Hello
In this session, we are going to talk about opportunity identification and creativity
As you already know
opportunity is very important for the entrepreneurs
Simply without opportunities, we cannot start our own businesses
But the issue is
Who gave the opportunity to us?
Where did the opportunity come from?
And who made the opportunity for us?
That could be an issue
Have you thought about it?
In this session, I would like you guys to shift the focus
from how to find our opportunity
to how to find out the problems of the consumers
It is called the problem-solution perspective
Before we go into the main topic,
I would like you guys to watch this short video clip
His name is Kossler and he is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems
And later, he became the venture capitalist in Silicon Valley
He right now is a very famous venture capitalist
This video clip took place in Stanford University
Let's watch the video together
It could be just 30 seconds
Guys, what do you think? Isn't it insightful?
And what is his idea?
His idea is pretty simple
Do not talk about opportunity
We should talk about the problem
If we find out any big problem, then you can start
you can come up with a big solution
And then if we have a big solution, it could be big businesses
The problem, solution and the businesses
This is again, the problem-solution perspective
In this session, we are going to practice in problem solutions
Look at him
He is a famous scientist
His name is Albert Einstein, he said that
if I were given one hour to save the planet
I would spend 59 minutes to define the problem
And one minute to find out the solution
59 minutes for the problem identification
And one minute, one minute to come up with a solution
Wow, what do you mean by that?
Although people thought finding a solution is difficult
but according to Albert Einstein
finding a solution
is relatively easy compared to finding the problem
Nobody talks about what is the problem, Nobody
Because for them, everything is fine
For me, everything is fine
If somebody else asks me, what is your problem?
I don't know how to say
Why? Because I don't know what is the problem
That's why identification of the problem is really difficult
You expect somebody have those kind of problem
although he never talked about it
Before we go into the real practice in this session
Let's watch this video together
He will provide very insightful lecture
in terms of the problem solution perspective
and he will explain the slow elevator problem very well
because he wrote this article
and published it to the Harvard Business Review
Let's watch it together and we will continue to talk about it
What do you think? Isn't it interesting?
He said that there is a slow elevator problem
The situation is pretty simple
I will summarize the situation for you
Look at this
There is one apartment and there are several tenants
And several tenants feel that the elevator is really slow
That's why they complain about slow elevator problem
They ask the landlord to fix the elevator as soon as possible
This is the situation
What is the problem? Yes, of course
Yes, of course, apparently it is an elevator problem
Elevator is slow. Slow elevator problem
What could be the relevant solution?
Yes, of course, if the problem is slow elevator
then the solution is to fix the elevator right now
The landlord asked the mechanic to fix the elevator right away
and then he paid for it
Then the problem solved, it's kind of natural
What do think?
No problem, no issues
But according to the previous video
it is not the ideal problem solution situation
The first thing to do is to refine the problem again
rather than go into the visual solutions like fixing the elevator
Before we fix the elevator, we'd better redefine the problem itself
He suggested some stairs as an alternative solution
Why did he suggest a stair?
He redefined the elevator problem like
as the lack of the alternatives
Like this, it is not the elevator problem
Elevator is totally fine
But our true problem was we don't have alternatives like great stairs
If we have decent and good condition stairs out there
people can use these stairs instead of elevator
Not too many people use the elevator
The elevator problem, slow elevator problem resolved
Stairs burn calories
If you are a landlord, then you put this instruction on the wall
and just suggest people to use the stairs
You can save the money
And what else?
Yes, it is not the elevator problem
It is the lack of the information problem
What if we don't have information?
What if we don't know, when elevator is available?
Then we feel boring and we feel uncertain
We feel elevator is slow
Instead of fixing elevator right away
we'd better put some information board inside the elevator
so that people can enjoy it
They don't feel boring inside the elevator
Then nobody think about the elevator is slow
This is alternative solution
based on redefinition of the elevator problem
And what about outside the elevator?
