responsible for getting participant consent.

Finding Prospects

Use AI-powered search to discover interview candidates.

Creating a Prospect List

  1. Go to Contacts from the sidebar
  2. Click New List
  3. Describe your target segment (e.g., "Aviation OEMs interested in battery technology")
  4. Click Find More to search for matching companies and contacts

How Search Works

Our AI-powered search:

  • Generates targeted search queries based on your segment description
  • Finds real companies matching your criteria
  • Discovers verified business email contacts at each company
  • Classifies contacts by buying persona (Economic Buyer, Champion, Technical, etc.)

Interview Scheduling

Set up your availability and let prospects book interviews.

Setting Up Your Availability

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Set your Display Name and Email
  3. Configure your Weekly Availability (days and times you're available)

Sharing Your Booking Link

Your booking link is automatically included in outreach emails. Prospects can click it to see your available time slots and book an interview directly.

Managing Interviews

View all scheduled interviews in the Interviews section. Each interview shows:

  • Prospect name and company
  • Scheduled date and time
  • Meeting link
  • Interview status

Email Outreach

Send personalized interview requests to prospects.

Launching a Campaign

  1. Select contacts from your prospect list
  2. Click Launch Outreach
  3. Choose an AI Researcher persona to send emails
  4. Configure your email sequence (number of follow-ups, timing)
  5. Review and launch

Email Templates

Emails are sent from an AI Researcher persona helping your team understand technology commercialization. This approach is designed to encourage genuine research conversations rather than sales interactions.

Research Management

Projects and Hypotheses

Each project represents a research initiative with one or more hypotheses to validate. Track evidence for and against each hypothesis as you conduct interviews.

Transcripts

Upload or paste interview transcripts to capture customer insights. AI can help synthesize and organize findings across multiple interviews.

Research Workbench

Use the AI-powered workbench to synthesize research, generate insights, and organize your findings into structured frameworks.

Need More Help?

If you have questions not covered in this documentation, please reach out to our support team.

Contact Support