- Understand what makes an effective solution statement
- Learn productive methods for brainstorming solutions
- Brainstorm and narrow down potential solutions
Solution Identification
Now that you’ve refined your problem, it’s time to start brainstorming some possible solutions that truly address it. A strong solution statement doesn’t just describe what you’re building , it also demonstrates why it matters, who it helps, and how it stands out. We can evaluate solution statements using five key qualities:
1
Directly Addresses the Problem
A solution must clearly target the core problem you have defined.
It is not enough to create something interesting or tangentially related. The solution should provide a direct response to the challenge at hand. Focusing on the central issue ensures that your ideas are relevant and meaningful. It also prevents time and effort from being spent on solutions that do not move the needle for the people or system you are trying to impact.
2
User Desirability
Strong solutions create real, tangible benefits for the people or groups they are intended to serve.
Considering desirability and impact at the identification stage helps you prioritize ideas that are valuable, compelling, and likely to be adopted or embraced. This quality keeps your solutions grounded in human needs rather than abstract concepts. It encourages thinking about the difference your idea could make in improving experiences, solving pain points, or opening new opportunities.
Gathering feedback from stakeholders at this point will be key to fulfilling this quality. No solution should be embarked upon without feedback from actual users,.
3
Feasibility and Constraints Awareness
A strong solution is one that can realistically be implemented given the resources, skills, and time available.
It involves considering what is achievable and understanding any assumptions or limitations that could affect success, such as user behaviors, market conditions, or logistical factors. Being aware of feasibility and constraints at the identification stage helps you focus on ideas that are practical while still encouraging creative problem-solving within realistic boundaries.
4
Differentiation/Innovation
A strong solution should offer something distinct from existing options, approaches, or products.
Differentiation doesn’t require inventing something entirely new, but it does mean the solution provides unique value or improvement that sets it apart. Considering differentiation early ensures that your ideas are not just feasible but also meaningful in context. It increases the likelihood that your solution will be noticed, adopted, and impactful.
5
Scope
The scope of a solution refers to how focused or broad it is in addressing the problem.
A solution that is too narrow may fail to address the full challenge, while one that is too broad can be unmanageable or unrealistic. Evaluating scope during solution identification ensures that your ideas are appropriately sized to the problem. This balance between ambition and practicality helps guide later refinement and implementation. A good approach is to start small but to show a path to scale.
6
Responsibility
As you consider tech solutions that incorporate AI, it is important to take ethics into consideration before you go too deep. Always consider, does the solution help without causing harm, or leaving people behind?
CASE STUDIES
Let’s look at a few real life examples of solutions that display these qualities. Click on each tab on the left (or top on mobile) to learn about each example.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Many people wanted to share videos online, but existing platforms were limited, difficult to use, or restricted who could post content.
SOLUTION STATEMENT
Create an easy-to-use online platform where anyone can upload, share, and watch videos globally.
Applying the Top 6 Qualities:
- Directly Addresses the Problem: YouTube solves the core issue of limited access to video sharing. Anyone can upload and watch videos without restrictions, tackling the main challenge identified in the problem statement.
- User Desirability: Users rapidly adopted the platform. It grew from 30,000 visitors per day in May 2005 to over 100 million video views per day by the summer of 2006. The simple interface and massive desire for user-generated content led to widespread acceptance.
- Feasibility & Constraints Awareness: Early videos were limited to 100MB, were low resolution, and used Flash video compression to contain initial storage and bandwidth demand. YouTube had an initial financial investment of $3.5 million, but almost failed until Google acquired it in 2006.
- Differentiation: YouTube distinguished itself from other platforms by allowing anyone to upload videos easily, instead of limiting content to a few creators or formats. This democratization of video sharing was a major differentiator.
- Scope: The solution initially focused on upload, playback, and sharing. This kept the idea actionable while addressing the core problem of limited online video platforms.
- Responsibility: Copyright infringement (people uploading TV clips, music videos) was one of the first major issues Google had to deal with after the acquisition. In addition, YouTube had to consider privacy issues of people who may not want to see themselves in a video that anyone can view.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Creators often struggle to fund projects because traditional financing is inaccessible or restrictive.
SOLUTION STATEMENT
Provide an online crowdfunding platform where creators can present projects to the public and receive financial support directly from backers.
Applying the Top 6 Qualities:
- Directly Addresses the Problem: Kickstarter tackles the funding challenge head-on by connecting creators directly with people who are interested in supporting their work. This eliminates the dependency on banks or large investors.
