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← Part 02: Map the problem PART 02 · MAP · 30 MINUTES

Map the problem

Present slides Full screen, one slide at a time · 5 slides
MASTERCLASS · PART 02 · MAP · TUTORDESK 01

Ideas are not problems

Starting point

“I want to build an AI booking app for tutors.”

Reframed

Independent tutors of school-age students lose time and income arranging and rearranging lessons with parents by message, and late-cancelled lessons often go unpaid.

Ask

  • Which words in the first version describe technology, not a problem?
  • Who exactly has the problem, and at what moment?
  • What does it cost them when it goes wrong?
  • What do they do about it today?
MASTERCLASS · PART 02 · MAP 02

A problem statement in four parts

  1. WHOA specific kind of person you could find and talk to this week
  2. WHAT HAPPENSThe moment it goes wrong, described in their words
  3. WHY IT MATTERSWhy they care: stress, missed chances, letting people down
  4. WHAT IT COSTSTime, money or errors, ideally with a rough number

If you could not ring someone who fits your “who” tomorrow, it is too vague.

MASTERCLASS · PART 02 · MAP 03

Your customer is never “everyone”

Vague

  • “Anyone who teaches”
  • “People who find booking annoying”
  • “There’s nothing like it out there”

Specific

  • Segment: independent maths and English tutors with 10 to 30 regular students
  • Pain: rescheduling by message, two or three times a week, plus unpaid late cancellations
  • Alternatives today: messaging apps, a paper diary, a spreadsheet

A narrow first customer is not a small ambition. It is how you learn fast.

MASTERCLASS · PART 02 · MAP 04

From problem to product vision

  1. VISIONThe change you want to see. TutorDesk: tutors spend their time teaching, not arranging
  2. VALUE PROPOSITIONFor [customer] who [problem], [product] lets them [benefit], unlike [alternative]
  3. MEASURABLE OUTCOMEThe number that shows it worked. TutorDesk: half of reschedules done without a message to the tutor

A vision says where you are going. The outcome says how you will know you got there.

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