Big Idea Canvas

T&T Lighting and Air Group / Code Compliance Alliance’s Big Idea Canvas

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NameJim Shelton
Explain your Big Idea in one sentence.Launch T&T Lighting and Air Group to combine lighting and ventilation expertise into one bundled, distributor-direct solution—helping builders meet energy code and program requirements more cost-effectively—while founding the Code Compliance Alliance (1) to drive collaboration between builders, raters, and manufacturers.
1. Pain of the Customer
1. Who’s your target customer?Regional and national home builders now responsible for meeting ventilation and lighting requirements under IECC and energy programs.
2. What’s the job your customer is trying to perform?Ensure lighting and ventilation systems meet energy code cost-effectively, pass inspections, and qualify for 45L and program incentives.
3. What’s the pain your customer is experiencing while doing the job?

o Builders are now accountable for code compliance—but the burden of system design has shifted from subcontractors to purchasing managers and raters.
o HVAC distributors won’t sell direct to builders, and most builders lack warehousing/logistics to buy direct.
o Builders face fragmented vendors, rising costs, inspection risk, and a supply chain that wasn’t built to serve them directly.

4. How big is the pain the customer is feeling?5 Shark Bite
5. How often are customers feeling the pain?4 Daily
6. What’s the pain score?20
7. How much market knowledge do you have to understand the pain?Pro
2. Potential of the Market
1. How many customers are experiencing the pain?3 Thousands
2. Sustainability? Can you provide the solution to customers profitably?5 Absolutely
3. What’s the current overall size and growth of the market?4 Big & Fast
4. Will your solution greatly affect the size and growth of the market?3 I think So
5. What are the key growth drivers for the market?: Energy code mandates, 45L incentives, homebuyer interest in efficient, healthy homes.
6. What’s the financial potential of a business that solves the pain?16 High Growth
3. Prescription for the Pain
1. What’s the name of your proposed solution to the pain?T&T Lighting and Air Group / Code Compliance Alliance
2. Describe your proposed solution to the pain and its key benefits.

Provide bundled lighting and ventilation systems pre-engineered for energy code compliance. Partner directly with builders and raters to simplify design, reduce cost, and deliver distributor-direct fulfillment.
Key Benefits:
o Eliminate inspection failures
o Lower installed cost
o Reduce builder coordination burden
o Enable streamlined, builder-friendly sourcing

3. How distinct is your solution from what already exits?4 Very Different
4. What types of innovation are you using to differentiate yourself?
  • Technological
  • BusinessModel
  • Service
  • SupplyChain
  • CustomerExperience
  • BusinessProcess
  • ProductPerformance
  • DistributionChannel
  • Design
  • Marketing
Other
5. What are the primary differentiators of your solution?

Differentiators:
o Trade experts in lighting and ventilation
o Exclusive bundled solutions and packaged compliance systems
o Distributor-direct model aligned with how lighting is already bought
o Founding member of the Code Compliance Alliance—a coalition built to support builders, raters, and manufacturers not just distributors

6. How much domain expertise do you have to solve the pain?Pro
4. Positioning in the Market
1. What does the competitive landscape (jungle) look like?Gorilla
2. Name the current market gorilla.Madison Air (Broan, AprilAire, and Santa Fe)
2.1 No Market Gorilla
3. Are you competing head on with a gorilla for the same customer?No
4. Who goes out of business if you win?o Fragmented ventilation and lighting manufacturers without builder access o HVAC reps and distributors protecting contractor channels o Traditional reps with no capability to support system design or rater coordination
5. Based on the proposed solution, what’s your market-entry strategy?Greenfield Strategy
Face PunchCompete head-to-head with market leaders for existing customers with a solution that is similar to existing offerings (i.e., no innovation).
GreenfieldCreate a brand new market category where competition is non-existent; create new customers and draw customers in from other markets.
Bolt-onExtend an existing market by adding a product or service onto the market’s current offerings; partner with market leader (i.e., incremental innovation)
GeographicImport proven business models and innovations from one country to another (i.e., geographic innovation).
BreakthroughDevelop products that are 10x better than market leaders; competing for same customers with high “switching costs” (i.e., 10x innovation).
DisruptiveTarget unmet needs of underserved customers at the low end of an existing market; competitors flee up market rather than fight for the low end.
5. Path to the Exit
1. How large is the universe of potential buyers for the company?3 Twenty
2. Who are the top likely potential buyers of the company?Acuity Brands, Generation Brands, Kichler, Panasonic, Greenheck, Madison Air, Sonepar, Rexel, Electra Sales, Ewing-Foley, The McDonough Group
3. Do you plan to engage in partnerships with them? If so, how?

No

4. Do you currently have access to relevant distribution channels?Yes
5. What’s the overall likelihood of the company becoming acquired?3 50/50
The Big Idea Hypothesis

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.”

Your Big Idea Hypothesis

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.

1. For (target customer):
2. Who (statement of 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):
With all the steps identified and written down, you can now stitch them together to create one, unified Big Idea Hypothesis. Give it a try below.

For builders now responsible for code-compliant ventilation and lighting, T&T Lighting and Air Group delivers pre-engineered, bundled solutions through a builder-aligned, distributor-direct model. Unlike fragmented vendors and rep networks built around contractors, we simplify compliance, lower costs, and partner directly with builders and home energy raters— the true decision-makers under today’s energy codes. Powered by the Code Compliance Alliance, we’re giving builders what they’ve always wanted—and what the current supply chain can’t provide.