All language subtitles for 9.Plan your idea

In this lesson, I'm going to teach you how
to plan out your idea using a lean canvas.

This is important because it's a way of
pulling all of your high level thinking

and ideas into one readable document.

This document needs to be
clear and make sense to anyone

who reads it, not just you.

If you don't plan your idea thoroughly,
you might miss something crucial, and by

going through this process, you can focus
on things that you may not have realized

would be important, that definitely are
and may cost you later on if missed.

It's just a great framework to keep you
focused on things that really matter.

The way that I plan out an idea
at this stage is to fill out

what's called a lean canvas.

This concept was developed by
Ash Moria and is an adaptation

of the Business Model Canvas.

You can find links to it in the resources
section below, and I'll run you through

a couple on the screen now as well.

So first up, let's take
Skinny Me Tea as an example.

So the market problems might be
that you want a fast, safe, and

effective weight loss solution.

The solution could be a health
regulation approved 14 day detox

program with proven results.

Some metrics that we might want to
measure could be the number of people who

visit the website versus reach checkout
versus convert into buying customers.

A unique value proposition for skinny meat
Tea could be that it's a detox program

with tea and it's time constrained, so you
might wanna do a 14 or a 28 day program.

It's not just an ongoing thing
that you need to commit to

for the foreseeable future.

It's a very achievable program.

The unfair advantage could
be our proprietary recipes.

The channels we'd operate across
could be social media, paid

marketing, and email marketing.

Our customer segments could
include female millennials.

There are office workers or brides to
be, or new moms that are maybe struggling

with a little bit of extra weight gain.

You can use your customer personas here.

In terms of the cost structure,
we have two main product variants.

The 14 day program is around $35,
and the 28 day program is around $65.

Our revenue streams are e-commerce and
down the track, we might even wanna go

into wholesale or affiliate programs.

So you can see that we're just
running through this really quickly.

It's just about getting pen to paper
and getting some ideas out of your mind.

So to really drive things home, let's
look at another example from the straw

idea that we've been developing so
far in this module, and create our

lean canvas for that product idea.

So under problem, 500 million
straws are used and thrown

away daily in the US alone.

Another problem could be that plastic
straws are not recyclable and that these

straws sit in landfill for years, wash up
on the shore, or pollute our waterways.

So there's three different problems.

Some existing alternatives
on the market right now.

Uh, some companies are exploring straws
that made outta paper that haven't

really caught on a few chains, like
Starbucks are exploring straw list lids.

Some local bars are even trying
to ban straws all together.

So rather than using two in every cocktail
that are only used for stirring anyway.

So from a solution perspective, it's
reducing the impact of single-use

plastic in the environment.

We have our metal reusable straw
concept and it's eco-friendly

as it's not made of plastic.

Obviously.

The metrics again, could be the
number of people who visit the

website versus reach checkout versus
convert into paying customers, or in

this particular case of the reusable
straw, maybe it's the size of bulk

purchase orders from local restaurants,
bars, and franchises, for example.

Moving on to our unique value proposition.

Now your customer needs to understand
what makes your product unique and

different from every other reusable
straw and brand on the market.

Remember, we talked about this
a few lessons ago, and I want

you to record these ideas here
in your Lean Canvas worksheet.

So a unique value proposition is a single,
clear, compelling message that states

why you're different and worth buying.

A common misconception in e-commerce is
that you need a crazy new proprietary or

patented idea in order to be successful.

This simply isn't true.

You don't need to reinvent the
wheel, as I mentioned above.

You just need to change a single dimension
and solve the same problem in a fresh way.

Those dimensions could be design,
function, price, or time, for example.

For the purpose of this exercise,
let's list out some of the ways in

which we could potentially change one
dimension for the straw idea like we

did in the previous lesson on making
a product different and better.

So what we ended up with here was a
reusable metal straw that came in two

different colorways, rose gold and chrome.

It's made of metals, so it's helping
reduce plastic from single use straws.

Folds down into a clean carry case
and is priced fairly accessibly

in terms of an unfair advantage.

Our unfair advantage could be
the way in which a straw folds

down or retracts into its case.

It could even be the case itself, which
could be really durable and have a

five-year warranty on it, for example.

Or we could return to the concept of our
self-cleaning antibacterial case here.

Remember, we're just brainstorming.

You can always change your
mind later on in this stuff.

It's just important to start getting our
ideas out of our minds and onto paper.

This worksheet's actually technically
designed for apps and software, but

I find it a really useful exercise
for my business and idea mapping.

So if you can't come up with an unfair
advantage, don't worry about this as it's

often a lot harder in eCom than tech.

So in terms of channels, we'll get more
into this during the marketing module,

but just start doing some thinking about
where your target audience might hang out,

whether that's on Instagram, Facebook,
or Pinterest, for example, with this

particular idea, it's so problem focused.

We might find blog, blog posts useful to
highlight these particular issues or even

other topics in the food and drink niche.

So recipes, for example.

Or on Pinterest.

Pinterest already has a ton of pins
around both the food and drink niche

as a whole, or tips of substituting
everyday disposable items with reusable

items, so we could lean on that.

Instagram has a popular hashtag around
zero waste, which is a movement within

itself, so you might wanna tap into that.

In terms of customer segments, you
might remember from our lesson on

finding your target audience or customer
personas, the persona that we created

for Todd, the true environmentalist,
and Susie, the virtue signaler.

So now it's your turn.

I want you to go through this exercise
with your favorite product idea in

mind and fill out a lean canvas.

If you can only fill out half to begin
with, that's completely understandable.

You can ask friends or people in the
start and scale Facebook group for help.

Remember, progress today is
better than perfection next week.

The founder community is here to
help you succeed, so please feel

free to leverage each other's brains.

Simply print out a lean canvas and start
filling it out for your next product

idea, and I'll see you in the next lesson.

I really hope you guys are
enjoying the course so far.