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Welcome to the 2021 Biomimicry Launchpad! Email us if you have any questions.
This week we begin to figure out the specific problem or need you are addressing. How do we do this? By talking to potential customers. Why do we do this? To guide the development of your solution and prepare you to bring your solution to market.
The content below will help you collect useful information from conversations you have about your startup. The lessons you learn this week take practice (no one does it right the first time!) and should be repeated over and over again. Let's dive in!
To get started, watch this short video about ECOncrete, a leading biomimetic company and winner of the 2020 Ray of Hope Prize.
ECOncrete has a really cool technology and product, and in the video the narrator mentioned several reasons people may use their solution instead of the alternative - coastal restoration and coastal protection, among others. But in order to understand their business, we need to get more specific about who their customers might be, and why they would buy this product. Answer the questions below - there are countless answers!
Hopefully this fun little activity has gotten you to start thinking about your own project. Who will buy your solution? And why will they buy it? Our goal for the rest of the Launchpad is to figure out the answers to these questions, because at the moment you only have your best guess answers - what we call assumptions. There are some best practices on how to get these answers, and they all start with identifying and testing assumptions.
What is an assumption?
What is an assumption?
Week 2 - Testing Assumptions.mp4There are three main types of assumptions:
Assumptions about your audience, or your potential customers and users.
Assumptions about the technical feasibility of your solution.
Assumptions about the legality of your solution.
What are 10 assumptions that you have with your project?
Who do I talk to?
Who do I talk to?
By now, you should have all identified at least 10 assumptions that you need to answer to help you figure out how to move your project forward. Your most important assumptions revolve around making sure you understand the true problem and need your customer is facing. The only way to answer these assumptions is to talk directly to who you believe to be your potential customer.
If you believe your potential customer is a rice farmer in Japan, you need to speak with them! If this is a government employee, you need to speak with them! Find a way to get in touch with your potential customers - if you can't reach them now there is no way you can reach them when your product is ready for launch (and by that point you have probably created something that does not solve their true problem). If you are stuck, visit Week 8 and complete the Customer Persona activity.
How do we test assumptions?
How do we test assumptions?
Now, watch the video to the right to learn about the types of questions you will need to ask these potential customers. To note, you always want to ask past or present questions, no future facing questions like "will you..."!
You can explore more about customer discovery on the Customer Development Labs website, and ask your coaches if you have any questions or need help!
how to talk to customers.movCOVID-19 UPDATE
Because of COVID, you may need to change your customer discovery approach. Some notes below:
You will probably be conducting interviews virtually. It is much harder to gauge body language in a remote setting, so the questions you ask will be that much more important.
Be conscious about the type of questions you are asking. For many people, COVID has had a direct health or economic impact on them or their family.
You may want to ask questions about "pre-COVID" and "post-COVID" history, to learn how they have been adapting to changing circumstances.
Finally, and most importantly, be conscious about who you are talking to. Try to limit conversations with front-line workers. At the same-time, many people are not working so you may be able to reach more people to conduct interviews!
Take Note
Take Note
Most of the time the assumptions you will be testing revolves around your potential customer, but there are times where your assumptions may be related to technical or legal challenges. For example, if your solution is designed to work in waterways you need to make sure that it is legal to deploy in that area. And if you are developing a new energy solution, you need to confirm that you can produce electricity near market rates. For assumptions like these, you may need to consult experts in your field or work on your prototype!
Biomimicry in Practice
Biomimicry in Practice
Differentiate signal from noise
As you work on testing your assumptions by asking the right questions of the right people, consider how organisms in nature gather and process information. The environment surrounding any living system is full of cues, but too much information at once can be overwhelming, making it difficult to locate and react to any particular signal. Similarly, you're trying to filter out the "noise" of your assumptions, to understand the true problems and needs of your customers.
Check out the biological strategies below from Ask Nature, to learn how living systems differentiate among all signals, or "noise", so they can focus on those they really need.
Remember, do not build something that nobody wants!
Remember, do not build something that nobody wants!
We are testing assumptions so that you can best serve your customer and address the problem that you are trying to solve, instead of building a solution that no one wants or will use. This process was popularized by the Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas (you can find more links like this on the Resources page). You may recognize that this is similar to the Scientific Method - just think of an assumption as a hypothesis that you need to test!
Tying it all together
Tying it all together
By testing assumptions, you begin to focus on what your customer needs or wants. You are getting to the root problem they are experiencing and trying to solve. Remember that the reason you are creating a new solution is to provide something of value to your customer, and to the world. Testing assumptions helps you get out of your own head to make sure you are building something with and for people, not just because you want to. Check out the IDEO Design Kit for more activities and case-studies about how to effectively navigate this process.
Reconnect
Reconnect
One way to understand nature better is to learn about the biome (life zone) in which you live. Since we're from all over the world, a great way to connect with the other people in your cohort is to share something about your home with everyone.
This week, check out this Biomes of the World site from Arizona State University. Read a little about the zone you live in, and compare with what you see around you.
Assignments
Assignments
Watch the Week 2 videos and complete the assignments before your 1-on-1 coaching call.
Create a list of at least 10 assumptions that you need to test. Assumptions should be educated guesses (hypotheses) that you need to test.
Highlight your top three "killer assumptions."
Write a short plan about how you will answer your killer assumptions. Who do you need to talk to? What questions will you ask them? How will you know when you have answered the assumption?
Learn about your biome.
Talk to at least 5 people to begin answering your assumptions.
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