Jobs-to-be-done asks what progress someone is trying to make, rather than what demographic they belong to. The framework travels well. The examples usually do not, because they assume a buyer with individual purchasing authority and low price sensitivity.
The job is often defensive
Western JTBD examples skew toward growth: help me grow faster, help me reach more people. In Indian B2B a large share of purchases are made to avoid something: an audit finding, a compliance gap, a competitor who already has the capability.
Interviews that only ask what were you trying to achieve miss this entirely. Ask also what were you worried would happen if you did nothing.
The buyer is rarely one person
The founder feels the job. The finance lead approves the spend. Someone junior runs the evaluation and has a different job again, which is usually not being blamed for a bad recommendation. Three jobs, one purchase.
Interview about the switch, not the product
The useful question is what were you doing before, and what happened the week you decided that was no longer good enough. That week contains the actual job. What do you like about our product does not.
What to do with the answer
A job statement should change something. If yours could describe any competitor equally well, it is a category description rather than a job, and it will not help you decide what to build or what to write.
General information, not legal advice. Rules current as of July 2026.