- User Desirability: Both creators and backers benefit. Creators gain access to funding and exposure, while backers get the satisfaction of helping bring new ideas to life and often receive early or exclusive rewards.
- Feasibility & Constraints Awareness: The platform was realistic to develop using existing web technologies and online payment systems. However, constraints such as transaction security, trust between users, and project verification needed careful consideration from the start.
- Differentiation: Unlike traditional funding sources, Kickstarter created a community-driven model where anyone could support creative ideas. Their "all or nothing" model only funded projects that met their goal, reducing financial risk for everyone. Backers were rewarded with real products and experience, not equity.
- Scope: The initial concept focused specifically on creative projects rather than every kind of business or charity campaign. This clear boundary helped Kickstarter stay manageable and appealing to a defined audience early on.
- Responsibility: Creators were legally obliged to fulfill rewards or refund their backers. The all or nothing funding model also protected creators and backers if the project goal was not met.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Many children struggle to learn programming because traditional coding languages are complex, text-based, and intimidating for beginners.
SOLUTION STATEMENT
Create a free, visual programming platform that allows children to learn coding concepts by snapping together color-coded blocks to create games, stories, and animations.
Applying the Top 6 Qualities:
- Directly Addresses the Problem: Scratch tackles the barrier of coding complexity by turning programming into a visual, intuitive process. It helps young learners grasp core logic without struggling with syntax or language details.
- User Desirability: The platform is creative and engaging, letting children express themselves through storytelling, art, and interactive design. Seeing instant results builds motivation and curiosity. Teachers value it for being free, easy to learn, and supported with extensive materials and lesson plans.
- Feasibility & Constraints Awareness: Scratch started as a downloadable application using Squeak/Smalltalk, which the MIT team knew well. Key constraints were ensuring compatibility across school computers, keeping project file sizes small, and later transitioning to a web-based version as browsers improved.
- Differentiation: Unlike traditional coding tools, Scratch merges learning with play. Its interlocking color blocks make coding visual and intuitive. Rooted in constructionism, it encouraged creativity, sharing, and remixing. Moving online introduced a global community—one of its most distinctive features.
- Scope: Scratch focused on teaching computational thinking to ages 8–16, rather than all age groups or languages. This clear focus kept the platform manageable and impactful, later expanding to mobile use, advanced CS concepts, and hardware integration.
- Responsibility: Targeting young users requires strict data privacy and content moderation. Scratch enforces community guidelines, relies on peer moderation, and uses usernames instead of personal information to protect its users.
You want to keep these qualities in mind as you develop your solution ideas. You will score each idea against these criteria in the activity below.
Just like with your problem statement, the first version of your solution is rarely perfect — and that’s okay. Think of your initial solution statement as a starting point: a hypothesis about how to solve the problem. As you test, gather feedback, and learn more about your users and constraints, you should expect to adjust, refine, and sometimes even pivot your approach.
Iteration helps you uncover weaknesses, highlight opportunities, and continuously improve your solution so it better aligns with the problem and the people it’s meant to serve. Approaching solution design as an ongoing, iterative process keeps your ideas flexible, responsive, and ultimately more impactful.
ACTIVITY 1
Divergent Brainstorming
Estimated Time: 45 minutes
You will complete a series of structured brainstorming sessions, to generate a wide range of potential solutions.
STEP 1: Individual and Rapid Brainstorming
- Set the timer to 10 minutes.
- Rapidly list as many ideas as you can.
- This can be done on sticky notes or a digital tool. You can even consider sketching some ideas and concepts.
- One technique is call Crazy 8’s. Each team member folds a paper in 8 sections. In the 10 minutes, they need to sketch one idea per section.
- Importantly, there are no bad ideas. The goal at this step is quantity and diversity.
- Once the timer is up, take some time to look over everything that’s written before starting the next round.
STEP 2: Expand on Ideas
- Have someone act as the notetaker, to document new ideas.
- One by one, each team members shares their ideas.
- Take 2-3 minutes per idea, using the “Yes, and …” approach.
- For example: Idea is “We could do a crowdsourcing platform to report polluted streams”.
- “Yes, and we could let users post images as evidence”.
- “Yes, and people could click a button to join a community action team for that site”.
- “Yes, and you could provide links to local government officials based on stream location for reporting”.