When they are waiting for the elevator
if there is some interesting thing in front of the elevator
the tenant can spend their time
Like this
we just put the entertainment devices in front of the elevator
so the tenant can use it
They forgot everything, problem solved
It is not just the elevator problem
It is kind of a lack of information problem
It is a boring problem
What about this?
It is not the elevator problem itself
It is a kind of allocation problem
It means so many people use the elevator
at the kind of a similar time
You may not read this sentence
because the sentence is pretty small
I will read it for you
Second floor not in service
Instead, discount rent fee
This is the new instruction
Landlord think about the elevator problem
as kind of an allocation problem as I already mentioned that
Landlord can disperse people
by not allowing people
living in second floor use the elevator
Instead, he can give a discount
in the rent fee for the second floor person
The people do not feel the elevator slow
What about this? It is not the elevator problem
It is not the allocation problem, it is not the boring problem
Actual problem was this apartment is pretty old
You know what I mean? Smell dirty
It is smelly and it looks dirty and it looks old
They complain about the apartment
It is not the elevator problem
It is old apartment problem, it is a dirty apartment
Landlord clean up everything and put the artwork on the wall
So that to make everybody, happy about it
nobody talk about elevator
It is not the elevator problem
It is the cleaning issue or it is the old issues
I mean, old apartment issues
Related to the old apartment issues, elevator itself looks very old
That is why they feel elevator is so slow
because it is not brand new elevator
Landlord paint the elevator again
then make a looking the brand new elevator
The tenant will be very happy about it
Problem solved
It is a fresh cleaned and fresh painted, brand new elevator
What else?
Yes, it is not the cleaning issue
It is not the allocation issue, it is not boarding issue
It is about the mental issues
These days, our tenants look very busy
That is why they feel the elevator is so slow
We educate tenant
The slow is smooth and smooth is fast and don't worry about it
Your life is looking good, elevator doesn't have any problem
People relieve the stress
People relieve the stress and reduce the stress
Their
Their anxiety about elevator is gone
This is kind of alternative solutions
And what else? Is that all?
What about the rent fee?
It is not the mental issue, it is the economy issue
Rent fee is very expensive
I pay a lot of rent fee monthly in this apartment
But we have a dirty and old elevator
It doesn't make sense, I am really upset
That is why they complain about the elevator is slow
But if you reduce the rent fee right now
everything can be fine
It is not the elevator problem
Guys, what do you think? It is a simple question
It is a simple and classic question about elevator
But the solutions are very different
It depends on, how you define the problems
For example, if we define
the elevator issue as an economy issue
then your solution is a rent fee reduction
If we define the elevator issues
as kind of mental issue
your solution is kind of education for the tenant
If we define the elevator issue as a kind of a cleaning issue
then your solution is cleaning up your apartment, renovating your apartment
Or if you define the elevator as a lack of information issue
your solution could be providing some kind of information
relevant information for the tenant
Let's watch the remaining video
Because his special lecture is so insightful and very helpful
Now you understand how to define the problem
and how to come up with
the solution based on redefinition of your problem
We've applied this problem-solution perspective into the real world
This is a current tragic accident
based by sudden unintended acceleration
What sudden unintended acceleration
Let's watch the news clip together
and discuss about what is the real problem
In this video, in this news clip
the drivers argued that he didn't make acceleration
but the car is rushing
That's why he hit the nine people and they all died
All nine people are very young
it is kind of a tragic accident
What is the real problem in this accident?
Sudden unintended accelerations
Who's fault? Yeah, maybe car makers?
What about the drivers?
What is the problem? What is the real problem?
Some people believe that the real issue is kind of proof issues
The car makers said that they were not at fault
And the drivers also argued that they were not at fault
The real problem was
there's no evidence of the drivers in court
when they went to the trial together
How to prove? Who's fault?
That is the real issue
If you define the problem like this
then your solution could be different
One of the startups in Busan created kind of new devices
Their solution was to install the devices like this
devices to check if you normally
if drivers normally press acceleration or press the brake pedal
If the drivers step on it normally
then the devices turn green
Otherwise, it is red
And also, it is on the record
It could be a great proof of the sudden unintended accelerations
What do you think?
