Getting into the Innovation Pathway starts with one fundamental question: Have you found a real problem or opportunity that real people actually care about? This part is all about understanding human frustration so deeply that you can’t help but want to fix it.
The Real Question You’re Answering
Before we can accept you into the program, we need to know you’ve discovered what they call a “Validated Opportunity.” Think of it like this: you’ve stumbled onto something that bothers people enough that they’d genuinely welcome a better solution.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
What’s Your Problem?
A problem or opportunity that’s suitable to address with a scalable venture will always include these elements:
- A stakeholder – this is the person (or organization) that experiences the problem.
- An action or goal they’re trying to achieve
- A pain point or hindrance that keeps them from (easily) accomplishing it
- The cause of the pain/hindrance
- The ramifications (a feeling or an emotion, a business outcome like increased risk, higher costs, or lower profits)
Note that this does not include “your solution™” – it’s all about the stakeholder, their goal, and something that’s standing in their way. It’s a description of the current situation, not a picture of the better tomorrow that your venture will create.
Do your Homework
Many startups fail because they rush to come up with a solution before really understanding the problem. We want you to start with a validated opportunity that’s meaningful to you – then you will focus on developing, testing, and validating the solution once you’re in the program (in the Walk stage). But you can only discover a compelling opportunity or problem by talking to people.
The 10-15 Conversation Rule: Chat with 10-15 people who actually experience this problem. Don’t just ask friends who’ll be nice to you. Find strangers on LinkedIn or Reddit, approach classmates in the library, or interview people in relevant Facebook groups.
What to ask them:
- “Tell me about the last time you did/tried [action/goal]?
- “What was most frustrating about that?”
- “How did you end up handling it?”
- “How did that make you feel?”
- “If you could wave a magic wand and fix this, what would happen?”
Red flags to watch for:
- People say, “Yeah, that’s annoying,” but can’t give you a specific recent example
- Responses that feel polite but lukewarm
- Having to convince people that the problem exists
Green flags that you’re onto something:
- People interrupting you to tell their own horror story about this problem
- “Oh my god, yes! Just last week…”
- Multiple people using almost identical words to describe their frustration
Remember, in order for it to be a good, validated opportunity, a situation needs to have negative ramifications that are not acceptable to your stakeholder. These can fall into different categories, including:
- Emotional ramifications (burnout, stress, anxiety)
- Business ramifications (e.g. higher costs, lower profits)
- Operational ramifications (bottlenecks and resource waste, inefficient workflows)
- Customer/user ramifications (decreased satisfaction or loyalty, negative reviews or word-of-mouth)
- Regulatory/compliance ramifications (legal risks, non-compliance fines or penalties)
About Surveys: Surveys are not effective for problem discovery; you must speak with actual humans, and the more the better. To really get at the root of a problem or opportunity, you need to ask open-ended questions and probe deeper into responses by asking “why.” Surveys can be helpful for quantifying things that you already know, but they simply won’t work to help you uncover unknowns.
Sum it all up: Your Problem Statement (Crystal Clear)
Your problem discovery process will leave you with a deep understanding of the problem or opportunity. You will be able to describe it clearly in a simple sentence or two, which answers each of these elements:
- Stakeholder: Who specifically has this problem? (Be as specific as possible)
- Goal/Action: What is this person or organisation trying to achieve?
- Pain Point: What makes this goal difficult to accomplish today?
- Cause: Why does that pain point exist? What’s behind the difficulty?
- Ramifications: What bad things happen as a result? (Feelings, business impact, etc.)
And you can write it in a sentence – either in the words of the stakeholder or as yourself observing it. For example:
I am [a stakeholder] and I am trying to [an action or goal] but I experience [a pain point] because [the cause], which makes me feel/experience [a feeling or outcome]. For example, ”I travel a lot and I need to have someone take care of my dog while I’m away. But I’m reluctant to trust random strangers online because I can’t verify their reliability. As a result, I end up paying way too much for a kennel or else I’m anxious the whole time I’m away.”
[Stakeholder] wants to [goal], but [pain point] because [cause]. As a result, [ramifications]. For example, “Dog owners want to find safe, affordable pet care when they travel, but can’t trust random strangers online because there’s no way to verify their reliability. This makes them feel guilty for leaving their pets and limits their flexibility.”
Here’s an example of how you might write a problem statement for Airbnb. (Note, this is just for illustration – this was not written by Airbnb and is provided as an illustration only.)
Airbnb
- Stakeholder: Travelers seeking short-term accommodation
- Action/Goal: Want to find affordable, comfortable lodging that provides a local experience
- Pain Point/Hinderance: Traditional hotels are expensive, booked out, and lack authentic local flavour
- Cause: Limited supply of affordable options and minimal direct connection between hosts and guests
- Ramifications: Travelers face higher costs, lack enjoyable or unique experiences, and may feel disconnected from the local culture
Problem Statement: Travelers seeking short-term accommodation want affordable, comfortable lodging with a local vibe, but often find traditional hotels expensive and impersonal because there aren’t enough affordable, authentic options or efficient ways to connect with locals. As a result, they pay more, miss local experiences, and feel disconnected on their trip.
Common Questions & Fears We Hear All The Time
“But I’m not a business person…” That’s totally fine! If you explore all the students in the program here, you’ll see that the large majority of participants aren’t business majors.
“What if someone’s already working on this?” Competition can actually validate that there’s a real market. Plus, if existing solutions were perfect, people wouldn’t still be complaining.
“I don’t have any ‘industry experience’…” Sometimes being an outsider helps you see problems that insiders have learned to ignore. Your job is to listen carefully to people who DO have the experience.
“What if I’m wrong about this problem?” That’s exactly why you do this validation work upfront. Better to discover you’re wrong now (and pivot) than after you’ve spent months building something nobody wants.
Your Next Steps
- Write your problem statement using the template above
- Make a list of 15 people you could interview who experience this problem
- Start conversations with a simple message: “Hey, I’m doing research on [problem area]. Could I ask you a few questions about your experience with [specific situation]?”
- Document what you learn from each conversation
Learning Resources
The Innovate@BU library in our space has several books that can help you master this customer discovery process:
- “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries – The classic guide to testing your assumptions before building anything
- “Disciplined Entrepreneurship” by Bill Aulet – A step-by-step MIT approach to customer discovery and validation
- “Talking to Humans” by Giff Constable – Specifically about conducting effective customer interviews
What Comes Next
Once you can confidently describe your validated problem—complete with real quotes from real people and clear evidence of their frustration—you’re ready to map the competitive landscape and understand what solutions already exist.
Remember: We’re looking for evidence that you listen carefully, ask good questions, and care enough about a problem to understand it deeply—not perfection.
Ready to start those conversations? Read our guide for the next step: mapping the landscape.