- Enlist the help of an AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT. Ask for additional “Yes, and …” ideas for each idea.
- Ask the AI tool for any additional out-of-the-box ideas for the given problem.
STEP 3: Repeat
You should have a large and varied list of different ideas by now. If not, continue to brainstorm in short 10 minutes sessions to keep the ideas flowing. Try going outside to clear your minds and get a different perspective on your problem.
ACTIVITY 2
Identify Your Strongest Solutions
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
STEP 1: Organize, Categorize, and Expand
- With your team, start to group similar concepts into big buckets or themes.
- Use sticky notes to move ideas around .
- You can use a digital whiteboard like Canva and have team members add their ideas so they can be expanded upon.
- Look for patterns, overlaps, and relationships between ideas to help identify the strongest directions.
- Don’t hesitate to add more ideas as you start to categorize and organize.
STEP 2: Rank and Prioritize
- Use a simple rubric/scoring guide.
- Have each team member score each solution, using a 5 point scale for each of the six criteria above, with 5 meaning it meets the criterion fully.
- End this session with a refined list based on the team scores.
STEP 3: Draft Solutions
- There is no time limit for this session.
- Now that you have a list of key concepts of your solution, use them to craft several solution statements.
- For each solution, evaluate them based on this lesson’s discussed qualities of a strong solution.
- Aim to end up with a shortlist of 3–5 strong solution ideas ready for further feedback and refinement.
Risk Assessment
You have your shortlist of possible solutions and have identified how well each one fits the criteria of a “good” solution. Before testing out your solution ideas with users, there is one more step you need to take. You need to assess the risks for each solution. You want to identify which solution has the highest chance of success for the lowest investment.
Here are some of the potential risks to investigate for each solution:
- Adoption: Will users find this solution useful and valuable? Will they actually be willing use it?
- Feasibility: Does your team have the knowledge and resources to get the solution completed in the time required? Are there technical unknowns that could throw the project off track?
- Dependency: Does the solution depend on some external technology or API for it to work? Are there any legal challenges to making it happen?
- Scope: Is the scope realistically achievable in the timeline? What is the MVP, and is it too ambitious?
- Market Competition: Are there existing solutions that users might stick with rather than switching to your solution? Is your solution differentiated enough?
- Ethical: Could the solution cause harm, unintentionally? Are there privacy or safety issues to consider?
Can you guess the biggest risk? Hover over each card below to see what challenge these solutions might face.
AI Study Buddy
AI-generated practice questions
Dependency Risk
AI might generate incorrect questions. Major risk. Test and refine early.
Habit-Tracking App
For mental health support
Adoption Risk
If users don't stick with it, the app loses value. Major risk, must be tested before proceeding.
Productivity App
Smart Scheduling Assistant
Market Competition Risk
Hard to compete against existing solutions. Revise to ensure differentiation.
While many of the risk categories align with the qualities of a good solution above, the risk assessment allows you to test for the riskiest assumptions. It’s about more than just thinking about potential risks, but mitigating them early on and as well as you can.
Entrepreneurs take calculated risks. The goal isn’t avoiding all risk—it’s understanding risk so you can test it, mitigate it, or make an informed choice to take it.
ACTIVITY 3
Risk Assessment
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
Using the risks categories above, as well as other possible risks you have uncovered so far, perform a risk assessment for your final shortlist of solutions from Activity 2. This will help you identify risks and take action to lessen or remove those risks before you move forward with any solution.
After filling out the worksheet, return to your solution list. Eliminate those solutions you decided not to move forward with, and revise those solutions that require updates to mitigate or remove the risk.
ACTIVITY 4
Gather User Feedback and Refine
Estimated Time: Several Days
Now that you have a modified shortlist of potential solution statements, it’s time to get feedback from the people who matter most: your actual users or stakeholders. Gathering their input helps you spot blind spots, see which ideas resonate, and discover ways to improve your solutions.
STEP 1: Identify Reviewers
Identify at least 3 users or stakeholders who are familiar with the problem you are trying to solve.
To help you decide who to include, ask yourself:
- Who experiences this problem firsthand? Who interacts with the solution’s target audience?
- Whose perspective could help me see blind spots in my ideas?
- Who would benefit from or be affected by my solution?
- Who might ask questions or challenge assumptions in a helpful way?
Once you’ve identified these key reviewers, schedule a 30 minute session to talk to them about your solution ideas.
STEP 2: Present Your Solutions
Share your problem statement and your shortlisted solution ideas with your users or stakeholders.
