The output of this worksheet is to create a hypothesis that you can go out and test. Writing down a Big Idea Hypothesis forces you to focus and clarify what you believe before you talk to potential customers or build prototypes (see Nail It Then Scale It, p. 69-73). The best tool we have found for formulating your Big Idea Hypothesis is found in Geoffrey Moore’s book, Crossing the Chasm. Moore calls it the “elevator message,” but we use it for the Big Idea Hypothesis. The steps of the Big Idea Hypothesis are:

1. For (target customer)
2. Who (statement of the monetizable pain)
3. The (product name) is a (product category)
4. That (statement of key benefit)
5. Unlike (primary competitive alternative)
6. Our Solution (solution and primary differentiation)

EXAMPLE 1 – Using this format, let’s take a look at a potential Big Idea Hypothesis for Surf Air, a subscription-based airline startup headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

“(1) For the frequent, wealthy business traveler (2) who dislikes the airport experience, specifically checking in, going through security, waiting at the terminal, and picking up luggage, yet doesn’t have enough wealth to buy a private jet, (3) Surf Air is an airline that (4) allows the traveler to skip all the hassle of the airport experience and have access to a private jet experience without the cost. (5) Unlike traditional airlines, Surf Air (6) is a subscription-based airline, which employs small, luxury planes that can be used by customers like private jets.”

EXAMPLE 2 – As an another example, the following is the Big Idea Hypothesis Paul Ahlstrom created for his software company, Knowlix.

“(1) For the Internal IT Help Desk managers of large corporations who (2) have dissatisfied customers and are out of compliance with their Customers’ Service Level Agreements because each front-line support representative is unable to capture and share knowledge so they can answer customers’ technical questions and problems in a timely manner, (3) Knowlix is an IT Knowledge Management Solution that (4) allows the front-line IT Customer Support Reps to capture issues within their existing workflow and provide accurate answers in real-time to their corporate customers. (5) Unlike Inference, Knowlix (6) integrates large amounts of unstructured data into the existing workflow of Remedy, Peregrine, and other leading IT Help Desk systems, thus allowing the frontline support rep to answer the question on the first call.”

Now that you have a foundational understanding of the Big Idea Hypothesis, let’s create one for your big idea (see Nail It Then Scale It, p. 71).

By using the answers you provided on the other side of this Canvas, you can piece together a Big Idea Hypothesis that will help focus your efforts and share a clear message as you talk about your big idea with others. So let’s go retrieve each step of the Big Idea Hypothesis.