Lösungs-Hypotheses
Now that you have defined your problem in the last chapter, established problem hypotheses and validated them with potential customers, it's time to tackle your solution.
After your problem interviews, you should already have a good feeling for what the problems of your customer group are and you will certainly already have many ideas on how you can solve the problems of your target group. And even if you already have your preferred solution in mind, there is not always just one solution to a problem, but many different ways in which you could solve the customer's problem.
For example, in the case of the stujo.net job platform for students, the web platform that it ultimately became is just one possibility. It could just as well have been a physical "bulletin board" at the university, or an Instagram channel that presents the latest jobs as stories; or a personal telephone hotline where you can inquire about job offers.
But how do you find the right starting point here? What is the right solution? Here too, as with the problem, we assume that all the solution ideas we have in our heads are just hypotheses that need to be evaluated as quickly as possible. Let's start again with the definition of the solution.
Again using the example of the job platform: You have identified the problem that students are looking for a student job in the region, but there is simply no central place where they can view all jobs. What is the best solution you can come up with? What does this solution look like?
Task 1: Write down the solution you want to develop in a few sentences on your Notion page.
Example: Stujo.net is intended to be the solution to user problems. A web platform on which students can search job offers from companies in the region and companies can post job offers for a fee.
Convert the solution into solution hypotheses
Task 2: Convert the solution into hypotheses and write this on your Notion team page.
Examples for hypotheses:
Students want to search for jobs for themselves on a website.
Students would like to contact the companies themselves using the contact details on the website and apply for the job.
Companies from Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein would like to independently post job offers specifically for students on a platform.
...
Critical Hypotheses
Just as you had hypotheses in the problem that are more important or critical than others, there are also these critical hypotheses in the solution. e.g. the solution is mainly based on the hypothesis "students want to look for jobs for themselves on a website". If the students do not want to go to a website; do not want to choose the jobs themselves or have no contact with the internet; the whole solution makes no sense.
Task 3: Mark the (few) critical hypotheses in your solution hypotheseson on which the other hypotheses are based and which must be proven first.
Next steps:
In the introduction to Lean Startup, we already talked about the Minimum Viable Product (MVP): A very small product with minimal requirements that you could use to quickly test whether the solution you have in mind solves the problem of your users/customers. Ideally, the MVP should be developed in just a few hours or days so that you can quickly test on real users whether you are moving in the right direction. Starting next week, we will tackle this MVP and focus on your critical hypotheses.
Tasks for this chapter 💪
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