1. Write down every time you notice a situation that you think you can improve (may result in the development of either a product or service). For example, my kids are tracking lots of dirt into the house, so I’m spending too much time hauling around my vacuum cleaner. Potential products for this situation could be self-cleaning shoes, better doormats, improved vacuum system, auto cleaning flooring in front of door, etc. Your list should contain at least 10 situations that you would like to improve.
2. Next, use your list of situations to generate at least 2 customer pain points for each situation. For example, 1) I hate it when I step in the gritty dirt my kids have tracked in. 2) I hate hauling a heavy vacuum cleaner to clean up the mess my kids track in on their shoes. 3) I hate it when my kids forget to wipe their shoes.
3. Choose at least 3 of the top situations that you would like to address. Make sure they are something that you have the expertise (or can partner with an expert) to address. For instance, there’s not much use in choosing a high-tech problem such as home security monitoring if you have no clue about such things and don’t know any experts who would partner with you.
4. Conduct primary research to determine which of the situations and resulting pain points from your list are prevalent, and whether people would be willing to pay for a solution. Use data to identify and narrow your target pain point. Here’s how: Develop 5-10 primary research questions about the situations and pain points. Use the questions to determine a) how prevalent the pain point is, i.e. how many people share it, b) how do they deal with them now, c) will they pay for a solution, d) how much would they pay? Include your research questions in your report.
   1. Use at least 2 of the following methods to conduct your research:
      1. Do 5-10 Interviews (phone or in-person). Include your questions in your report.
      2. Send 10-20 Surveys (you may use Facebook surveys, email, free Survey Monkey, or Google Drive forms; you may survey the class if they are willing). Include a valid link to the survey in your report.
      3. Make 1-2 Observations of customers dealing with the situations now (in their regular lives).
      4. Search the internet for complaints around these situations or pain points.

5. Analyze data by creating a content analysis table of 2-5 complaint “themes” found for each situation/pain point and how many times the theme was mentioned. Include quotes or other relevant data from research. Organize survey results and use graphs to summarize data to support your conclusions.

6. Narrow your top 3 situations to the top 1 pain point you will base the rest of your project solving. Write 1 concluding paragraph stating what your pain point will be and why. Use the following questions as guidance on key information to explain why:

• How prevalent is the pain point?
• How severe did your research show the pain point was?
• What is the most common way to cope with the issue?
• How likely they people pay you to solve it?
• How likely are people to adequately pay you to solve it?
• What is a minimum viable solution people would tolerate trying in order to start solving it?

7. Before going any further with your project, you must determine whether the product or service already exists. If a Google search doesn’t turn up a similar product to one you are considering developing, then conduct a preliminary patent search to make sure you don’t infringe on an existing patent. The following links explain how to conduct your own search.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244693

https://www.uspto.gov/video/cbt/ptrcsearching/

Include information in your report on existing products or services that are similar to yours. What similar patents did you find? Is your concept still viable? Why or why not? How will your product or service be different (BETTER!) than the competition?

8. List the references you used.