How to Define the Problem Your Product Solves

In the previous post, "Every Product Should Start with an Initial Insight," I discussed the first step in completing your product strategy document. In this step, I outlined a process for finding the "Initial Insight," which should be:

• Earned

• Unique

• Anchored to one of the six dimensions of the strategy document.

We also defined the following initial insight in the example of TupiBox:

"Dog owners spend money on deficient snacks and toys, often overspending on products that are harmful to their dogs, toys that they don't like, or poor-quality items that break within two minutes. I've personally experienced this because I made the same mistake, and it took me several years to understand that dogs have different cognitive needs at different ages and various dietary restrictions depending on their breed, age, allergies, etc. There is currently no service that meets my dog's cognitive and dietary needs every month, based on its breed, age, and allergies."

Now let's define the first dimension of our strategy document: "The Problem."

Why Is It Important to Define the Problem Correctly?

Because many times we jump directly to a solution, which doesn't allow us to explore the true pains of people, and ultimately we end up with a product that doesn't address a real need.

To thoroughly explore the problem, we can do it in three stages:

1. What is the person trying to achieve?

2. Why does the person want to achieve this?

3. Why can't they achieve this currently?

Never express the problem as a paraphrased solution. Let's use Calendly as an example. The correct way to express the problem that Calendly solves would be: "Executives lose a lot of time trying to schedule meetings." The incorrect way would be: "An app to help executives waste less time scheduling meetings."

Since I'm "building in public" and implementing what I'm learning in the Reforge course, let's use the TupiBox example and answer the questions mentioned earlier:

What is the person trying to achieve?

To meet their dog's cognitive and dietary needs month by month in a way that's fun for them and their dog.

Why does the person want to achieve this?

To avoid behavioral problems due to stress, improve their dog's mental health, keep their dog entertained and well-nourished in a fun/funny way for both of them.

Why can't they achieve this currently?

Because there are currently many varieties in the market, there's little understanding of which toy is for which type of dog, the toys are almost the same in all stores, they have to think about what to buy month by month, etc.

I'll probably have to rethink the problem with this exercise 🙈. It was harder than I expected, so perhaps the problem isn't as significant as I thought. Maybe this is precisely the riskiest dimension of my business and the one I need to validate most urgently. Later, we'll explore validation techniques for the six dimensions (problem, target, value proposition, competitive advantage, growth strategy, and business model).

Try doing the exercise with your idea, startup, or project and let me know how it goes in the comments.

In the next blog post, we'll discuss how to define the second dimension: The Target Audience.