Email 1: applying research discipline to customer discovery

Innovation Within is designed to apply hypothesis-driven thinking to market exploration.

If your academic work relies on forming clear hypotheses and gathering evidence, customer discovery is no different. The difference is simply the domain. Instead of testing nature, you’re testing claims about people, behavior, and value.

The platform provides a structured way to:

Make your hypotheses explicit and articulate them clearly
Design interviews that test them
Capture evidence from conversations
Track how that evidence informs your thinking

Your first step is straightforward

Log in and open your Canvas.
Stay in the default “skinny” view so you can focus on the core elements.

Start with the Problem section.

Add multiple problem hypotheses.

For each one:

Describe an observable condition in the real world.
Avoid solution language.
Write it clearly enough that it could be explored or challenged through conversation.

Next, move to Value Propositions.

For each problem hypothesis, write one or more value proposition hypotheses that describe the value delivered to the customer when that problem is solved.

Focus on outcomes, not features.

What improves?
What becomes easier, safer, faster, or more effective?
Why would that change matter?

Then move to Customer Segments.

For each problem and value proposition, identify who specifically experiences that problem and would benefit from that value.

Be precise.

Not “hospitals,” but “rural hospitals with limited oncology staff.”
Not “students,” but “first-generation engineering students in large public universities.”

You are not completing a template.

You are making explicit the chain of claims your idea depends on:

A problem exists.

Solving it creates value.

That value matters to specific people.

The clearer these hypotheses are now, the more informative your interviews will be.

Access your canvas here:

If you’d like a brief overview of how the system works: Onboarding Guide

Read the next onboarding article: Designing Interview Templates