Entrepreneurship Problem Discovery Validation

Idea → Problem Definition: The Toothbrush Test + a Printable Checklist

The fastest way to waste six months is to build a product before proving the pain is real. This post expands Step 1 of our roadmap and gives you a practical checklist to confirm: “Yes—this is a real problem, and if I solve it, I could have a product.”

Step 1 in one line

Find a painful, frequent, expensive problem (for a specific person), then validate the pain without pitching your solution.

What you're trying to prove

  • People can describe the pain in detail without prompting.
  • The pain has a real cost: time, money, risk, or stress.
  • There is an obvious buyer (not just a frustrated user).
  • Doing nothing has consequences.

What to avoid

  • Talking about features (you're not there yet).
  • “Would you use this?” questions (they lie politely).
  • Big vague audiences (“everyone who…” is nobody).
  • Building an MVP to “see what happens.”

At the end, you'll get a printable checklist you can use as an objective gate before you build.

Read the guide Jump to checklist

In this article

  1. Start with the problem
  2. One-sentence problem statement
  3. Buyer vs user
  4. “What happens if you do nothing?”
  5. The Toothbrush Test
  6. Validate with conversations
  7. Printable checklist

Quick score idea

Talk to 10–15
Look for repetition
Outcome clear cost

If you have to convince them it's painful, it isn't.

1

Start with the problem. Always.

Your job is not to sell. It's to understand the pain deeply enough that the solution becomes obvious.
No pitching

A product is not an idea. A product is a repeatable solution to a repeatable problem that someone will pay to remove. Step 1 exists because most founders skip it: they fall in love with a solution before they can clearly explain the pain.

The discipline

Don't mention your solution. Don't pitch. Don't “educate” them. Listen until the pain becomes obvious without your help.

When the pain is real, people:

  • Vent and use emotional language.
  • Give examples without being prompted.
  • Quantify the cost: time, money, risk, stress.
  • Admit the workarounds they hate but tolerate.
Exit criteria: You can describe the pain clearly without mentioning features, and people independently describe similar stories.
Suggested reading: Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
I don't get paid for clicks or book sales — it's just a really great book that I've read (and listened to) multiple times.
2

The one-sentence problem statement

Clarity is a forcing function. If you can't write it in one sentence, you're not done.
Clarity

Use this template:

Template

[Specific person] experiences [pain], which leads to [meaningful consequence].

Examples:

  • Small practices struggle to track onboarding steps, causing delayed start dates and lost revenue.
  • Finance teams manually reconcile transactions, creating reporting delays and audit risk.
Exit criteria: You can say the sentence out loud and a stranger immediately “gets it.”
3

Separate the buyer from the user

This is where pricing power lives. The user feels pain; the buyer feels cost.
Economics
  • User: feels the pain day-to-day.
  • Buyer: feels the cost of the pain and controls budget.

Always validate:

  • Who complains about the pain?
  • Who budgets to make it go away?
Reality check

If the user screams but the buyer shrugs, you might have a “cool tool” and not a business.

Exit criteria: You can name the buyer role and how they measure the cost (money, risk, delays, churn, etc.).
4

Ask: “What happens if you do nothing?”

Entrepreneurs don't sell convenience first. They sell consequences avoided.
Consequences

Listen for answers like:

  • “We keep missing deadlines.”
  • “Revenue is delayed.”
  • “We risk compliance issues.”
  • “People burn out and quit.”

Be cautious if you hear:

  • “It's annoying, but…”
  • “We've lived with it.”
  • “It's not urgent.”
Exit criteria: Doing nothing clearly costs something meaningful (not just “it's annoying”).
5

The Toothbrush Test

Is this problem part of a daily or habitual workflow—like brushing your teeth?
Habitual value

Google's co-founder popularized a simple heuristic: is this something people use as regularly as a toothbrush? The point isn't literal daily use. The point is habitual value.

Ask yourself:

  • Does the problem show up frequently?
  • Is it part of a routine workflow?
  • Do people think about it unprompted?
Shortcut

Daily pain builds daily dependence. That's how products become sticky without begging users to stick around.

Exit criteria: The problem is recurring and persistent enough that solving it removes ongoing friction.
6

Validate with conversations, not surveys

Surveys tell you what people say. Conversations tell you what people feel.
Interviews

In early validation, aim for 10–15 conversations with your target audience. Ask open-ended questions, then let silence do the work.

Questions that work

  • “Walk me through the last time this happened.”
  • “What did you try first?”
  • “Where did it break?”
  • “What did it cost you?”
Exit criteria: You hear the same pain repeated across people and can quantify the cost in at least a few cases.

Printable checklist

Use this to decide if you've identified a real problem that could become a product. If you can't check a box, that's not failure—it's a signal to interview more and sharpen the problem.

Problem Validation Checklist

How to use this

Check boxes only if you can back them up with real conversations. “I think so” doesn't count yet.

Problem strength

Ownership & economics

Toothbrush test

Clarity

Pass/fail suggestion

If you can confidently check 10+ boxes, you likely have a real problem worth solving. If you're below that, keep interviewing—your code editor will still be there later.

On this page

  1. Start with the problem
  2. One-sentence statement
  3. Buyer vs user
  4. Do nothing question
  5. Toothbrush test
  6. Conversations
  7. Checklist

Quick reminders

Don't pitch listen
Ask “do nothing?”
Look for workarounds

Repetition is signal. Polite compliments are not.

Want help validating or building your idea?

3cStudios helps founders translate ideas into execution plans and scalable solutions—without overbuilding.

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