The Lean Canvas Diagnostic - Part 4 of 7: Desirability Stress Testing

Do customers want this?

The top reason why new products fail is building something nobody wants. Why does this happen?

Because entrepreneurs are naturally predisposed to fall in love with their solutions, and they manage to convince themselves that if they build an “awesome” enough solution, people will come — the Field of Dreams.

They frame their differentiation in terms of the novelty of their solution, but if this difference doesn’t matter to customers, the product fails to grab attention.

This kind of solution-centric framing happens to most entrepreneurs and happens unconsciously, which is why I coined it The Innovator’s Bias.

When they have decided to build a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.

The best way to help your teams sidestep this bias is to help them craft a Why Now Elevator Pitch that builds upon the Innovator’s Gift mental model.