Problem Evaluation Framework
Money and talent cannot rescue a problem that does not exist.
The business case
1.75 Billion Dollars, Six Months — Quibi · United States · April – December 2020. Quibi was a short-form video streaming service founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, a former DreamWorks chairman, and led by Meg Whitman, former chief executive of eBay and Hewlett-Packard.
Why it matters
Money and talent cannot rescue a problem that does not exist. Quibi assumed people wanted premium short-form video, on a phone, behind a paywall, during commutes. The pandemic removed the commute — but the deeper issue was that the assumption had never been properly tested with paying customers. A first-time founder with no capital and a validated problem is in a stronger position than a billion-dollar team solving an imagined one. This is the most expensive lesson in modern business, and it is available to you for free.
What you will be able to do afterwards
- The real question: is this problem worth solving?
- The 5-Filter Test for any candidate problem
- Problem versus symptom — digging to the root
32 screens, audio-narrated, with a quiz at the end.