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Find a problem big enough that people want to become your customers now, NOT later.
You build something nobody urgently wants to pay for. A problem that scores below 3 on the six characteristics is a vitamin — and vitamins get postponed. Every box that follows builds on this foundation: get it wrong here and nothing downstream closes.
Problem Bingo
Buyers give 10X more business to founders who have a painkiller that solves at least 3 of the 6 characteristics of a problem worth solving.
People are 10X more likely to spend money to get out of something than to get into something. Focus on removing a pain, not moving toward a benefit — and make sure the problem you remove scores 3 or more on the characteristics below.
If you solve problems that only have one or two of the problem characteristics below, your solution is viewed as a nice-to-have (aka a vitamin) that they put off until later. And sometimes later turns into never.
To be a must-have (aka a painkiller) that customers want to buy now, you need to solve problems that have 3 or more problem characteristics.
The six problem characteristics are:
- Urgent: Does the customer need the problem solved now, or can they wait until later? PrepPilot example: three servers no-show on Friday night — the manager needs a solution today, not next quarter. Urgency is what converts interest into action — without it, even a confirmed painkiller gets pushed to ‘next quarter.’
- Popular: Do many people have this problem? PrepPilot example: over 1 million restaurants in North America, most with hourly staff scheduling challenges. Popularity sets the ceiling on your addressable market — a problem only a handful of people have means you run out of customers before you scale.
- Growing: Are more and more people having the problem, OR is it getting worse for the people that have it? PrepPilot example: labor shortages and staff turnover are making scheduling harder each year. A growing problem gives you tailwind — the market is getting more motivated to switch every month you delay.
- Frequent: How often does the problem happen — yearly, monthly, or weekly? PrepPilot example: shift conflicts and last-minute changes happen multiple times per week. Frequency is what drives retention and justifies recurring pricing — a problem that happens once a year rarely supports a monthly fee.
- Mandatory: Are there any legislation, regulations, or compliance requirements that force people to fix it? PrepPilot example: many US states and cities have predictive scheduling laws — mis-scheduling triggers direct payroll penalties. Mandatory is the only characteristic that makes action non-negotiable regardless of budget cycle.
- Expensive: Does the current solution cost significant time, money, effort, or resources, OR is doing nothing about the problem expensive? PrepPilot example: overtime from scheduling conflicts runs $800–$2,000/month, plus hours of manager time on texts and calls. The goal is not to be cheaper than your competitors — it’s to be cheaper than the cost of the problem itself.
Seven-Part Problem Statement
If you can write a problem down clearly and specifically, you have solved half of it
they have QUANTIFIABLE IMPLICATIONS, and they feel an EMOTIONAL IMPACT.
Currently, they use ALTERNATIVES (your ‘competition’) despite SHORTCOMINGS.
- ICP — Who specifically has this problem and has the money, authority, and influence to pay for it?
- PROBLEM — What specific negative outcome do they experience?
- TRIGGER EVENT — When does the problem become urgent?
- QUANTIFIABLE IMPLICATIONS — What does it cost them in time, money, or resources?
- EMOTIONAL IMPACT — How does the problem make them feel?
- ALTERNATIVES — How are they solving it today? (your real competition)
- SHORTCOMINGS — Why do current solutions fall short?
“Married to your solution instead of in love with the problem.” — Ash Maurya, creator of Running Lean
Validating Your Problem
Three tests to confirm you have a painkiller worth building a business around.
Test 1: Can You State It as a Specific Negative Outcome?
"Scheduling is hard" fails. "Restaurant managers lose revenue from staff no-shows due to unclear shift schedules" passes. If your problem statement could apply to anyone, it is too vague.
Test 2: Does Your Problem Score 3+ on the Six Characteristics?
Score your problem on Urgent, Popular, Growing, Frequent, Mandatory, and Expensive. Fewer than 3 means you are likely building a vitamin, not a painkiller. Go back and look for a more urgent problem in the same space.
Test 3: Do Customers Nod When You Read It?
When you read your problem statement to a potential customer, do they say "yes, that is exactly what happens to me"? If they look confused or say "sort of," the problem is too vague or too broad.
Meet PrepPilot — a fictional SaaS app that predicts how busy each shift will be, so independent restaurant managers staff the right number of people. We carry PrepPilot through every box of the canvas.
PrepPilot’s Seven-Part Problem Statement:
ICP — Managers of non-chain restaurants, under 35, with fewer than 20 staff.
Problem — They guess how many staff to schedule for each shift, so they routinely over- or under-staff.
Trigger Event — A disastrous Friday night: short three servers, tables turned away, and a string of one-star reviews about slow service.
Quantifiable Implications — Overstaffing wastes $800–$1,500 a week in labour; one understaffed night costs roughly $2,000 in walked customers and lost repeat business.
Emotional Impact — The manager dreads building the schedule each week and feels they can’t win — either burning cash or burning out their best people.
Alternatives — A spreadsheet, last week’s schedule copied forward, gut feel, or asking a senior server.
Shortcomings — None of those factor in weather, paydays, or local events; none improve over time; and all depend on one stressed person’s memory.
3 Common Mistakes
- Skipping Quantifiable Implications. Buyers won’t spend $50 to solve a $100 problem. They WILL spend $50 to solve a $500 problem. Without a real dollar number, urgency collapses and the deal stalls. Instead, name what the problem costs in lost revenue, lost time, lost customers.
- Starting with one problem instead of running a competition. Founders commit to the first solution that came to mind — usually the one they want to build, not the one that scores highest as a painkiller. Months get wasted building vitamins no one moves on. Instead, list 3 candidate problems, score each on the six characteristics — Urgent, Popular, Growing, Frequent, Mandatory, Expensive — and pick the one that scores 3+ as your painkiller.
- Solving the problem for the user instead of the customer who pays. The user uses your product. The customer pays for it. In B2B these are usually different people — and they have different problems. Build for the user only and the buyer has no reason to write a check. The IT manager might love your tool but the CFO has to approve the spend; solve a CFO-level problem too or the deal dies. Instead, name the customer — the person with the money, authority, and influence to pay — not just the user who’ll touch the product, then in Box 2 you’ll bifurcate down to the exact person who can write the check.
What’s Next
Download the fillable Traction Canvas template and score your problem on the six characteristics.
Work on Box #2 — Bifurcation. Three OR questions that cut the market in half three times — until your ICP contains no ANDs and no ORs. That’s how you find the 12.5% most likely to become your customer now.
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