Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
1. Interview Process
In order to get feedback on our ideas and get further insights on our personas’ pains and gains, we
started our process by revising our last weeks’ findings. First, we revised on the theory of Tuesdays
class to see what we should do. Second, we created a clear structure of steps to prepare for the
interviews and further built upon our initial persona as well as the problem statement (See chapter 2
and 3).
As a next step, we decided to continue our brainstorming session to generate more potential solutions
based on the revised problem statements and build on top of each others’ ideas with the simple “yes,
and…” structure. We then realized that we were able to cluster some ideas since they are more focused
on technical solutions and creating a push effect, while others were centred around the idea of creating
a social environment to pull people to a healthier lifestyle. To decide for the main ideas, each team
member had 3 votes to choose for the most feasible and/or most impactful one, to finally end up with
our top five list. Finally, we ranked them for both personas individually in a top-3 list, so that we are
able to test them depending if the interviewee fits persona 1 or persona 2 (see chapter 4).
Subsequently, we generated hypotheses that we wanted to assess through our interviews. In order to
do so, we discussed our assumptions for each idea and collected them as a team. Those assumptions
were linked to the previous primary and secondary findings we collected last week. From there, we
developed interview questions to assess the activity level of our interviewees and in order to
understand their pains and gains before addressing a solution that we thought might be best suited to
them (see appendix A).
To collect the necessary interviews, we relied on two approaches: interviewing students during their
school break on the streets and further leveraging our personal network for deeper and longer
interviews. As we had a lot of success with our interview-scouting-process last week, we tried to look
for girls around high schools in Rotterdam again. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the schools’
permission to interview students on campus on such short notice. However, we were recommended
to wait outside the property line before the 30 minutes morning break. This led to limited time frames
throughout the day and we were not able to conduct profound interviews in such a setting. In order to
get more insightful interviews, we tested our solutions with siblings, friends, and people from older
generations reflecting back on their teenage years. Those interviews allowed us to dig deeper and use
the “why” approach more frequently to go into the root causes, motivations and aspirations.
Through those interviews several hypotheses were verified, while others were rejected. In order to get
a clear view of the results we created a table to support our process of validating the hypothesis by
clustering responses (see appendix D). In addition, we gained further learnings and insights about our
customer segment (see appendix B).
Throughout this process we worked very efficiently as a team and structured our work well in order
to go into this weeks’ task well prepared. Our different backgrounds and thought processes enriched
our solution finding and we enjoyed being unhindered in our idea development. However, we would
need to optimize the interview process considering longer time frames, as people on the streets are
not keen on talking to us for long. Thus, we would need to leverage our personal networks more
intensely.
1
Group 5
Assignment 2
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Solution Validation
2. Personas
To start of our process in the second week, we further analysed and extended the previous profiles of
Nadine and Laura. We embodied the most prominent characteristics that were found through our
initial interviews. Nadine is an 18 year old girl who is naturally in shape without doing any sport. She
prioritizes her social activities above anything else, closely followed by her academic tasks. Besides
her busy school schedule, one of her prominent habits is going out and meeting friends. She is rather
popular but has developed a fear of missing out (FOMO) nonetheless (see figure 1).
Gains/Pull
1. Better looks
2. More Instagram followers / social
confirmation
3. Parents satisfaction
Anxieties
●
●
●
●
Fear of missing out on other things
Fear of losing friends and social status
Fear of bad school grades
Getting out of shape
Pains/Push
1. Feeling lazy compared to others
2. Parent dissatisfaction
3. Being unhealthy
Habits
●
●
●
Academics and social activities are
prioritized
Procrastination
Partying & friends
Figure 1: Nadine persona gains, pains, anxieties and habits.
Laura, on the other hand, is a 12 year old girl who is out of shape and quite introverted, thus her
friends circle is rather small. She does not naturally fit in and prefers to spend most of her free time
alone. She is good at keeping her grades up, but highly dislikes doing sports in front of others, as she
fears to be judged by them (see figure 2).
Gains/Pull
1.
2.
3.
4.
School grades
Friends that do sports
Having fun at sport
Sense of belonging
Anxieties
●
●
●
●
Sports performance anxiety
Fear of not fitting in
Fear of being judged
Shower in front of others naked
Pains/Push
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mandatory School Sports
Family telling her to do sports
Not feeling good about herself
Feeling out of shape
Habits
●
●
●
●
Studying
“Me” and Family time
Reading books
Overeating / Binging
Figure 1: Laura persona gains, pains, anxieties and habits.
2
Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
3. Problem Statement
After creating the detailed customer personas and receiving the feedback that was given by our
professor, we decided to adjust our problem statements for both. It is important to focus on the
prioritization issues for Nadine and emphasizing the long-term inactiveness and insecurities for Laura.
