Hello once again— if you found your way here, thank you for reading…
In this blog post, we will discuss the challenges Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovators face. One of the major obstacles they encounter is not only coming up with a great idea but also ensuring that idea meets a genuine and practical market need—meaning, do customers want your product? This challenge is something that I can relate to, as I have always found myself with various product/service ideas and concepts yet constantly doubting their practicality from a customer’s perspective. It’s a common problem that many Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovators face – having the technical know-how to bring an idea to life but lacking the confidence that there is a market waiting for it. In this blog post, we will discuss how to flip the traditional model of product development on its head and ensure that what we create is not only innovative but also necessary.
During a recent vacation, while hanging out on the beach, my mind couldn’t help but wander back to this persistent challenge. It dawned on me that the solution might just lie in the very problem itself. Instead of guessing what people need, why not create a platform that allows them to tell us? This epiphany led to the reworking of my own workflow and logic— I need to bridge the gap between Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovators and customer market need, inspired by the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) Framework.
A bit about JTBD Framework, developed by Clay Christensen, offers a lens through which to view product development, emphasizing the importance of understanding the jobs customers are hiring products to do. This perspective is crucial, as it shifts the focus from the product to the need it fulfills.
Here comes the Pitch—my 101th new Product..lol, an application named www.jobstobedonenow.com, seeks to operationalize this framework by providing a space where customers can articulate their challenges and needs, essentially telling us the “jobs” they need done.
The objective of this application is straightforward yet ambitious: to streamline the often tedious and exhaustive process of Business/Market Analysis. By facilitating a direct line of communication between those facing problems and those eager to solve them, we create a marketplace of ideas where validation comes from the very source of demand. This setup not only expedites the process of finding a market need but also ensures that the solutions developed are rooted in real, expressed needs.
For Problem Submitters, the platform offers a chance to voice their frustrations and challenges, detailing what they need and why existing solutions fall short.
For Solution Providers, it’s an opportunity to discover validated market needs directly from potential customers, reducing the guesswork and risk traditionally associated with product development.
This is still a work in progress, here are some of the platform features several key components to make this possible:
- Problem Submission Portal: A simple, user-friendly interface for articulating challenges and potential solutions.
- Market Validation Area: A mechanism for the Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovators to signal which problems are most pressing, using submission data on key indicators.
- Solution Proposals Section: A space for Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovators to present their ideas for solving validated problems that customers have.
- Feedback Loop: An avenue for iterative development, based on direct feedback from potential customers.
Beyond these features, I’m exploring monetization strategies that align with goals of fostering innovation, including subscription models for advanced features and commission on successful matches between problem submitters and solution providers.
In creating www.jobstobedonenow.com, I’m not just building another platform; I’m crafting an ecosystem where innovation is driven by actual needs, where entrepreneurs can find not just ideas, but ideas that are waiting to be brought to life. Figures crossed, I hope this one takes off and it’s an exciting journey ahead, and we’re just getting started. This is not just about making products; it’s about making products that matter.
Customers should have a marketplace to speak on actual needs, and we listen and build those products they need now—thus, the reason for Jobs to be done NOW.
I created a demo market page, more to come!
