Focus on the Problem, Not the Solution

I recently took a three-week-long class at Columbia University about creating a venture/startup taught by professor Jack McGourty Ph.D.

Although there were countless ways my eyes were opened by his insight, something that particularly stood out to me was his initial approach to creating a business. Many of my 30+ classmates had probably come into the class with their own ideas, with their own products that they wanted to create their venture around. However, on the first day of class, we realized that this would not be happening. First, we were randomly assigned groups that we would be working with for the next three weeks, told to brainstorm problems that we could work on, and then choose a problem to base our venture on. As a result, many of our own individual solutions would probably not be the focus of our ventures. Next and most importantly, we were told that we would be focusing ONLY on the problem for the next two weeks and would not be allowed to even create or brainstorm solutions to our problem. Dr. Jack’s reasoning behind this decision is what was so eye-opening to me.

As it turns out, when you love your solution so much and completely neglect the problem you are actually fixing, you easily become biased in your thinking and neglect important aspects of your actual problem. This is one of the most common reasons that 90% of startups end up failing. They have inadequate knowledge of the market, a limited understanding of their competition, and create a solution that does not actually fix the problem the way that the consumer wants it to. All of this comes from the initial cognitive bias that stems from a love of their initial solution. It is incredibly important to take a step back and think about what the problem you are solving actually is, who is most in need of a solution to this problem, the pain points coming from this problem, and what the outcome of a solution would actually be. When you actually take time to focus on these things, you can conduct much more effective research.

While only thinking about the problem can seem to be challenging, there are certain methods to guide you along the way. First, it is helpful to view the problem not as an obstacle to be cleared, but as a job to be done. What is the job the customer is trying to do or accomplish? What are the circumstances (who, what, when, where, how) in which they are trying to do their job? What challenges or struggles are getting in the way of their job and what effect does it have on the customer? By framing the problem as a job to be done, you can really start to understand and empathize with your customer and the experience that they have with the problem. Furthermore, by truly understanding the customer experience, not only will you be able to understand the obstacles that impede their progress, but also start to list the consequences of the problem such as time, money, and stress.

If you have taken all these aspects into account, the next step is to figure out who actually experiences this problem the most. This is because while it is possible to create a solution that pertains to everyone, you have limited resources as a startup. It is impossible to market to and serve the entire population that experiences the problem. Furthermore, the people that the problem pertains to most are going to be experts when it comes to trying to solve the problem. By figuring out who these people are, engaging them, and asking questions about their experiences with the problem, you will be gaining invaluable insight into the problem that will inevitably lead to a better solution.

The last aspect of thinking about the problem is considering the outcomes of your potential solution. What are the outcomes that your customer wants? Most of the time, this means that you should focus on making the customer’s job faster, better, and/or cheaper. Furthermore, you should also figure out how your customer base values certain products that try to solve their problem. For example, if your customer is trying to make chores less time-consuming, they would value a product based on how much time it saves them. Lastly, it is also important to not only focus on the functionality of your product but also on how your product makes the customer feel if your solution does solve their problem. By understanding their emotions when using the perfect solution, it becomes easier to market your product and its benefits to potential customers. Furthermore, customers more often buy products based on perceived emotional outcomes rather than functionality.

To summarize, there are three main questions to consider before thinking about any type of solution:

What is the problem to be solved?

Who primarily experiences this problem?

What would the outcome be if the problem was solved?