Ask HN: Is customer development hard for you?

I noticed that some hackers struggle with different forms of customer development like finding first customers, validating ideas, growing customer base etc.

I would like to understand if such difficulties are common. I would really appreciate if you answer following questions:

1) Is customer development hard for you?

2) Why is it hard? What stops you from making progress?

3) What do you need to start making progress?

I appreciate all your responses. I love working with entrepreneurs and looking for new ways of how I could help.