This also demonstrates our findings of external and internal elements that can lead to an unhealthy
lifestyle. In addition, we can show that older girls are more likely to face more problems regarding
time management and that younger girls are more struggling with internal turmoil. The current version
of the problem statements is depicted below:
Nadine
During the transition to adulthood (approx. 15-18 year old) girls who prioritize social activities and
academic achievement above sports, are susceptible to health problems. Because of this, they miss
out on the benefits from playing sports, such as increased confidence, body image, academic
performance and personal relationships. Currently, they ignore the advantages and don’t integrate
sports in their daily routine, despite of it leading to lower levels of physical and psychological health
in the long run.
Laura
When entering puberty, (approx. 12-16 year old) girls who never participated in sports can develop
low self-esteem and are more affected by other people's judgement when their body starts to change.
Because of this, they miss out on the benefits from playing sports, such as increased confidence, body
image, academic performance and personal relationships. Currently, they avoid participation in sports
as they are hindered by their self-imposed mental barriers, despite the fact that a daily routine of
exercise might solve these issues.
4. Ideation & Selection Process
After defining the problem statements for our personas, we started an ideation process in order to
develop adequate solutions tackling these problems. In total, we came up with 12 individual ideas that
we mapped on an axis describing solutions ranging from social to technological focus (see figure 3).
We realized that the solutions based on social factors can be described as pull, as they attract the users
by involving their friends and family and thus creating a welcoming environment. On the other hand,
the technological solutions can be described as push, as they leverage pains such as punishments in
order to make the users more active.
Figure 3: Solutions from ideation process
3
Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
In the next step, the team identified the 5 most interesting solutions out of all ideas from the ideation
process:
-
Fun sports house
Activity Points App
Workout Buddy
Teen gym
Sports Sample Day
In the last step, we decided how well the solutions fit the individual needs of our personas. For Nadine,
the ideal solution should combine social activities with sports and integrate it with daily tasks that
would help to revaluate her priorities. Therefore, the 3 top solutions are as follows:
1. Activity Points App
2. Sports Sample App
3. Fun Sports House
For Laura, the ideal solution should aim to create a comfortable setting that raises awareness that
everybody is different and that let her perceive sports as fun and not as a chore. This is why her top 3
solutions are the following:
1. Fun Sports House
2. Sports Sample App
3. Activity Points App
In the following section, the top 3 ideas that we developed will be described in more detail, allowing
us to test them with participants in an interview setting.
Activity Points App
The activity points app is a mobile-based application that lets users track their individual activity level
in order to earn points that can be used for receiving discounts and other benefits at partner locations.
Our app can be connected to smart watches or bracelets and records all kinds of healthy activities,
such as walking, biking, going to the gym or even eating healthy. Depending on the endeavour, the
activity will directly be monitored within the app. In some cases (e.g. eating healthy) users will have
to upload a picture for verification. In order to incorporate the social aspect, an important part of
sports according to our interviews, users can connect the account with their friends and work out
together, which allows them to earn bonus points. As indicated above, the points can be used to get
discounts for shopping (e.g. Zara, Nike, Mediamarkt) or on activities and attractions (e.g. bowling,
swimming pools). The goal of this app is to offer girls (and boys) an external pull factor that makes
them want to get additional short-term benefits when doing sports. Furthermore, through the
incorporation of a social aspect we believe that the activity can become a habit more easily in the
long-run since friends will motivate each other.
4
Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
Sports Sample Day
The Sports Sample Day are multiple events where different sports clubs can give interested girls and
boys a sneak peek into their member’s passions. Thereby, the students can try out different sports for
free and hopefully join a club if they like it. Furthermore, students can visit the sports sample day
together with friends and jointly apply for their new hobbies. These days will be hosted in close
cooperation with local schools and ideally be located on their premises. In order to increase the
attendance of the events, teachers will be asked to make the attendance of the sports sample days
mandatory. The goal of these events is to drastically reduce the effort needed for girls and boys to try
out new activities and apply for a sports club. Thereby, one of the most important barriers for doing
sports on a regular basis according to our interviews should be eliminated.
Fun Sports House
The Fun Sports House is a permanent building where teenage girls (and boys) can enjoy spending
time with their friends, relax and engage in non-competitive fun sports like dodgeball or ping pong.
It will be executed in a similar fashion to youth centres but puts a high emphasis on sports. Therefore,
the sports offer will be extended with fitness equipment such as treadmills, bicycles and different
lessons such as Zumba or Yoga. The house will be accessible at a low-cost membership fee and
therefore aims to attract as many students as possible, allowing for high diversity. In order to achieve
this, we will employ either volunteers or get funding from the government, as it will positively impact
the well-being of the citizens. The goal of this venture is to provide students with a place where they
can do sports in a welcoming environment that takes the individual needs of the girls and boys into
account. By emphasizing on the importance of accepting everybody’s own physique and not judging
others, we can reduce the fears - of our persona Laura - of being put in an environment that she doesn’t
feel comfortable in.
