Validate the Problem — Evidence Board
Excitement is not evidence. Neither is expert enthusiasm.
The business case
The Most Hyped Product Nobody Bought — Dean Kamen, Segway · United States · 2001–2020. Before it was revealed, the product was known only by a code name. Prominent investors and technologists who had seen it under confidentiality made extraordinary claims about how it would reshape cities.
Why it matters
Excitement is not evidence. Neither is expert enthusiasm. Everyone who saw the Segway was impressed. Impressed is a feeling, and feelings do not appear on a bank statement. The missing evidence was mundane: had anyone tested whether a commuter would pay several thousand dollars, find somewhere to park it, and accept how they looked riding it? Your friends, your family and your teachers will be impressed by your idea. This chapter is about the far less pleasant evidence that actually predicts whether it will sell.
What you will be able to do afterwards
- What genuinely counts as evidence — and what does not
- Primary versus secondary research, and when each is appropriate
- Building your Evidence Board on one page
32 screens, audio-narrated, with a quiz at the end.