How to find your customer and their pain
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Not everyone starts a venture with an idea: many people start without a clear project in mind.Along the way, they must to discover who are willing to adopt the solutions they propose… and, above all, what solutions to offer that audience.
At this stage, we’re not only talking about customers or usersbefore them are the Early Adoptersconsumers who are pioneers in using or adopting a new product or service, willing to take on the potential risks of novelty.
To reach them, you need to find out what problem they have (it might be a frictionthat is, an obstacle in their experience when acquiring a product or service) and how to solve itWe know it’s not easy, but there are several ways (a first step could be the {{program}}). Road to Explorerthat, in three weeks, gives you a startup idea). One of the simplest is get out on the street (we can’t stress this enough): observe and ask questions. This way, you’ll identify needs and frustrations in your daily life, your surroundings, and those of others. Here are practical ways to find a problem (or “pain”):
Analyze yourself: think about things that bother you, waste your time, or cost you money. If you experience these frustrations, it’s likely others do too… but don’t jump to conclusions—you need to validate whether the same issue affects more people. We’ll discuss this next.
Observe inefficiencies: look for slow, outdated, or complex processes in your professional sector or in everyday services you use.
Improve something that already exists: identify the shortcomings or limitations of current products on the market and look for ways to improve them, make them more accessible, or specialize them.
Listen: pay attention to recurring complaints from friends, family, or coworkers; talk to them to understand what concerns them. Analyze comments on social media or product reviews: these are potential opportunities.
Focus on niches: It’s not the same to try to solve a problem that affects everyone, like global warming, as it is to solve something more specific, like the water supply in your neighborhood. The more specific the group of affected people and their pain, the easier it will be to find and implement a solution.
Analyze trends: new technologies, social changes, or regulatory shifts can create unmet needs.
A good problem (or pain) is one that resonates with you (which is why you want to solve it), has an affected population, and justifies creating a solution.
Where are your customers? Once you’ve identified what you see as a problem, it’s time to analyze whether others share that frustration or need.otherwise, you won’t have an audience to offer your products or services. You won’t have Early Adopters willing to become customers or users. You need to validate that pain and confirm it’s real; that’s what the Experiments you’ll conduct are for. Santander X ExplorerThese steps will also help you:
Define the problem: explain it clearly, determine who it affects, and why it’s a negative situation.
Evaluate its causes: identify what’s causing that pain to ensure your solution is effective. Think if there’s a practical and viable way to solve it.
Investigate: talk to the people you think have that problem to confirm it’s real and that they’d be interested in a solution. If it’s just a minor annoyance, few will pay for what you offer—it needs to be something specific, recurring, and consistent.
Of these points, the most important step for identifying your customers is, as you may have guessed, the third one. The first two will help you explain your approach to potential users, but only the last one will clearly tell you whether there’s a interest in the solution you’re offeringIf the answer is yes… congratulations! You’ll move on to the next phase, the experimentationto discover how far you can go with your venture. In Santander X Explorer we’ll guide you step by step.
Sources: https://stackingthebricks.com/cant-find-audience/ https://www.impulsa-empresa.es/diccionario/early-adopters/
Image generated with AI.
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