problen solution fit

Problem-Solution Fit: How to Test If Your Solution Solves a Real Problem | EVUNN

Make Your EVUNN Journey Personal

Not sure which step is right for your business?

This roadmap is part of the EVUNN business-building journey. Tell us what you’re building and where you are right now, and we’ll point you to the roadmap that’s right for your situation – free.

Free |Takes 1 minute




PROBLEM: I've chosen a promising solution, but I don't know if it actually fits the problem my customer cares about.

To find a solution people would want to pay for, ensure it actualky solves the problem

Step 2 - Test Problem–Solution Fit

 

In Step 1, you explored three possible solutions and selected the Most Promising Solution.

But promising doesn’t mean proven. Your solution may sound logical to you because it draws on your expertise., but the real question is whether it meaningfully addresses the customer’s problem.

A solution can be:

  • technically good but irrelevant

  • useful but not important enough

  • capable of solving only part of the problem

  • based on an assumption about what customers need

So before you turn the solution into a complete offer, you need to examine the fit between the Customer’s Problem and Your Proposed Solution

The question is not, is my solution a good idea? It’s: Does this solution meaningfully address the problem this customer needs to solve?


 

 

The EVUNN Mindset Shift

From My Solution Makes Sense to My Solution Fits Their Problem

Experts naturally evaluate ideas from their own perspective like: This is what I know how to do. Or this should help them. Or I’ve used this approach before.

But your expertise doesn’t prove that the solution fits the customer’s situation.

Instead, ask: What part of the customer’s problem does this solution address? Which pain does it relieve? Which desired gain does it support? What important part of the problem does it leave unresolved?

You’re not trying to prove your idea is right. You’re trying to discover how well it fits.


 

Recommended Book for this Step : Value Proposition Design

value proposition

 

Author: Authors: Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda & Alan Smith

 |Buy Book at the Bookshop

In Step 1, you used this book to explore possible solutions.

Now you use the concept of Fit to examine whether your Most Promising Solution actually connects to what the customer needs.

The Value Proposition Canvas connects:

Customer Profile

Jobs
What the customer is trying to accomplish.

Pains
What makes that difficult, frustrating or risky.

Gains
What they want to achieve or experience.

with:

Value Map

Products & Services
What you’re proposing to provide.

Pain Relievers
How your solution addresses their pains.

Gain Creators
How your solution helps create their desired gains.

The objective is to find a meaningful connection between the two.


 

 

Which Parts Of The Book Should You Read?

You don’t need to read the entire book again. Focus on:

1.1 Customer Profile Review

Go back to:

  • Jobs

  • Pains

  • Gains

Much of this already exist from Phase 1.

Your task is to make sure you’re still solving the right problem for the right customer.

1.2 Value Map  (Essential)

Review:

  • Products & Services

  • Pain Relievers

  • Gain Creators

Use this to examine exactly how your Most Promising Solution is supposed to create value.

1.3 Fit ( Essential)

This is the most important section for Step 2.

Focus on whether your Value Map actually addresses the Customer Profile.


3.1 What To Test  (Recommended)

Use this section to identify the assumptions behind your proposed solution.

Ask:

“What must be true for this solution to actually work for the customer?”

3.2 Testing Step-by-Step  (Recommended)

Use this as a reference for thinking about how those assumptions could eventually be tested.

3.3 Experiment Library  (Skim)

You don’t need to study every experiment. Use it only when you need an idea for testing a specific assumption.

3.4 Bringing It All Together  (Recommended)

Useful for connecting your customer profile, value map and testing process.


 

What You Can Skip For Now

You can skip:

2.5 Finding The Right Business Model

Business model development isn’t the focus of this step.

2.6 Designing In Established Organizations

Not central to the expertise-based businesses EVUNN is helping build.

4. Evolve

This is more relevant after you’ve developed and tested the business.


 


 

Your Step 2 Outcome will be:

By the end of this step after going through the recommended chapters and impkementing this step with EVUNN Solution-Fit toolkit, you should have:

  • Your Most Promising Solution

  • The specific customer problem it addresses

  • The customer jobs, pains and gains it connects to

  • The specific pain relievers and gain creators

  • The gaps in the solution

  • Your key assumptions

  • The evidence you currently have

  • A Problem–Solution Fit Decision

Now, it’s time to test what you’ve designed.

You have a solution in mind. Now put it against the problem you uncovered and see if the two actually fit.


 

 

🔓 EVUNN Execution Toolkit

Problem–Solution Fit Canvas

Ready to test whether your solution actually fits the problem?

The EVUNN Problem–Solution Fit Canvas helps you check whether your solution addresses the problem your customer cares about and where it may still fall short.

Do this before you invest more time building. Otherwise, you could end up with a solution that looks right on paper but doesn’t solve the problem well enough.


 

One Payment of ₦5,500 or $4.25 . All Stage 1 Toolkits. Yours For Life.
No monthly subscription. No recurring fees. Just the tools you need to execute

 

What Should I Do Next?

If you have implemented this step, by now you should have a solution that has been examined against the problem.

But solving a problem isn’t necessarily the customer’s ultimate goal.

The customer isn’t simply trying to remove a problem. They’re trying to get somewhere better.

So the next question is: What meaningful result does this customer actually want to achieve?

 

Next? Step 3: Define The Customer Outcome

The question we’re now going  to answer in the next step is: What does success look like for the customer?

That outcome will become the foundation for the transformation you eventually build into your offer.