I literally performed „The Mom Test“

Currently, I’m on the search for new product ideas. Since I’m a physician and know many physicians that have their own medical practice, I’m naturally inclined to look for problems to solve in this space.

My mother has such a medical practice.

In the German health care system there is a concept called „IGeL-Leistungen“ (individual health care services) which are paid in cash. My mothers practice uses an Excel sheet to book these cash earnings and to also book smaller expenses like new printer paper etc. I became very attentive when I heard about this Excel sheet because come on… An Excel sheet?? Really?? There has to be a better way…

Recently, I read The Mom Test (great book btw) and I wanted to try it out.

So, I did what the book recommended (I understood it right, did I? 😁) and I called my mom and asked her about this Excel sheet. How do they use it? What do they book and how? Who books what and what happens to the data at the end of the year when the taxes have to be filed? And, most importantly, are they happy with this solution?

I made sure not to reveal that I have a super-duper plan to revolutionize their bookkeeping but I just wanted to know how they used their existing (low-tech) solution and whether they were happy with it.

It turns out they are perfectly happy it right now.

It turns out using an Excel sheet is no problem for them. They have an accountant who manages the payrolls, the rent and their bigger costs. They have an external agency that handles billing the customers and the whole fuss with health insurances. Everything else is handled perfectly fine through this Excel sheet.

Although I think there is a better way to do this „petty cash“ bookkeeping, turns out a potential customer actually does not bother at all.

The whole conversion (the on-topic part) lasted maybe 2 minutes. 2 minutes that saved me dozens of hours building a solution for a problem that is no actual problem for the customer.

I think that’s an illustrative story to share to all the people here looking for problems to solve.

Make sure it really is a problem that your potential customers have and that they want to be solved. Make sure it is not only a nice to have. Make sure you don’t need to educate them why their current approach is indeed a problem.

Think painkillers vs. vitamins. If you have a headache its super easy to sell you headache pills but to sell vitamins just to make sure you stay healthy is much harder.

And nobody but your potential customers can tell you if the problem is really like a headache or not.