I’ve been teaching entrepreneurship classes at the university level (Vanderbilt University and Belmont University) for over 10 years. I always find myself asking these young entrepreneurs the following question: What is the serious customer pain your company is trying to solve? If a company is addressing a problem or pain that is not significant enough, it may be a “solution looking for a problem.” If the customer pain is significant in the market space, why is there no one other companies trying to eliminate the customer pain and solve the problem? If there are no other players or competitors in the market space addessing the issue, is this a real problem. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you evaluate exactly what is the customers’ pain that your idea will solve:
- What evidence is there to suggest that there is a pressing need for the solution you are proposing?
- What cost would customers attribute to this pain or problem and what value will they attribute to your proposed solution?
- How is this customer pain being addressed currently and why is this not sufficient?
- Has this customer pain (need) been recognized by industry groups, standards bodies and incumbent vendors?
- How significant and costly is the change required to embrace your proposed solution?
- Is the pain to switch to your solution greater (or less) than the pain the customer feels (if greater, they’ll never switch)?