A 7 year old’s journey to build grit through lessons in design thinking and entrepreneurship…with some help from her mom. Think of it like Product Management 101, but with a 1st grader.
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A recap
First, the obligatory suggestion: Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 to catch up on all the details, including key fundamentals like “who is Elena,” “why is she doing this,” and “what is her customer problem statement?”
In Part 4, Elena and her good friend Siri conducted some market research to get an understanding of the size of the market opportunity — how many kids in the US have nightmares?
In that research exercise, she learned:
- You will never have complete and accurate data, even with help from the all mighty Siri. Don’t let it stop you. It’s ok to leverage existing data to make some informed assumptions.
- It’s ok to struggle with something new and unfamiliar. Learn, try again, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Now comes the fun stuff?
Well….actually, there is one more thing before solutioning: the Ideal State.
The Ideal State describes a future where the customer problem is solved to “such an amazing degree that the outcome seems almost impossible.” This will be Elena’s north star as she experiments to find the best solution for her customer problem.
Here is her customer problem statement, in case you forgot:
On to the Ideal State.
We sit in her room and begin workshopping.
“In a perfect world…” I begin.
“…my stuffy makes me feel better,” she finishes. The stuffy. She brings up this solution again. She really wants to make a stuffy.
You’d think this is a child’s stubbornness, but jumping to solutions and falling in love with one solution is just as common in adults. To come up with the best solution, keep an open mind and maintain a willingness to be proven wrong.
The Ideal State should be devoid of any particular solution. If you insinuate a solution, you are boxing yourself in with artificial constraints. And, maybe your favorite solution is terrible at solving the customer problem!
“But what if you find something that works even better than a stuffy to help kids fall asleep? Music? A story? An app on your iPad?” I remind her.
“Oh yeah. Or a robot that tucks you in and puts you to sleep.”
“Definitely!” I respond. In my mind, I pat myself on the back. Mom-level: Expert.
Talk about self-confidence! Elena believes she, a seven year old, can invent a robot that will tuck a human child into bed and rub their back until they fall asleep. Dream big, girl!
“How do you want kids to feel,” I ask.
“Not afraid,” Elena responds. Nice. In a perfect world, I am not afraid to fall asleep.
“Why are they not afraid anymore,” I probe.
“Because they have a stuffy…I mean something to help them fall asleep,” she says.
“And what does that “something” make them think?”
“They know they will have good dreams,” Elena concludes.
“I love that! They don’t just have good dreams. They KNOW they will have good dreams.”
And there you have it. The Ideal State in Elena’s own words:
This Ideal State is a good north star because it is broad and flexible when it comes to solutions, but it narrows in on
- Who she is solving for (kids who are afraid to fall asleep); and
- What success looks like (instills confidence that they will have a good dream).
Want to know what Elena does next?
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You can also join this email list for an early bird announcement of the launch of Elena’s yet to be determined solution. She is still a ways away from this, but it’s never too early to start building your Kickstarter list!
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