If you redefine the problem as some kind of proof issue
then the solution would be some kind of
very unique devices to record every acceleration and brake
And is that all?
What about the other kind of problems
related to the tragedic issues?
Look at this
Some people strongly believe that it may be the driver's problem
Especially for the elderly drivers
They believe the driver's age
will impact on the unintended acceleration
and lead to the accident
In fact, the drivers in the news
was the elderly drivers more than 60
I think it's 60 years old
Looking at the graph
The accident seemed to be related to the ages
If your age is older than 60, the accident is increased
Look at another graph
More importantly, in the case of elderly drivers
accident leads to major problems such as death
You can see the graph
The graph looks like J-curb
after 70 years old, 65 years old, then
tragedy accidents is increased dramatically
What could be the solution
if you define this problem as elderly driver's problem?
What could be the solution?
This is a real startup solution, founded by my graduate student
One of my graduate students
thought of the problem as elderly drivers
and she came up with very unique solution
which is AI-based driver testing
She was recently received an investment
and has been actively engaged in this business
Look at this
Very unique solution
Basically we test
whether the elderly drivers
drive cars very well or not
or something like that
This is a good practice for you
to think about the problem-solution perspective
Let's move on to
the problem-solution perspective through the histories
This is when a train is connected across the United States
and then the standard time zone was created
Let's watch the video together
and see what kind of problems we can solve
and what kind of business came out of the situation
Let's watch together
How about the video? Isn't it interesting?
I will explain a little bit more detail
Look at him
His name was Richard Sears,
he was an agent of the Minneapolis Railroad Station
He took over the watches from
$12 each from nearby railroad station
He sold these watches with $14 each to other station agents
his profit is $2 each from these activities
he made $50,000, today's money, $100,000
Think about $100,000
He made $100,000 during six months
and it's way beyond his salaries
What he did?
He just quit his job
He started a watch company in Minneapolis
A watch company
He collaborated with other entrepreneurs
and built up some kind of Sears, Roebuck and company
This company started a catalog of businesses
As you saw in the video they started a catalog of businesses
A catalog is a kind of a book, it's an order book
It's 532 pages and 25,000 products
Basically, they sold tons of products
Almost everything, throughout the railroad
Throughout the catalog
It's a kind of an early version of e-commerce
In 1925, what happened?
They started a retail store
This is a Sears department company
The Sears department company came out of the trains
What do you think? Isn't it interesting?
Let's watch another video
This is a 1930s dust bowl in the middle of America
It was a sandstorm, and it was kind of a natural disaster
Many people live in the middle of America
Most of them are farmers
and they abandoned their farmland
and they went to the other area like California
You understand the situation
What kind of business opportunities you can think about?
Let's watch the video together
and guess what's going on at that time
We will continue to talk about the business ideas
Did you watch the video?
And what do you think?
I think it's kind of a tragedy
And nobody lived there because of the sandstorm
Nobody planted vegetables
That's why many people abandoned their farmland
What kind of solutions? What is the real problem?
I want to give you those real examples
Look at him, his name is Garst
and he developed a hybrid corn seed in the 1930s
which is a very strong corn seed
He founded a hybrid corn seed company in Iowa
He distributed more than
10,000 sample bags of hybrid corn seed
in western Iowa and Nebraska
Basically, he negotiated with the farmers
and then asked them
to plant his developed hybrid corn seed
He argued that this corn seed is very strong
and you don't have to worry about it
in this horrible situation
You finally harvest great corns
although there is a sandstorm
If you make money,
we can share the profit together,
that is his idea
By the mid-1960s the company produced
5% of all the hybrid seed corns produced in America
Basically, he occupied 5% of the entire market
Of course, this company grew dramatically
Then later, this company combined
with a global agricultural company,
Syngenta, which is Switzerland company