(2018-06-07) Maurya The Problem With Problems Love The Problem

Ash Maurya: The Problem With Problems – Love the Problem. Set a timer for 20 minutes and take a first snapshot of your idea on a Lean Canvas.”

lists out a number of starting customer segments

selects his top 3 most promising business model candidates.

but most of the problems entrepreneurs initially list on their canvas usually don’t turn out to be the right ones.”

“Because most entrepreneurs already have a solution in mind which they can’t simply shut off. Instead of asking: “What are my customer’s top problems?”, many entrepreneurs ask: “What top problems can I solve with my solution?”

you fake the problems on the canvas to justify your solution.… When you put those same problems on a survey and ask people to rank them, sure they can rank them relative to the other choices on your survey. But if their top problem isn’t there, they have no way of letting you know, and you never discover it.”

Even if you get people responding that they have a problem, you don’t get to the real “why” on a survey

At this stage, finding evidence of monetizable pain is your number one priority and running one-on-one problem interviews is your best course of action.

Customer’s too have a solution bias. Just take a look at any feature request backlog and you’ll see a bunch of solutions disguised as problems.

limitations of this problem interview script.”

(source: Running Lean)

It works really well when you are within striking distance of a problem worth solving

once we moved into accounts we didn’t know so well. There was little trust, and whenever we led with problems, it put our prospects on the defense

Well, there is this newer version of the Problem Interview script

it doesn’t lead with problems at all, but instead uses a backdoor approach to problem discovery.”

core premise of this newer framework is that new problems worth solving are created as by-products of old solutions. This is the Innovator’s Gift.”

So you’re telling me that I shouldn’t be inventing new problems, but rather searching for existing problems with what people are already using?” Steve adds.

The 4 Customer Forces that Drive People to Buy Anything

This image is the key to understanding this framework. It describes the science of how people buy anything — yes, there is a science to it. People don’t impulsively buy stuff or switch products, they are driven to it by four forces — push, pull, inertia, and friction

Thinking of products in terms of these customer forces is a game changer

I’ve narrowed down my most promising business models to these two: marketers and enterprise

*simply building a solution isn’t enough. Remember the business model is the product. With your problem and solution assumptions in check, your next priority should be validating your pricing assumptions. In other words, go make a customer.”

“You mean, make sales?” Steve asks.*

“So take your problem/solution findings and first build a demo. The art of the demo is showing the smallest thing possible to convince a customer you can solve their problem. Then turn that into a mafia offer and go make some customers. Remember the process.