Question: How big a problem do you have keeping your phone battery charged?
For most people, the answer seems to be, “Not much.”
Yes, the battery can quickly run low, depending on how much you use it for navigation, music, podcasts, etc. But there are any number of readily available solutions, whether that’s plugging into a computer, car, or standard wall outlet, to name just a few.
Which is why when a high school student in the two-week entrepreneurial immersion class I am teaching this summer came up with the idea of a vending machine to provide a loaned battery pack, my first question for him was: “How much demand is there for this thing?”
Not, What will the machine look like? How will chargers be dispensed? How will returns be accepted? Or a thousand other questions surrounding implementation.
Of course, these logistical challenges and dozens more would ultimately require solving. But if there isn’t a big enough market need in the first place, nothing else matters.
Start With the Problem
As it turns out, the tendency to take the focus off a problem and, instead, quickly move toward solutions is not strictly the domain of enthusiastic high school students. Entrepreneurs and nonprofits exhibit the same preference.
Several years ago, I was approached by a successful entrepreneur who wanted to spend more of his time and acquired wealth to help middle school students improve their performance in mathematics.
He had not researched the field to see what programs were already in the market. Rather, he based his idea entirely on a single personal experience: his young son’s involvement in a math competition, which led to an increased interest and improved math performance at school.
From that “sample size of one,” the entrepreneur concluded that bringing math competitions to middle schools would improve performance across the board. He was a bit surprised when his plan was not welcomed by any school administrator he spoke with.
Perhaps the most well-known example of putting the solution cart before the problem horse was the ill-fated Segway.
Developed by brilliant inventor Dean Kamen and supported by leading venture capitalists, this gyroscopically balanced, two-wheeled transport device launched to a giant collective “huh?” A wonderful solution to a transportation challenge that didn’t actually exist.
Dive Deep Into the Problem
Knowing with certainty what people will want is easier said than done — Steve Jobs famously said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” There are, however, things you can do to get a handle on whether a need may exist.
Identify and Investigate a Clear Market Segment
If you think you have an idea worth pursuing, validate that idea by speaking with people (especially people you don’t know) who you believe would benefit. Get them to talk about the problem and see if they identify the issue you are focused on. If you can find people who are already working on ways to solve the problem — or at least deal with it — there is likely to be a market for your solution.
For example, the development of the mountain bike is often attributed to Joe Breeze, a bicycle frame builder who noticed riding enthusiasts were modifying existing bikes to make them rugged enough for trail use. In this case, the problem was well known among an identifiable market segment, so much so that they were developing one-off bicycles on their own. When Breeze showed up with a mountain bike, his solution was readily welcomed.
Establish Proof of Concept
Market research is important, of course. But it is theoretical by definition. The best way to uncover if people will actually pay for your solution is to develop a “Minimal Viable Product” (MVP) and see how much interest there is. Eric Ries coined this phrase and defines it as “that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort, or in other words, building the most minimum version of their product that will still allow them to learn.”
A few years ago, students in Boston noted the lack of a “KAYAK-like” service allowing people to filter options for train trips between Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. (At the time, KAYAK was purely focused on flight options.)
So they bought some Google AdWords that would pick up people searching for buses or trains, and presented them with a link to a landing page. The page noted the service was “under construction,” but invited visitors to provide their email address to receive notification when it was live. The result? Enough demonstrated demand for the students to invest in building a solution: Wanderu.
Reflections
Humans are trained in our schooling to seek the right answer to problems. But jumping too quickly to solutions to these problems can lead to a great deal of wasted time, money, and effort.
As Uri Levine, the famously impatient founder of Waze advised, the critical first step in launching any new product or service is to “fall in love with the problem, not the solution.”
