Hello All,
My first post here. To introduce myself, I am Gourav Das, a technology enthusiast to say the least. I love to put my ideas into a computer. Off late, I have taken the plunge into trying to make money out of my ideas. This post is not about my idea or our product (that would be coming may be next month), but about a significant statement that on the face of it, cannot look any more true, but it hides more than it shows.
The statement is – “What problem is your product/idea solving? Is it addressing a real problem or a is it a good to have solution?”. I along with almost everyone else believes that a product that doesn’t solve a problem is no product. But how do you qualify something into a “problem”. If you look from 60000 feet, then there are actually only 2 kinds of problems.
1) Does not exist: These are kind of problems represent services that Customer cannot use currently because it does not exist. Booking tickets online is an example and Redbus was the solution. Mathematical calculation was an example and Calculator was the solution. The maximum chances for success lies here if you enter this problem kind.
2) Not good enough: These kind of problems represent services not rendered properly. Tax filing are examples of these kind of problems and Online tax filing sites are solution. Chances of success is less here.
So for any segment/category there can be only 1 product solving problem kind 1. Rest all products lie in problem kind 2. While we strive to locate and position ourselves in the Problem kind 1, most of our products would lie in problem kind 2 and so lets talk about problem space 2.
Let me cite some examples. Video Game consoles – for 20 years people have been successfully, happily using their game pads and playing games. So what was the problem there, why did Nintendo come, why did Kinect come, why did PS3 Move come? Did the product teams see a problem or is it they envisioned a new way of doing things?
How about Iphone? Was anyone worried about using a Nokia phone or Blackberry before Iphone? Were they bad or did Iphone teach users a new kind of experience? What real problem was Iphone solving. In reality it was solving Problem Kind 2 by providing something more, but the implementation was such revolutionary it ended up in Problem Kind 1.
Facebook? Was it really solving Problem kind 1?
Why am I citing these examples? I am citing these examples because I want to convey that some of the most biggest and best products though were solving some “real problems”, were more importantly teaching the world that there is another way to perceive things.
So here’s a well known secret. So next time someone asks you “Is it solving a real problem?”, don’t take it literally, don’t get disheartened, think and ask yourself – “Is it a revolutionary?”, If it is not, make it revolutionary. All it takes is your imagination. If you make your product revolutionary then it automatically ends up in Problem Kind 1 and it automatically makes customers think that you solved a big problem, but frankly there was not a problem in the first place. So please invest lot more in making the product revolutionary.