Mobile Food Truck, Fayetteville NC

Mobile Food Truck, Fayetteville NC

Validation of the Problem

Describe what you’ve done so far to confirm that the problem you are focused on is a real problem for your customers — that is, that they recognize it as a problem that’s worth paying you to solve. There are plenty of minor “problems” out there that people are OK with just tolerating. The world is an imperfect place. To build a business, though, you need a problem that a sufficient enough number of people are motivated to solve, even if they didn’t realize it was solvable until they saw your solution.

For a well-established business, this is probably just a matter of recapping your success in the marketplace. Your customers have already voted with their wallets. For a new business or even an idea-stage startup, though, it is important to “get out of the building” — that is, talk to as many potential customers as possible, listen to them talk about where they are having problems, and validate that they are interested enough in addressing those problems to pay for a good solution.

Use this topic to describe the conversations you’ve had with your potential customers. If you have data about the problem or statistics on how people solve the problem today, share them here.

Validation of Solution

Describe the positive customer feedback or market traction that you have achieved with your solution so far. What makes you think people will buy, be satisfied with, and recommend your products or services? If you are not that far along yet, describe your plan to test your ideas with potential customers to confirm that there is a good market for the products or services you plan to offer.

For an existing business, the answers probably lie in your paying customer base — not just their existence (a good sign, obviously) but also their repeat business, word-of-mouth referrals, follow-up surveys, and other indicators of satisfaction.

For a new business, you can start validating your solution immediately by trying it out with potential customers, even informally or at no charge, and getting their feedback. If your product or service does not exist yet, talk to potential customers about what you plan to offer and measure their feedback. Do you have evidence that prospects are willing to pay for your solution?