Inclusive design studio CULUMU (operated by STYZ Inc., Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Tatsuya Tanaka, hereinafter 'CULUMU'), which supports new business creation for companies, has released a white paper titled 'The Illusion of Customer Understanding That Derails Business,' which analyzes the reality of customer understanding and failure factors in new business development. In conjunction, a 7-part webinar series will be held sequentially from Wednesday, April 22, 2026, to solve the challenges revealed by this survey and guide businesses towards societal implementation.

1. The 'Trap of Customer Understanding' Revealed by Original Research, Leading Businesses Astray Currently, as customer needs diversify, there is an increasing number of cases where traditional product development targeting 'average users' fails to capture the market. Our company conducted a survey of 500 companies to explore the structural factors of the 'Valley of Disillusionment,' where new businesses stagnate after launch.

### ■ Key Highlights of the Research Report

- **Significant Gap Between Perception and Reality** While 72.3% of companies are confident that they 'sufficiently understand their customers,' the number one cause of actual business failure is 'lack of market needs (30.1%).' This highlights a clear misconception on the part of companies.

- **'Valley of Disillusionment' as Phases Progress** The 'illusion of customer understanding' occurs where self-assessment sharply declines as phases progress, even if confidence is high during the idea conception stage.

- **'N=1 Research' Practiced by Successful Companies** Approximately 10% of projects achieve single-year profitability. Successful companies emphasize 'N=1 qualitative research' on extreme users, improving decision-making accuracy by iterating between quantitative (scale) and qualitative (causality).

FACT BOX

  • Source: PR TIMES
  • Category: Survey