Purpose

Create an initial, assumption-based persona profile that synthesizes available user research, market data, and stakeholder knowledge into a working hypothesis about your target user. Use this to align teams early in product development, guide initial design decisions, and identify gaps in understanding that require validation through research.

This is not a validated persona—it's a "proto" (prototype) persona that evolves as you learn more. Think of it as a structured placeholder that prevents design-by-committee while acknowledging you don't have all the answers yet.

Key Concepts

What is a Proto-Persona?

A proto-persona is a lightweight, hypothesis-driven persona created from:

Existing research: User interviews, surveys, analytics (if available)
Market data: Industry reports, competitor analysis, demographic trends
Stakeholder knowledge: Sales, support, and team insights
Informed assumptions: Best guesses that need validation