Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A handbook for entrepreneurs

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Q:I don’t understand this: “Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.” My problem is high unemployment in my area. I want to create jobs and the solution is job development. Please explain.

This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. Throughout the book I unveil the truth behind the hardship of building a startup, side by side providing a cookbook for entrepreneurs in terms of how to make it right, with the hope that my readers will use my insights and Startips to guide their way and increase their chances to succeed.Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike. He offers tips on: firing and hiring; disrupting "broken" markets; raising funding; understanding your users; reaching product market fit; making scale-up decisions; going global; and deciding when to sell. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent is planning to proactively explore the solutions first approach across a number of countries in coming years. We are interested to test through concrete interventions whether providing our staff with skills to map local solutions, positive deviants and lead innovators can lead to the discovery of new insights and more sustainable results. The first part of the journey, and perhaps the most important part, is figuring out product market feed, meaning the value it brings to users. Without this, your idea is dead in the water. No company skipped figuring out product market feed. “Once a company figures out product market feed they don’t change it.”

By “actionable” he meant “we’ll never be able to get people to use it enough to make it worth our while financially or to change their route accordingly.”

A 3-step decision framework for falling in love with the problem

I approached the CEO and shared my thoughts. The Telmap platform seemed an ideal one to carry out my vision. Had the team fallen in love with the solution, they might have spent their time experimenting with the technology, focusing on ways to make the hand lighter or stronger. Instead, they started with Phoebe, involving her in the design process and encouraging her to customize her prosthesis. Assume that there is someone on a team that shouldn’t be there because they don’t fit. This is a small startup company, maybe 20 or 30 people. Everyone knows when there is a person who doesn’t fit. When the CEO doesn’t do anything, that’s where the problem arises. 5. Firing and hiring is the be-all and end-all. I’ve heard that many times. I think that people don’t say that to me so much anymore, but in the beginning, they used to say it a lot. Sometimes you take your date to meet your friends for the first time and they say, “That person is not for you.” Let’s fast forward to a launched product with many customers. With lots of customers come lots of new feature requests. Who do you listen to?

Espero que, por meio do meu livro, você leitor possa criar valor e causar impacto nas pessoas que constroem negócios de sucesso. The FreeMap Israel app was a combination of two parts—navigation and map creation. The app created the map as you drove and used it at the same time for navigation. It ran on personal digital assistants (PDAs), as there were no iPhones yet. As its name implies, FreeMap Israel was entirely free—both the app and the map. I also suggest applying this practice to other aspects of your life. Ask yourself multiple times: Knowing what I know today, would I do something different? If so, then do something different right now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Start by recognizing that your true job is to create a customer (not your solution). Customers are results or outcome driven. Look for a job they are trying to get done (jobs-to-be-done) and study how they are getting it done (existing alternatives).The book also provides an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and my second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry giants. When we first get hit by an idea, the solution is what we most clearly see and what we spend most of our energy towards. But most products fail — not because we fail to build out our solution, but because we fail to solve a “big enough” customer problem. All your initial energy should be channeled towards finding evidence of a monetizable problem, not towards acquiring more resources to build out your solution. Finally, to fall in love with the problem means a commitment to gaining customer empathy, considering a broad range of ideas and experimenting with your customers. Should you feel guilty if you’ve fallen in love with a solution? Of course not, as long as you follow a structured process that allows you to say goodbye to a solution that’s not working, and fall in love with the next one you try!