Pre-Idea Lab: find a problem worth testing
Use the Discovery Lab to investigate real problems, reach a first customer group and decide what to test.
Choose Pre-Idea Lab when the problem, customer or first market is still uncertain. The catalogue also calls it Discovery Lab; these are the same starting Lab.
Before you start
Browse the Lab overview freely. Sign in to enter the working Lab. Bring a problem you have noticed and a way to speak with people who experience it. You do not need a registered business or a finished idea.
Work through the Lab
- Open Pre-Idea Lab and enter its discovery challenge.
- Start with founder-market fit: why can you stay close to this problem?
- Describe the problem, dig into causes and identify a narrow first customer group.
- Explore the surrounding people, alternatives and market. Separate your estimates from observed facts.
- Use the interview and market-evidence activities to record what real people do. Remove identifying details you do not need.
- Review willingness to pay, important assumptions and the readiness questions. Complete the required steps and review the final summary.
Use the step navigation to revisit available activities. Check the save message before leaving; a cloud-save error means another device may not have your latest answer.
What should you leave with?
A clearer account of the problem, the customer group you can reach, what you heard, the alternatives people already use and the assumption to test next. The final summary brings your work together and offers output controls.
Decide your next move
If the evidence changes your idea, revise it. If a specific problem and customer are becoming clear, move to Idea Lab. Completing the Lab records learning and submitted work; it does not independently validate market demand.