Step 3 of 11 — Problems
Picking the problems worth solving first
Most founders write down 5–10 problems and try to solve all of them. The best founders find the 1–2 that customers actually wake up thinking about, and ignore the rest until those are solved.
Why this matters
Not all problems are equal. Some are "nice to fix" (ordering office supplies online is slightly annoying). Some are "I'd pay someone to fix this today" (I can't land an internship and graduation is 6 months away). If you try to solve everything, you'll end up with a feature pile that serves no one. Prioritising forces you to say "this one first, these others later" — and that's how you actually ship.
What you'll do in this step
- List every problem your persona has that your idea could address.
- Score each on three dimensions: Intensity (how much does it hurt?), Frequency (how often?), and Visibility (do they even notice?).
- Rank them. Work on the top 1–2 in interviews. Park the rest.
A real example
For Priya (our Jaipur BCom student), Ananya brainstormed 5 problems. Let's see which actually deserves attention.
Problem 1 — HIGH priority
"I apply to 10 internships and hear back from zero." Intensity: Blocking. Frequency: Daily. Visibility: High (she feels the silence every day). This is a real, painful, visible problem.
Problem 2 — HIGH priority
"I don't know what to write in a cover letter." Intensity: Frustrating. Frequency: Every time she applies. Visibility: High. Also real.
Problem 3 — LOW priority
"Internshala's website is slow on 4G." Intensity: Tolerable. Frequency: Sometimes. Visibility: Medium. Annoying, but she won't pay to fix it.
Problem 4 — LOW priority
"I wish I could see salary ranges." Intensity: Tolerable. Frequency: Rare. She's applying to UNPAID internships anyway.
Problem 5 — LOW priority
"I don't know what to wear to interviews." Intensity: Frustrating. Frequency: Rare. Real problem but solved by a 2-minute Google search.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Treating every problem as equal — spreading effort thin across 8 problems means none get solved well.
- Scoring from your own head instead of asking customers — your ranking and their ranking will disagree.
- Falling in love with a low-priority problem because you personally find it interesting.
How Margawise helps
- Automatically pulls "frustrations" from your personas and suggests them as problems to review.
- AI suggests additional problems you might have missed based on similar customer types.
- The intensity × frequency + visibility score ranks the list for you, so you always see the top ones first.
Ready to try this in your own project?
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