The Cross-Discipline Friend Interview: See Your Idea Through Another Field's Eyes

By Kasper-Tanakrit Sermsuksan · Global Venture I: Playbook · Block E

You are here: E-06 · Block E · Understanding the Opportunities · article 6 of 7 · Form E (Friend Interview form) · Next: E-07 Building With AI

In short: A cross-discipline friend interview is a structured conversation about your venture with someone from a different field — medicine, law, music, design, education, the social sciences. They see risks, rules, users and possibilities your own field trains you to miss. I recommend at least two, with people from two different faculties. Learn their world first, then let them take your idea apart.

Try it in 10 minutes: Write down the two fields your venture touches that nobody on your team studies. For each field, write the name of one friend, or a friend of a friend, who is in it. Then write one question for each that asks for a story: "Tell me about the last time…". Send the first message before you close this page.

When I was a business student at USC, I got a mentor through a school program: Terri, who worked at Sony Pictures. In one of our sessions she drew me a map I had never seen in any class.

A movie, she explained, does not just make money in theaters. It moves through windows — theatrical release, then airlines, then TV, then home video, then streaming. Each window earns more from the same piece of content.

A few weeks later, my boss at my internship asked a question about studio revenue strategy in a meeting. I knew the answer.

Not because I was especially clever. Because someone from another world had drawn me the map.¹

That is the whole point of this interview. Your field gives you a strong lens. It also gives you blind spots. The fastest way to see them is to borrow someone else's eyes.

What is a cross-discipline friend interview?

A cross-discipline friend interview is a structured conversation about your venture with someone from a different field of study, so you can see the rules, risks and users your own field trains you to miss.

I think of it as one of four conversations every early founder needs: with entrepreneurs, with customers, with friends from other countries, and with friends from other fields. (Why I ask for 12 interviews across those four is its own article.)

A cross-discipline friend is someone who studies, or studied, in a different faculty from yours, and whom you can talk to openly. This one does not have to be a stranger. A friend or a friend of a friend is exactly right. "Friend" here means the tone of the conversation — honest and relaxed, not a formal expert consultation.

It is not a customer interview. You are not asking whether they would buy. You are asking how their field sees your problem, your solution and your risks.

Why should a founder talk to someone from another field?

Because almost every real venture sits between fields.

Look at the Thailand Longevity Ventures tracks. A Taste venture needs food science, nutrition and food regulation. A Touch venture needs Thai traditional medicine, physiotherapy and safety. A Tone venture needs music, sound and the science of sleep or stress.

An engineering team that only talks to engineers can build something clever that a nutritionist could have told them was unsafe, a lawyer could have told them was unsellable, or a musician could have told them sounds wrong. I teach in an engineering faculty. This is the trap I watch for most.

A friend from another field gives you three things your own field cannot:

• Hidden rules. Regulations, ethics, professional standards and "everyone in our field knows that" facts that never appear in a market report.
• Different users. A teacher, a nurse or a designer may know a user group — and its frustrations — that you have never met.
• New combinations. Many of the best ideas are an old idea from one field applied in another. Terri's windows were standard thinking in film. To me, they were a new way to think about revenue.

It also builds something you will need later. Most strong teams mix disciplines. The person you interview this week may be the co-founder, advisor or first hire who fills the gap in your Human and Intellectual Capital.

Who should you interview from another discipline?

• People from different faculties. Not just a different major in your own faculty. Think: health, law, arts and design, education, social science, agriculture, finance, public policy.
• At least one field your venture actually touches. If you are in the Touch track, a physiotherapy or Thai traditional medicine student is a strong choice. If your venture handles personal data, talk to someone in law.
• Someone who will be honest with you. A friend who will tell you the truth beats a famous name who will be polite.
• Not a teammate. They already see the world the way your team does.

Going as a pair or a small group is fine, and so is a video call. In person is better if you can.

What should you ask someone from a different field about your startup?

Here is the order I recommend. Their world first. Your idea last.

1. Their world first (10–15 minutes)

• What does a normal week look like in your field or your studies?
• What problem does everyone in your field complain about?
• What is something people outside your field always get wrong about it?
• What words or ideas does your field use that I probably do not know?

Write down the words they use. Their vocabulary is a map of how they think.

2. The problem through their lens (10 minutes)

Explain the problem you are solving in two or three sentences — not your solution yet.

• How would someone in your field describe this problem?
• Who in your world deals with this problem? What do they do about it today?
• What would your field say is the real cause?

3. Your idea, then listen (15 minutes)

Now share your idea in plain words, without a deck.

• What would people in your field see that I am missing?
• What could make this unsafe, illegal, unethical or simply not trusted?
• If you were building this, what would you do differently?
• Who in your field should I talk to next?

Do not argue. Do not explain why they are wrong about your venture.

They know their field. You are here to find out what you do not know.

A few things that help

• Prepare for 30 minutes. Read a little about their field so your questions show respect.
• Ask for a story, not an opinion. "Tell me about the last time…" gets you more than "Do you think…?"
• Let silence work. Do not rush to your next question. The best line often comes after a pause.
• Ask permission before you take notes with names or take a photo. Record only with consent, and delete recordings when you no longer need them.

What should I log after the interview?

Write it down the same day, while you still remember their words. I suggest seven lines for each conversation:

1. Who and which field — first name or initials only, their faculty and role, the date, and how you know them. Use full names only with their permission.
2. Three insights — the three most useful things you learned, in their words where possible.
3. One assumption challenged — what you believed before that you now doubt.
4. One rule or risk — a regulation, standard, ethical issue or safety point you did not know.
5. One capital gap — a skill or kind of knowledge your team is missing (this goes into Human or Intellectual Capital in your FISHE Capital™ × CSTO™ map).
6. One action — what you will change, test or ask next because of this conversation.
7. If you used AI to prepare questions, note it. The notes and reflection stay in your own words.

