THE PROBLEM

1) What is the problem that you’re solving? Describe in a few words.

Example: Drivers don’t know where traffic jams occur before going somewhere. If they knew, they could
take different routes (= Waze, later bought by Google for $1.15 Billion).
Describe:

2) How frequent is this problem?

Do people face it several times per day or a few times per year? Think about it, research it and try to be as
specific as possible. Example: Drivers face traffic jams every day, possibly two times per day.
[RARE] <-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [FREQUENT]
Describe:

3) How common is this problem?

It’s very relative though. A B2C product will usually be more “common” than a B2B product, but it all also
depends on the price. You can sell a very expensive product to a handful of companies or you can sell a
cheap product to millions of people. Example: Drivers facing traffic jams is obviously a common problem.
[FEW CUSTOMERS] <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [A LOT OF CUSTOMERS]
Describe:

4) How serious is this problem?

This basically asks whether people are willing to pay for a solution or not. Sometimes there can be everyday
problems that no one is solving simply because they are not annoying enough to be paid for. Example:
Cutting your nails takes some time and happens a few times per month. But would you pay for an imaginary
high tech solution which allows you to place your fingers in a device and it instantly cuts all your nails?
(Supposing it works and doesn’t cut some of your fingers in the process!). Well, probably not. That solution
might be too expensive and most people will prefer the traditional nail scissors. But watch out: you’re only
brainstorming at this stage, so you might be wrong! Write down what you think with information coming
from your own mind and online research.
[NOT ANNOYING] <-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [SUPER ANNOYING]
Describe:
 THE SOLUTION

1) The solution that you propose to solve this problem, which is basically your startup product, is it
unique compared to the alternatives?
Before Waze you couldn’t really know in real time whether there was a traffic jam on your way, so it was a
unique solution. So the more unique it is, the better, but it also doesn’t necessarily have to be. You can
differentiate in other ways.
[TYPICAL] <-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [UNIQUE]
Describe:

2) Is this solution protectable?

Can someone else easily copy it? This is extremely important because if you can’t protect an innovative
solution, other companies will start copying it (if it works really well!). For example, Uber is a great
company, but there’s really nothing critical that they can protect. That’s why Lyft and Didi can compete. So
what do these companies do to remain the leaders? They get huge amounts of venture capital to
outcompete all the others in a “winner-takes-all” fashion. But if you can’t do that, you better be able to
protect your solution using other ways. So explain how you plan on doing it.
[CAN BE EASILY REPLICATED] <----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [PROTECTABLE]
Describe:

3) Finally, is your solution sustainable?

By “sustainable” we mean “can it function as a viable business on the long term?”. For example, can a
gigantic company easily copy your solution and quickly implement it, making your company unable to
compete at all? Can clients only use your product or service once and never come back? Or, on the contrary,
can you find a way to “lock” your clients and make them recurrent?
[DIFFICULT TO SUSTAIN] <----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [SUSTAINABLE]
Describe:
 THE CUSTOMER
Explain in the paragraph below who will be your customers. Define whether they are businesses or final
consumers (or both if you have a multi-sided business idea). Then describe them in as much details as you can.
For B2C: their age, gender, occupation, income, education, behaviours, geography, etc. Example: Amateur
astronomers, aged between 25 and 65 who own a telescope and use it regularly. For B2B, define the size and
types of businesses, their location and problems. Example: Small and medium apparel shops located in city
centers that have trouble to compete against giant malls.
Describe or draw your customers:

YOUR COMPETITORS
Write down in the paragraph below ALL your competitors. This means direct and indirect ones, including
substitute products. For example, there wasn’t any direct competitor for Waze at the time. But you still had a
few other options to know whether there were traffic jams or not. Indirect competitor: The local highway radio
station that reports the current traffic conditions. Substitute: Calling a friend who took the road before you, or
simply Knowing by heart where traffic jams usually occur and defining your own itinerary.
List your direct competitors and substitute products:
 THE MARKET CONTEXT
Given what you wrote for the Competition block, define in which Market context you will be operating with such
a solution. Is this a completely free market void of competitors (hint: unlikely), is it a new growing market or is it
an old and saturated one?
[_] NO MARKET (Find another idea or get billions of $ to create a market)
[_] NEW MARKET (No competition just yet)
[_] GROWING MARKET (Startups only start to pour in)
[_] GROWING MARKET (There are already a few super well-funded startups)
[_] CROWDED MARKET (I’m doing the same stuff as everyone else)
[_] CROWDED MARKET (I know how to disrupt this old industry!)
Explain why you ticked that and what is your strategy:

PROFITABILITY & SCALABILITY

It’s not easy, or even not possible, to evaluate the future profitability of an innovative business. However, it’s
possible to do so for a traditional one. Depending on the nature of your business, think about its potential
revenues and costs to see whether it can be profitable or not. And then, estimate how scalable it could become :
will it be possible to lower costs as the revenue increases? Or will they increase more or less at the same pace,
meaning that that it will be difficult to increase your profit margin?
[UNSCALABLE] <------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> [EXTREMELY SCALABLE]
Estimate the Scalability of your business idea:

Congrats for filling this out! And remember, this is just for your own brainstorming and analysis. Some
things you wrote here are your personal assumptions and others can be backed up with data that you find
online. But you can never be sure about how things will go because there are just too many variables when
it comes to business. And no one is qualified to judge an innovative idea! This framework here is to help
you think and it’s the first step.