I talked with a few teachers before I started coding, but it seemed they didn't know what they wanted or didn't expressed correctly, or maybe I didn't get it.
* talk to potential customers
* do it!
* PROFIT
Whereas unless you are an expert yourself in the domain you're entering, it's almost hopeless.
People/businesses don't know what they want, until it's presented to them on a golden platter and all of their colleagues/competitors are already braying about it.