The Problem Is Your Problem: 5 Mistakes Aspiring Category Designers Make When Answering “What Problem Do I Solve?”

Get the problem right, and the rest comes easy.

Arrrrr! 🏴‍☠️ Welcome to a paid edition of Category Pirates. This foundational series shares category design principles, strategies, and actionable frameworks to help you design new and different categories. Thank you for reading. And, of course, forward this mini-book to anyone who you think needs to hop aboard the Pirate ship.

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Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” - Albert Einstein

She who names, frames, and claims the problem wins.

This isn't just some marketing gimmick—it's the core of creating and dominating new categories. 

• Framing the Problem: When you frame the problem, you create a demarcation point in thinking by setting the context for the problem. This forces people to consider why this specific idea matters. And why it demands urgent attention.

• Naming the Problem: When you name the problem, you choose a distinctive and sticky label that immediately captures its essence. This makes it easily identifiable and memorable, altering how people see and talk about the problem.

• Claiming the Problem: When you claim the problem, become the solution. This stakes your claim by showing the world your unique approach and category POV, making it clear why your solution is the one and only solution for that specific problem.

He who owns the problem, becomes the solution.

(Let's see how many times we can say "problem" in one mini-book. Arrrrr!)

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Want to listen to this mini-book instead? Head to the audiobook version, available to all paid subscribers.

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After decades of advising Category Kings to billion-dollar outcomes and interacting with readers, podcast listeners, and coaching entrepreneurs in the Category Design Academy, we've seen up close how people often fail to answer the most important question in business: 

What problem do you solve?

Knowing the problem you solve defines your category's entire foundation and direction.

→ Wanting to solve the problem makes you a missionary startup founder, company exec, or creator.

→ This understanding allows you to create a unique category Point of View (POV) that frames a new problem and a new solution in a provocative way.

→ A well-defined POV also helps inform the Languaging you use and shapes the narrative around your solution so it resonates deeply with your Superconsumers.

This isn't just about making your "messaging" clear. It's about explaining why customers should care, engage, and choose your solution. If you can't articulate the problem you solve in a new and different way, you won't just struggle to stand out—you'll struggle to connect, convert, drive revenue, and become the Category Queen.

Get the problem right, and magic happens.

We see this happen all the time in our Strategy Therapy course where students have to create a one-page strategy that answers the following 5 questions:

1. What is the problem?

2. What is your category POV?

3. What is the radically different offer/biz model?

4. What is the data flywheel that predicts the future?

5. What are the transformational outcomes you deliver?

When they send it to us for feedback, 95% of our suggestions get them on track to solve the right problem. Knowing how to answer "What is the problem?" is crucial—it’s where most epiphanies happen. Nail the problem, and the rest of the one-page writes itself. 

But here’s the thing: Most people stumble right out of the gate.

The Problem Is The Problem

Now, the problem is most people don't know the problem is their problem. 

That’s because being unclear on the problem you solve for customers might sound like completely unrelated challenges:

• "We just need to work on our messaging." 

• "Our product needs more features." 

• "We aren’t reaching the right audience." 

• "Our sales strategy isn’t aggressive enough." 

• "We're not competitive enough." 

• "We need a bigger marketing budget." 

• "Our customers don’t understand our product." 

• "We need to innovate more." 

• "The market isn’t ready for us yet." 

• "It's a bad economy; people aren’t buying." 

But these issues all have the same underlying problem:

NOT KNOWING WHAT PROBLEM YOU SOLVE!!!!!

Many make an unconsidered, undiscussed mistake. They assume their awesome-tastic new carbidigulator’s features are so legendary, people will just get what it does, what problems it solves, and why it’s valuable. 

That’s just wrong. 

Here’s the proof. 

The wheel is arguably the most pivotal human innovation. At first, it was used for pottery. It took over 300 years before a human downed a couple of whiskeys, sparked up a fatty, and had the a-ha! “What if we flip this thing on its side and use it for transportation!?” If it took 300 years for the greatest innovation in human history to reveal its most powerful use case, why do so many people in modern business assume customers will just get the utility of their product????

You don’t want to assume people will understand how your product and/or service helps them—you have to show them by focusing on the problem.

Market my problem, I think you want to help me.

Market your solution, I think you want my money.

For example, Lexus can scream “Experience Amazing” all it wants and most people will never be able to recall those words and connect them to the brand because they do not frame a problem.

And then, there’s Janus Motorcycles. 

Janus crafts custom, hand-made, “lightweight motorcycles” in Goshen, Indiana. Population 35,000. It’s a beautiful place in the heartland of the USA. But it’s not a place you (might) expect to find one of the most innovative, fast-growing motorcycle companies in the world.

The motorcycle market in the United States is about $7 billion in 2024 and growing at about 2%.

But Janus is growing at 62%. 

How can that be, you ask?

You see, Grant and Richard do not compete in any sense of the word. They create. They are the category designers of a whole new category of motorcycle called “lightweight motorcycles.” And even more importantly, Richard and Grant have designed a whole new/different motorcycling experience for customers called “rambling.” 

Not motorcycling, but rambling. 

Everything about the way a Janus lightweight motorcycle looks feels, and rides is different. Janus bikes are custom, smaller, slower, and (way) more retro than just about every player in the massive motorcycle category. 

You do not commute on a Janus.

You do not race on a Janus.

You ramble. 

Maybe on a back road with beautiful views. Maybe on your way to a relaxing lunch. Or maybe just to get out of the digital world to ramble around the analog world.

janusmotorcycle

A post shared by @janusmotorcycle

Janus does not compete with traditional motorcycles. They don’t compare themselves with other categories or brands of bikes. They simply educate people about the joys of rambling. They tell people who already have bikes, and love to ride them, that they need to add a lightweight bike to their collection. 

So they can ramble.

To claim the idea of “rambling,” Richard and Grant wrote a manifesto about rambling and a legendary book called, “The Rambler's Companion: Or the Art, Practice, & Enjoyment of Lightweight Motorcycling" that breaks down the art, practice, and enjoyment of this new lightweight motorcycling experience.

Richard and Grant show us how solving the right problem can category design a new market, create radical differentiation, evangelize a different point of view, and catalyze a whole new movement.

Think of it this way: If you're struggling to frame, name, and claim the problem, you’re probably not solving the right problem. 

So, how do you know if the problem is YOUR problem?

There are 5 clear signs.

5 Mistakes People Make When Answering “What Problem Do I Solve?”

Before you can even think about your category POV, business model, or data flywheel, you have to clarify your real problem. 

Because if you misidentify the problem, you become untethered from your true north. As a result, you lose sight of what is right for your category and Superconsumers. You waste hundreds of thousands of dollars building in the wrong direction. And you pull out all your pirate hairs because you have no idea what went wrong.

To identify the real problem you solve, you want to avoid 5 common pitfalls: