Announcing INVANTI Problem Sprints
For Founders: a 4-week sprint to define and validate the problem you're solving
TL;DR: In the month of April, we are running a 4-week Problem Sprint, to help founders define and validate the problem they are working on, based on a the writing we’ve done here in the past two months. It’s open to anyone, free, virtual, and (mostly) asynchronous. You can sign up here.
One of the partners at South Park Commons recently wrote a blog called “Atlas Winced: Starting A Company is Harder Than You Think”. It really resonated with Maria and me, as well as some of our founders, especially the following (emphasis original):
In this world, a more differentiated strategy is to focus on being right. On iterating until you feel like you have something substantive. Maybe even building out something that tackles more than just one point feature. Build out something much more fleshed out.
Two aspects to this strategy worth emphasizing:
Take the time to find an approach to the problem that is really resonant with users and solves a pain point. Take multiple tries at it till you feel you have it right. Importantly, don't worry if this takes time and puts you "further behind."
Once you have that initial approach, take the time to build out a more fully fleshed out solution than you think necessary. This is heretical to the last decade of lean-startup thinking but I think important in the future.
The above points don't mean giving up urgency. Being methodical doesn’t mean being slow. The point is to not over-index on being first. To build the right approach and the right product and not launch just to launch. This is an important difference.
Another way of putting this is to invest more time in -1 to 0. Build more conviction before you launch, because once you're in 0 to 1 the imperative of speed kicks in. Being right is an accelerant, while being wrong means all kinds of bad pain. So go slow to go fast.
Albeit self-interested, we could not agree more. The problem-definition stage is one of the most undervalued, underserved, and underresourced parts of the founder journey. Places like South Park Commons (and others like On Deck & EF) are giving founders time and space to explore and be thoughtful before they have a company or even an idea. The wilderness of being pre-Problem-Founder Fit can be just as, if not more, scary than being pre-Problem-Market Fit - spending more time here seems worthwhile.
Announcing an April INVANTI Problem Sprint
Over the last two months, we’ve written a lot about our own process of defining and validating a problem fit for a startup:
We’ve tried to strike a balance between writing where our frameworks come from with practical tips on how to implement it yourself and evaluate how you’re doing. However, there’s nothing quite like trying it and getting direct and personalized feedback. That’s why we are announcing our first-ever Problem Sprint. Open to anyone who would like to join, we will facilitate our problem definition process over a four-week period in April and give feedback along the way.
Who is it for?
This is open to anyone, but is especially geared toward (potential) founders who are:
Already convinced they want to take the entrepreneurial journey - but don’t have confidence in their problem definition
Pre-company: you have an area you’re interested in (and maybe even a contradiction!) and an itch to start something, but haven’t taken the steps toward starting a company yet
Pre-MVP: you are already on the path of starting a company, but haven’t built an MVP and feel your problem could use some more definition before you start
Pre-pivot: You already tried one solution or MVP and it didn’t work like you thought it would. You have some time, resources, and energy to go back to the drawing board on the problem you’re solving, but want to be systematic in your approach
Want to take a problem-first, MVP-second approach
Have and want to dedicate time over 4 weeks in April to doing the work and be held accountable to a weekly pace and deliverables
Business and impact orientated - you want to build a company that improves lives and is financially healthy enough to scale sustainably
Working toward a software or software-enabled service company (this is optional, but our process probably works best for these types of eventual solutions)
Why would you participate?
The goal of this problem sprint is to take a maximum of 4 weeks to reduce the risk of one of the most common startup failure modes - “no market need”. With a systematic approach, we will help you:
Week 1 | Opportunity Statement: Define your target customer, the need they have, and why the current solutions aren’t meeting that need well (based on Unlocking better tradeoffs)
Week 2 | Economic Value Statement: Define the economic value you could create for your customer if you are able to meet the need better than the current solutions (based on Stick to Value)
Week 3 | Problem Size & Trends: Define the overall size of the problem and the current trends that make it an attractive opportunity to pursue (based on Big Enough, Small Enough)
Week 4 | Problem Pitch: Package these statements into a sub-1-minute pitch that you can use with customers, teammates, potential investors, and others
How does it work?
The sprint will be virtual, asynchronous (except for the optional 1:1 office hours), and free. Here’s how it works:
Sign up for the Problem Sprint (starts April 7, 2023, ends May 5, 2023)
Every Friday morning at 8am EST, you’ll receive a weekly challenge in your inbox based on the above 4 steps
You’ll work on that challenge throughout the week, with the help of our workspaces in Miro, video and written guides, Substack explainers, Slack Q&A channel, and weekly 1:1 office hour slots
Before 8am EST Friday of the next week, submit the deliverable of the challenge to receive personalized feedback from me and Maria
Repeat for four weeks until you have a clear sub-1-minute explanation of the problem you’re solving, why it’s interesting, and the evidence behind it
If you’re interested or know someone who is, you can sign up here. If you have questions, feel free to reach out at dustin@invanti.co. We hope to see some of you in April.
Dustin & Maria