Business

Find the critical problem at the intersection of something mandatory and something wasteful. 关键问题总是位于强制与浪费的交叉点

A Critical Problem Is Not Optional Some things can be ignored or delegated, but a critical problem can’t be. If it’s critical, people will have to deal with the problem every time it occurs. They can’t just opt out of it. Solving the problem is essential to making any kind of progress in the work. Find the critical problem where people would love to opt out, but can’t. ...

Find the critical problem where people need to do the same thing over and over again. A Critical Problem Occurs Frequently and Repeatedly The reason why critical problems are always on the minds of your customers is that the problems happen so often. Every day, every week, every month, the critical problems repeatedly occur. For your customers, it’s always the most urgent thing at that time. The issue needs to be solved there and then, every single time. If it’s not frequent, it is likely not a critical problem. If it occurs repeatedly and isn’t easily solved, it is likely to be a critical problem. ...

Find the critical problem where solving a problem takes a long time every time the problem occurs. A Critical Problem Takes up Too Much Time If a problem can be solved quickly, people either solve it the moment it appears or they set aside some time to do the work in a batch later, without feeling like it’s a waste of time. If that is the case, the problem is not really critical. Only when you need to spend considerable time and effort each time you solve the problem will it be impossible to “just” deal with it. “Doing it later” also turns into a chore, as it may take hours or days to deal with a long queue of deferred problems. A critical problem will feel like an unwelcome chore: important, yet tiresome. ...

They Have No Interest in Paying With non-critical problems, customers often find alternative ways of solving the problem because they want to save money. It’s not worthwhile for them to look for and pay for a solution that they value less than alternative solutions. They’ll be willing to pay: if the solution saves them time if the solution saves them money if the solution makes them money ...

A Critical Problem Forces People to Solve It Using Their Own System There is the joke that every SaaS is an Excel sheet transformed into business logic. The moment someone uses generic tools like word processors or spreadsheets to solve a problem, it’s an indicator that the problem is valuable enough to build tools. Most problems don’t have high complexity, and they can be solved on the spot. But a critical issue will be complicated enough to start developing a system. If your customers have a pile of Post-its or a chaotic assortment of Word and Excel files to solve a problem, you may have found a critical problem. ...

Finding the Critical Problem So, how can you learn about which is the most critical problem your customers have? It’s quite straightforward: talk to them. Ask them what annoys them most. Find out where they want to be. Ask them what keeps them from being the best at what they are doing.

If you find something that will obviously make them significantly more money or save them a lot of time, then you have something to go on. Customers should really want to pay for it, almost have a burning desire to open their wallets. When they ask you if that is possible and you tell them it is, their mouth should drop to the floor.

Focus on what you can help them accomplish. Ask what customers want and which state they want to be in when the work is done. Don’t focus too much on the “how it’s done.” That is usually more based on tradition than on an optimized process.

If you hear people complaining about a waste of money, prohibitive costs, compliance, or the wrong people working on the wrong things, you’ve found a resource-related problem.

Self-Related Pains This group of problems is often overlooked. Everyone wants to be notable somewhere. This can mean holding a position in a company or being regarded as a supportive co-worker or friend. When people struggle with achieving these things, they feel self-related pains. The four essential concepts to look out for here are Reputation, Accomplishment, Advancement, and Empowerment.

Do They Know? The Problem with Problem Awareness When you’re conducting interviews with customers, you will hear them talk a lot about the problems that bother them. These are the known knowns. But your prospects will never be able to tell you about the issues they don’t realize they have.

Entrepreneurs are good at coming up with ideas. We envision solutions to the problems that trouble the audience we have chosen to help. We think deeply about a problem, mentally shape a product, and see how much it would benefit the quality of life. Then we get to work and build the prototype, eager to release it as soon as possible.

A good question here is, “At what stage of your workflow will you be using this solution?” Throughout your solution validation conversations, you want to project a clear interest in solving your customer’s problems without causing new ones. If you communicate this clearly in each call, you will create goal alignment between you and your prospect: you both want a great solution that makes things easier for the customer.

Asking the Right Questions: Focus on Problems not Solutions When you talk to your customers or prospects, you will find that there are questions that always produce meaningful results: where they are now? Where do they want to be? What stands in the way of getting there? Essentially, this is applying the jobs-to-be-done framework to your communication strategy, trying to find their realistic and aspirational states, and then building a solution that allows them to go from one state to the other. ...

Use free or low-cost tools. For example, you can build cross-platform apps with frameworks like React Native which don’t require paying for multiple native platforms. Use free graphics tools like GIMP instead of Photoshop. Validate your app idea first. Get feedback from target users before investing time and money into full development. Create mockups or prototypes to gauge interest. Consider freelancers instead of full-time staff. Hire affordable freelancers to help with things like graphics, marketing, etc. Leverage app marketplaces like App Store and Google Play. They make distribution easy without needing your own marketing budget. Use free promotion channels. Promote your app on social media, forums, blogs relevant to your niche. Reach out to influencers and the press. Monetize with ads. Mobile ads through networks like AdMob can provide revenue even for free apps. Build up over time and reinvest revenue. Start lean, prove the concept, then grow organically by reinvesting any profits. Consider crowdfunding. Run a Kickstarter campaign to fund development costs and assess demand. Look for startup grants and investments. Apply to app startup funding programs and pitch to angel investors once you have traction. The key is to start small, validate demand, leverage free/low-cost tools and use creativity instead of big capital initially when bootstrapping your app busine ...

先解决有无问题，再解决好坏问题。

sometimes we look for immutable things like age or gender niches. Other times the specifics we’re interested in are fluid things like preferences or experience levels. Some niches can be large enough to contain millions of people, and others might just consist of a handful of individuals.

The makers of Bud Light, spend more than $1.5 billion every year. They do that because they need to be present in the mind of every single shopper when they think of getting a beer.

What unites all niches is that they are inclusive of some and exclusive of others. The members of the in-group will be reasonably similar, depending on the specificity of the niche. That’s why niches work so well for bootstrapped businesses: if you can provide a tool that solves a niche problem very well, you can be sure that everyone in the niche will be interested in it. ...