Painkiller vs.
Vitamin.
The Definition
"A Painkiller stops actual pain (Urgent, 10/10). A Vitamin improves health (Nice to have, 4/10). Startups must build Painkillers. You cannot sell Vitamins to a market in a recession."
The Urgency Test
The Painkiller (Must Have)
- • "I will get fired if I don't fix this."
- • "I am losing $1,000 every day this is broken."
- • "My website is down."
The Vitamin (Nice to Have)
- • "It would be cool to see my analytics visually."
- • "I want to learn Spanish someday."
- • "This tool helps me collaborate better."
The Churn Trap
It is easy so sell a Vitamin once (people like feeling healthy). It is impossible to keep them paying for a Vitamin when times get tough. People cut Netflix (Vitamin). People do not cut their Insulin (Painkiller).Build Insulin.
Find The Fire
The Rule
Look for "Hair on Fire" problems. If a potential customer is not annoyed that you haven't built it yet, the pain isn't strong enough. You want customers who say, "Shut up and take my money, I need this fixed NOW."
Validate The Pain.
Exeluma's "Idea Validator" scores your concept on a Pain Scale. If it's below a 7/10, we advise you to kill the idea.