- Keep it simple — this isn’t the time to be bogged down in details.
- Focus on the core concept — highlight what the solution does and why it matters, without pitching a polished final product.
- Encourage open feedback — you’re looking for honest suggestions, not approval.
- Here’s a suggested process to present your ideas for feedback:
- Write out each solution on a separate piece of paper, describing it in a short paragraph.
- Go through each solution with your users, asking the following questions:
- Initial reactions:
- Would you use this tomorrow if it existed? (yes, no, maybe)
- What would stop you from using it?
- Would you recommend this to a friend? (yes, no, maybe)
- Value and Impact:
- How would this solution make your life easier or better?
- Would you pay for this solution?
- Open-ended:
- Does this solution raise questions or seem unclear?
- Do you have any ideas for improving this solution?
- What is the one feature this solution must have?
- Now show your users a single sheet of paper with all solutions listed together. Ask them:
- Which solution(s) interest you most and why?
- Which solution would you choose if only one could be built?
- Why are you choosing that solution?
Take detailed notes and/or record the meeting. Consider how the feedback you received relates to the five solution qualities. Are there solutions that feel strong in some areas but weak in others? Did any constraints or scope issues come up?
STEP 3: Refine with Feedback
Use the insights from your users or stakeholders to fine tune your solution ideas. Write down this refined list of solutions for your reference. You might be able to eliminate one or two solutions based on the feedback, or one solution may jump to the top of the list.
Now that you have made strong progress in identifying a promising solution, remember that this list is not final. Solutions can continue to evolve as you learn more.
You have brainstormed, rated, identified risks, and gathered stakeholder feedback on your solution ideas. It is a good idea now to bring AI in as a tool to help your analyze and synthesize all your materials. It can help you uncover trends and insights, and can act as another viewpoint in your quest to find the right solution to build.
ACTIVITY 5
Synthesize Research with AI
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
You can choose to go directly to an AI chatbot (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) to help with synthesis, or if you want a challenge, consider adding it as another tab in your Founder’s Toolkit.
STEP 1: Prompt AI to Synthesize Solution Materials
- Choose a LLM (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude), or even consider prompting each one. You should receive different feedback from each, with a slightly different perspective. They all can prove valuable.
- Prompt the chatbot for help to find trends and provide insight. Bellow is a suggested prompt.
“You are an expert business analyst. Analyze the stakeholder feedback provided and structure your response with the following sections:
- PATTERNS: What themes appear across multiple sources? (3-5 bullets)
- SURPRISES: Where sources disagree and what that might mean (3-5 bullets)
- ASSUMPTIONS TO REVISIT: What assumptions were challenged or proven wrong? (3-5 bullets)
- RED FLAGS: What concerns or risks surfaced? (3-5 bullets)
- TOP 3 INSIGHTS: The most important takeaways for your problem (3-5 bullets) “
Do not do anything yet. I will follow with the materials I want you to analyze.
- Copy and paste all the materials you have:
- list of possible solutions
- team scores/ratings
- risk assessment findings
- stakeholder feedback
- Alternately, you can upload any worksheets or notes you have completed as part of the above activities into the LLM.
STEP 1 (alternate): Add Idea Evaluator to Founder's Toolkit
You used the Gemini AI API in your Founder’s Toolkit in the Data Storage with Feedback Analyzer lesson, to be able to input feedback on your problem and have AI provide feedback. This is essentially the same task, but with different inputs and outputs. Can you prompt Copilot to help you build this?
The general steps:
- Start a new branch in Github and open Codespaces.
- Prompt to build a form that allows input of solution ideas, as well as feedback from different parties on each idea.
- Prompt to then use the Gemini API to take the inputs from the form and provide feedback. You can use the prompt from Step 1 above as a starting point.
- Test and see what your Founder’s Toolkit provides.
- Commit and merge any code updates to Github.
STEP 2: Review the analysis and feedback
Review the analysis AI provides. If you use more than one chatbot, compare what each one provides.
Most AI chatbots provide an option to copy the response. Copy and paste each response into a document that you can save, read through, and compare responses.
STEP 3: Refine Solution Based on Feedback
After you have reviewed the AI feedback, you may want to adjust your final solution idea(s). Make note of any adjustments and document the reasoning behind it.
Reflection
Congratulations on crafting and refining your solution. Take a few moments to reflect on the process by considering the following:
