If someone starts looking for any help or resources as a startup founder then he will quickly find the customer development and lean startup methodologies and the business model canvas. All the methodologies presented are so convincing to mind and feels very natural to start with. Concepts like problem solution fit and getting out of the building and talking to customer seems so obvious and natural that once can’t stop following or become follower of these practices.
But after starting journey on this path few obvious issues come up. I am trying to discuss some of these issues following-
Identifying a problem worth solving is not that easy. Most of the obvious problems are already taken up and services are available to solve these problem. Problems are very context specific. Searching for problems in people’s lives is not a very good direction to start with and talking to people with respect to problem is very hypothetical. Inventing new problems that the customer themselves may not be aware and talking to people about those problems makes the process even error pron. It all depends on the mood of the customer, his intellectual ability and relationship with the interviewer and many other non-concrete factors.
Typically people don’t look at the problems they are facing as problems to be solved but there focus is not getting the job done.
Let’s take an imaginary example of some service that helps people in choosing better fashion cloths. It may be mobile app for choosing better cloths. Choosing better fashion is not an everyday task and people don’t look at it as problem to be solved. Discussion on topic with the customer based on many factors and will vary with person to person. It will grossly depend on how the questions are asked. Long story short the discussion around problem goes nowhere and does not yield any concrete result.
At one abstract level any new idea is just another better mouse trap. It is not about identifying a new problem to be solved but it is about just a better solution than the existing alternatives. One cannot invent a new problem to be solved but every new problem will trace back to the root cause of existing issue. So thinking in terms of problems will just be biting around the bush and will not lead to any concrete business plan.
What I am trying to propose is just new way of thinking in terms of ‘job to be done’. If you start talking to people in the unit of ‘job to be done’ then it becomes a meaningful conversation. In my earlier fashion and cloths example ‘job to be done’ is ‘buying new cloths. Now there is no question that people buy new cloths or not, as they always do. What will make people is your offer for the new cloths. They will want to discuss about the offer if you have any. Talking about problem is like doing academic survey which typically lead to no concrete result. Instead what you need to check is people’s reaction to your offer and the offer should help the customer to ‘get the job done’.
So think in terms of job to be done (instead of problem to be solved) and think about what is your offer to get that job done. You message need to reach to customer in terms of your offer for the job to be done. If you identify a job to be done which customer typically don’t do then you are trying to open the door from the wrong side i.e. you have invented something that not body wants.
Typically any offer will be against in exchange of some precious resource from the customer. The precious resource can be his money, attention, time, recommendation, personal information, thoughts on the subject etc. So the customer will always negotiate (at least in his mind) before committing to the deal i.e. using your service or application.
If the customer will like your offer will depends on lot of factors. A very good offer to wrong customer segment is of no use so there is this critical task to find the repeatable channel to reach to right customer segment.
Following table try to summarize this better-
| Job to be done(this is what the customer wants to achieve) | Buy new cloths |
| Your offer to get the job done | We read your mind and find perfect pair of cloths for you: nobody else on the earth can do this. |
| In exchange of | In exchange of –Money (Say only $10 extra to cloths cost) |
| Your solution(Your product) | May be a mobile app / virtual reality etc. |
| Your idea for the better mouse trap(This is where the innovation/invention is) | May be a new mind reading technic. |
Someone may say that there must be some problem addressed to make better mouse trap, so why not think in terms of identifying that problem and hence talk to customer to identify the problem? I think, that is a wrong direction to start with, because, problem identification is a relative process. For example, let’s assume someone brought the best new car available on the earth hence he will not see any problem in the car until he sees a car better than his car. This is what happens with every choice customer make as he always makes the best possible choice according to him.
So instead of identifying the problem start thinking in terms of improving the attributes of your offer, i.e. make a better mouse trap. Note that your offer is not what you present to the customer but how he perceive your presentation, so that includes every aspect of your business.
The success factor depends on –
- How unique your offer is (to get the job done).
- How you build the channel to the right customer segment.
- How you present yourself.
- How breakthrough your innovation/invention is.
Below I tried to implement this framework to my new project referwise.com. ReferWise is social network for job referrals.
| For job seekers | For job sharers | |
| Job to be done | Get a new job | 1. Share job opening with friends
2. Earn referral bonus 3. Help friends 4. Reciprocal help 5. Fill in open position (Except #5 no others are ‘Job to be done’ for a typical corporate employee) |
| Your offer to get the job done | 1. Jobs only from your trusted friend circle.
2. Referral (recommendation) from your friend. 3. These jobs may not available on any job boards. |
Share job openings within trusted network only.
This can be done on LinkedIn, post a job on timeline. |
| In exchange of | 1. Build new social network
This is a huge cost I am asking for. When there are already social network build by people like facebook and linkedin. |
|
| Your solution(Your product) | www.referwise.com | www.referwise.com |
| Your idea for the better mouse trap(This is where the innovation/invention is) | A social network website dedicated to job referrals.
Other social networks are not dedicated for this purpose. |
A social network website dedicated to job referrals.
Other social networks are not dedicated for this purpose. This can be done on LinkedIn, post a job on timeline. |