Deepam Mishra | AI-Inside Innovation Series

“We’ve Done Customer Surveys and Focus Groups So We Know The Problem”

Most of you would have heard that the “customers decide what problem to solve”. However no one probably told you that this only applies to incremental improvements and not breakthrough innovation. If you’ve ever tried being an entrepreneur, or to raise venture capital, you will realize that it is a lot harder than just asking the customer to define the problem. Steve Jobs is famous for having said “Its not the customer’s job to define the problem.”

Problems Worth Solving Are NEVER Obvious on Day 1

In my 15+ years, I’ve rarely encountered anyone who could just “see” the problem, without having lived and experienced it personally, for years. Now, I don’t mean to say that there can be no easy-to-define problems, but those are so competitively crowded that there is no profitability left in them anymore (more on this later)

Success Strategy

The only satisfying answers I find are from entrepreneurs, who have been in the trenches. Recall Geoffrey Moore’s research on early adopters. “… less than 10% of customers would buy an early innovation”. Putting this and the earlier quote from Steve Jobs together, you can build a recipe for problem discovery.

You have to first, undertake the effort of observing, guessing and validating the problem. Then you have to build the skills to conceive a solution. And finally, you have to have the confidence to take “no” in your stride and keep looking for your early adopters — while NOT changing the idea/solution just because a few customers said no.

Just pause and think what it takes and if it is possible in your own corporate environment. So, how do we go about finding a problem worth solving? I’ve found that the following process provides the answers. However, it requires an open mind and a lot of practice. Do not get fooled by the abject simplicity of the description.