This emphasis on problem versus solution was the core mind shift I wanted to get across with the Lean Canvas and why I modified the original Business Model Canvas. The first part of the journey, and perhaps the most important part, is figuring out product market feed, meaning the value it brings to users. Without this, your idea is dead in the water. No company skipped figuring out product market feed. “Once a company figures out product market feed they don’t change it.” So how can we change it? While we know what’s the right decision, we are always looking for confirmation.

Start by thinking of a problem—a BIG problem—something that is worth solving, a problem that, if solved, will make the world a better place. Then ask yourself, who has this problem? Now, if the answer is just you, don’t even bother. It is not worth it. If you are the only person on the planet with this issue, it would be better to consult a shrink. It would be much cheaper (and probably faster) than building a start-up. Is it really possible to solve a problem without defining it? In their paper Identifying Viable ‘Need-Solution Pairs’: Problem Solving Without Problem Formulation, MIT Professors Eric Von Hippel and Georg von Grogh demonstrate that, far from being uncommon, this is actually quite a common occurrence. The rolling suitcase, for instance, was invented when Bernard Sadow, struggling to carry his heavy luggage, observed an airport worker effortlessly rolling a heavy machine on a wheeled skid. In cases like this, the problem is identified and formulated (if at all) only after the discovery of a solution.If you listen to all your customers, pretty soon, you’ll have a bloated monster on your hands. Even if you listen to your most valuable customers, you might still build stuff that they don’t use. This is because most feature requests are framed as solutions, not problems. And customers are often not good at devising solutions — even to their problems. “It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want.” My hope is that through my book, I will create value and achieve an impact on people building successful businesses. Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication. Ehud and Amir were working together at a software house that Amir was running. Ehud was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), but in his “night job” he had built a product called FreeMap Israel.

This is a blog series written by the alumni of the Implementing Public PolicyExecutive Education Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Participantssuccessfully completed this 6-month online learning course in December 2020.These are their learningjourneystories. Waze is successful in many countries, but Brazil is perhaps the most significant one, where it has become an indispensable tool for drivers, with a huge impact on how they plan their schedules and ensure punctuality.

Also in Magazine

Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike. He offers tips on: Pitfall: Most customer feature requests are framed as solutions, but customers are often not good solution designers. It can be detrimental to ignore what others are telling you. Maybe your friends, potential business partners, or investors had something important to say and you didn’t listen! But, at the same time, you must be in love to go on this journey. It will be a long, complex, and difficult roller-coaster ride. If you’re not in love, it will be too hard for you. Pitfall: Metrics can only tell you what’s going wrong, not why, and your team will have a “different good idea” for how to fix it.

When I heard entrepreneurs pitch their Business Model Canvases, I heard a lot about what they were going to build (value proposition/solution) and a lot about how they were going to deliver it to customers (channels, key activities, key partners, key resources, customer relationships). But I didn’t hear anything about why customers would need or want your solution in the first place or how you would get them to switch from what they are doing today to your solution. No problems in your business model is a problem. If you happen to find yourself in love with a particular idea, you can make that the first one you put through the Build-Measure-Learn loop. You’ll have several other ideas ready and waiting to be worked on if it turns out that solution you were pining after wasn’t Mr. Right after all. Resiliently and resolutely moving on to the next idea, when the one you were excited about didn’t work out, is another way of demonstrating your love for the problem. Step 3: Use the decision framework to fall in love with the right solution

First, social entrepreneurs focus on the problem they are solving, not the solution.So, in your case, why does your community have high unemployment? Is it related to education, a skill gap or barriers to employment? You could create jobs as a solution but still not solve the problem of high unemployment. So, the first step in social alchemy is to understand the problem through research , conversations with those impacted and mapping of existing resources. No one cares about traffic information,” the CEO said, rebuffing what I thought was a brilliant idea. “They care about navigation. I don’t think traffic information will be actionable.” Throughout the book, Levine unveils the truth behind the hardship of building a startup, side by side providing a cookbook for entrepreneurs, with the hope that the readers will use the insights and Startips to guide their way and increase their chances to succeed.

I was persistent, though. Anyone who knows me is aware that once I get an idea in my mind, it’s nearly impossible to dissuade me from pursuing it. Telmap had 50,000 users at the time, all in Israel, and all using their mobile phones with GPS. I built a theoretical statistical model to show how those 50,000 random drivers would be enough to create actionable traffic information. It was a very simple model that turned out to be accurate later when we built Waze. You’ve probably heard this quote before: “Fall in love with the problem not the solution” when looking for a better decision framework. Each of these was a simple enough feature request, but rather than just implementing them, we got the requestors on the phone. We asked them what they were trying to accomplish (outcome) and explored why the current product failed them (problem). In this case, we learned that these users wanted to use their Lean Canvases in investor presentations, and the default view was not visually interesting enough. Once you understand the job, the axes of “better” get clearer.Let’s fast forward to a launched product with many customers. With lots of customers come lots of new feature requests. Who do you listen to? By “actionable” he meant “we’ll never be able to get people to use it enough to make it worth our while financially or to change their route accordingly.” The PDIA framework helps multiple stakeholders become smarter on complex issues over time and it allows them adapt to changes in technology and the political environment. Finally, the iterative learn-and-adapt process helps ensure that the policy continues to get attention as it matures and gains legitimacy. Uri Levine is a two-time unicorn builder of Waze and Moovit, which are both traffic and navigation apps.