Lesson #2 - How to get to the root of your startup customers' problem?
Alin Pausan
?? Product Manager - I help product tech companies reduce dev costs and launch products in the market in weeks not months | Startup community builder |??
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Lesson #2
If last time I wrote about setting up a strong foundation of your startup, today we are writing about identifying the customers' problems.
Did you know that many startup founders are solving the effect of a problem, not the cause?
That's leading founders to a lot of failures and a big amount of time and money spent.
Taiichi Ohno, the founder of the Toyota Production System, brought in the experienced professionals' lives, something that a 5 years old kid does almost every day. More specifically, asking the question "why?".
The 5?? why method offers you the possibility to identify the root of a problem by simply asking “why.” Five times.
??It's simple and efficient.
In addition to identifying the root of it, you also need to know who has that problem.
For example, to illustrate what this method can do, below, you can find how we use the five why framework to identify one of the leading causes of startup founders' failures.
??The problem statement: ??
Between 70% - 90% of the early-stage startups are failing, usually around 20 months from the first raising financing.
1?? Why does this problem occur for startup founders?
They couldn't identify a big enough problem to solve.
2?? Why founders can't identify a big enough problem to solve?
Because most of them are making assumptions and target the mass market.
3?? Why they are making assumptions and target the mass market?
Because they didn't talk with their customers, did research and based their business decisions on data, observations and facts.
4?? Why they are jumping over this step?
They have a tech background or no business experience and they lack on business and product know-how.
5?? Why they lack on business and product know-how?
They are not teached in schools and are not so many product-oriented startup programs to meet their educational needs.
??As a fact, a problem can have multiple roots. So it’s essential to start the process again to be able to identify other origins as well.
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3 年Well said. In order to face and tackle the challenges of a violent business world, startups need to be resilient and focus on keeping their integrity in tact against all odds.
Be open :)