Estimated time to read: 2 minutes

Single Out the Right People

“You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; the design is made for people" — Dieter Rams

When creating a business, you are identifying a specific area that you believe needs improvement, and at that particular moment in time, lacks a proper solution.

You are ultimately addressing a specific need that you believe is significant in the world with a solution that is not yet available.

But HOW exactly do you know that others will believe the resolution is necessary as well or that your creation will provide that resolution? Or...

• HOW will you know how to target those people who do and the different specific situations they will use what you have to offer?
• HOW do we understand people’s needs?

A lot of HOWs huh? Don't worry, there is a simple solution—learn to assume!

An assumption is a statement that you presume to be true without concrete evidence to support it. In the business world and particularly in entrepreneurship, assumptions are used to allow companies to plan and make decisions despite inevitable uncertainty.

You create these statements knowing that they must be true in order for your product/service to be successful. You can think of an assumption like a hypothesis.

For Airbnb to be successful, guests have to be comfortable staying at a stranger’s apartment and hosts have to be comfortable with strangers at their home.

For Uber to be successful, there must be drivers who will offer car service in return for pay and passengers who wish to use a quick and convenient alternative form of transportation to get to their destination.