Then send a thank-you within 24 hours. I recommend email: it shows more commitment than a quick message. Name one thing you learned from them. That sentence is what turns a favor into a relationship. (How to write one: Thank-You Letters.)

Reality check

This interview can feel strange. Your friend may say "but I don't know anything about startups." The conversation may drift into gossip about their faculty. You will be tempted to pitch instead of listen. And it is easy to leave both conversations until the last few days before a deadline.

Students often tell me the interviews were the hardest part of the course and the most valuable. Several also told me they wished they had known sooner that interviews can be done in pairs or small groups.

If you are struggling at this stage, you are like most people. It means you are doing the real work.

Frequently asked questions

Who should I interview from another discipline?
Someone from a different faculty from yours — a friend or a friend of a friend — ideally in a field your venture actually touches, such as health, law, design or education. Two majors in the same faculty do not count.

What should you ask someone from a different field about your startup?
Start with their world (a normal week, the problem everyone in their field complains about), then the problem through their lens, then your idea: what they would see that you are missing, and what could make it unsafe, illegal or not trusted.

Can my cross-discipline friend be a classmate or a friend?
Yes. Friends and friends of friends are welcome here, as long as they are in a different faculty and not on your team.

Does it have to be in person?
No. A video call works. In person is better if you can.

What if they tell me my idea will not work?
Thank them, ask why, and ask who else you should talk to. A clear "no" from someone who knows the rules can save you months.

Before you go — advice from a past class. I asked the 2025 class to share one lesson about talking to real people. One student wrote:

"I was so focused on my next question that I almost missed a good insight. I learned that the best information comes when you let the conversation flow naturally."
— CEDT student, 2025 (lightly edited)

Learn their world first. Then let the silence do the work.

✦ A Note for Global Venture I Students · Block E: Understanding the Opportunities · Friend Interview form (2 cross-discipline interviews, due by Form E) · Form E

These two interviews complete your 12: 3 entrepreneurs, 5 customers, 2 ASEAN friends and 2 cross-discipline friends. Pick fields your venture actually touches, and treat each person as a future member of your extended team — not a box to tick.

The rules for these two:

• Two people from two different faculties — not two majors in the same faculty. Friends and friends of friends are welcome here (the stranger rule is for entrepreneur and customer interviews), but not a teammate.
• One interview counts once, as one type. If you already counted someone as a customer, they cannot also be your cross-discipline friend.
• Pairs and groups are allowed; credit divides by group size (two of you at one interview each get half an interview). Online interviews count.
• Log both in the Friend Interview form (the same form you use for ASEAN friends), due by Form E, with the seven lines above plus evidence: a selfie taken with permission, or, if they decline a photo, a screenshot of your thank-you email. Fill in the "AI used for" line.
• Delete any recordings after the course.
• Send the thank-you by email within 24 hours and CC kasper@seabridge.space (CC, not BCC) — one letter from each group member who took part. Many of the people you meet are my friends and connections, and I like to know who you met. The Thank-You Letters article is in Block A.
• Do not leave both interviews to the last days of Block E, when everyone else is also chasing their ASEAN friends.

Do this before class:

1. Name your two fields and two people. Send your first request this week — a short, polite message saying who you are, why them, and that it will take 30–45 minutes.
2. Write your three-part question list (their world · the problem through their lens · your idea) and bring it to the debrief.
3. Venture update (your own, in Form E; your team keeps one Venture Log): after each interview, note the assumption it challenged and the gap it revealed, with an evidence link, your readiness self-score and "AI used for". Book Log: reread your Chapter 28 entry — who could draw you a "map" from another field?

Pre-class check (in Form E):

1. Which two fields will you choose, and why does your venture need each one?
2. What is the difference between a cross-discipline friend interview and a customer interview?
3. Write one question that asks for a story rather than an opinion.

Your progress: Team readiness to level 3 (you can name the skills your team is missing and a plan to fill them) · Customer readiness to level 3 (a better-defined problem, seen from more than one side). How we measure progress

Based on the KTH Innovation Readiness Level™ by KTH Innovation, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (kthinnovationreadinesslevel.com).

Skills you practice: Empathy and active listening · curiosity and lifelong learning · mobilizing others · working with others.

Keep reading

• Building With AI: What It Can and Cannot Do for Your Venture — next and last in Block E
• The ASEAN Friend Interview — the sibling interview: another country instead of another field
• The Interview Masterclass — how to listen without steering
• The Interview Log & Evidence Rules — what counts as evidence

All articles in Block E · Understanding the Opportunities

• E-01 Industry Trend Analysis
• E-02 Social Capital in ASEAN
• E-03 MVP & Prototype
• E-04 Unique Value Proposition
• E-05 Regional Frameworks
• E-06 The Cross-Discipline Friend Interview (you are here)
• E-07 Building With AI

Further reading

• Johansson, F. (2004). The Medici effect: Breakthrough insights at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures. Harvard Business School Press.
• Epstein, D. (2019). Range: Why generalists triumph in a specialized world. Riverhead Books.

References

Web pages accessed Nov 2026 (checked 12 Nov 2026).

1. Sermsuksan, K.-T. (2023). The Startup Mindset [in Thai], Chapter 28. Wish Publishing (สำนักพิมพ์วิช). English: the author's own translation, not yet published.

About the author: Kasper-Tanakrit Sermsuksan is the Founder of SEA Bridge and a Visiting Lecturer in Computer Engineering and Digital Technology at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering. Learn more →