5. Hypotheses
After creating the business ideas and deciding for respective assumptions, we further developed the
hypotheses to be tested in our interviews (Appendix C). Since we ranked those ideas differently for
both personas, we decided not to introduce all business opportunities to every interviewee. Our main
goal was to understand the current problem of the respective interviewee first and thereafter deciding
on which business idea to present. Since many of our interviewees seem to be similar to Nadine, we
presented the Activity Points App idea to most of our participants. Most of them provided us with
positive feedback resulting in minimal questions in regards to the other two ideas. Since the main
focus in our solution-finding-process is directed to the first idea, we will only focus on this one from
now onwards. Hence, we will only discuss the assumptions and hypothesis 1 to 5 in more detail
(Appendix C).
For assumptions 1 to 5 we had our persona Nadine in mind and tried to empathize with her and
describe the current situation. First, we were all clear on the assumption that girls like Nadine are
inactive. Furthermore, we thought that a point system as extrinsic rewards would incentivize young
girls to do more sports. The two respective hypotheses were verified through our interviews.
Interestingly, many girls think that they would be able to do more sports if they would be rewarded
for doing so. Thus, the time issue that they stated to have seems to disappear whenever they would
think of additional benefits for being active.
5
Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
Additionally, we assumed that we could motivate girls through rewards in form of shopping benefits
(Assumption 2). The interviews proved that most girls (88%) do like shopping and would love
discounts for it. The fourth assumption about girls and their desire to compare themselves to others,
could not be confirmed, as only 58% stated that they do.
Even though only our hypotheses 1, 2, 3 and 5 were confirmed, we will keep all 5 initial hypotheses
for the activity points app in our revised hypothesis set (see appendix E). This is due to the fact that
we can learn from all kinds of hypotheses, both the verified and declined ones. Our learning from H4
is that we should make the comparison function an optional feature in the app. Furthermore,
hypothesis 6,7 and 10 which originally belonged to the Sports Sample Day as well as to the Fun Sports
House, will also be considered in the sense that girls want to easily (H7) try different sports (H6) and
prefer to do sports in a comfortable environment (H10) when further developing the activity points
app.
In case of additional interviews, we would like to verify if other discount options (such as a discount
for netflix) would be appreciated by our target group. One of the hypotheses would then be: A discount
for Netflix would encourage girls to do more sports.
To sum it up, we generally received mostly positive feedback on our idea and we are therefore moving
further with the process of validating the product-market fit in the upcoming week.
6
Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
Appendix
Appendix A: Interview Questions
General questions:
What is your name?
How old are you?
What do you do in your free time?
Sports related questions:
How are you currently dealing with your inactiveness?
What are your pains & gains in terms of sports and current offerings?
How much would you pay for being sporty and healthy?
How much would you pay to make this problem go away?
What have you tried to start a new sport or make sport a daily habit? (substitutes)
Solution A “Activity points app” questions:
Do you think you will work out more if you would use such an app? How often would you do sports
per week?
Do you like to go shopping? Would you do more sports when you get discounts for shopping?
How do you like our idea from 1-10?
Solution B “Sports Sample Day” questions:
If you can try out different sports, do you think you are likely to find one that you enjoy?
Would you stay with us if we have a fitting environment?
Do you think flexible sports offering would make you work out more? How much per week?
How do you like our idea from 1-10?
Solution C “Fun Sports House” questions:
Would you like to do PE outside of school as well?
What would be a comfortable workout setting for you?
Do you prefer working out with girls only?
How do you like our idea from 1-10?
Ending questions:
What would make you work out more?
Is there anything else I should have asked?
Can you think of something else that would motivate you to do more sports?
7
Group 5
Assignment 2
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Solution Validation
Appendix B: Findings
Additional Key Learnings
● Some girls are rather directly intrinsic and others directly extrinsic motivated.
● The external environment seems to form the intrinsic motivation in the long-run.
● Rewards are often perceived as well functioning extrinsic motivators.
● Many girls in that age like shopping and are price sensitive.
● Girls seem to think that school takes a lot of time and hinders them to do more sports,
however they seem to have sufficient time if they would prioritize it slightly higher than e.g.
watching TV.
● Many girls start to go to the gym at some point as it is flexible in time and less commitment
to others.
● The general thought of healthiness through sports is recognizable.
● Sport is often done to look better and less for fun.
● Extrinsic motivation might not have an effect on building sustainable habits.
Appendix C: Assumptions and Hypothesis
Idea
Activity
Points
App
Assumption
Hypothesis
1. Our product solves the problem of At least 70% of all interviewees stated that
they would do more sports when using the
young girls being inactive
app
2. Girls like shopping
If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
state that they like to go shopping
3. Sports can be incentivized by point If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
state that the prospect of getting discounts
systems and discounts for shopping
for shopping would positively influence
their activity level
4. Girls like to challenge themselves If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
and compare their scores with their state that they like a challenge/comparisonfeature
peers
Sports
Sample
Day
5. We will be able to get positive
Feedback on our idea
If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
state that they like our idea
6. Girls enjoy experiencing diverse
sports offers in their selection process
At least 80% of all interviewees that we
presented this idea to state that if they can
try different sports, they believe that they
could find one that they like
7. Finding a new sport and club is
time-consuming and is seen as a
At least 70% of the girls that we presented
this idea to will state that a sports day
8
Group 5
Assignment 2
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Fun
Sports
House
Solution Validation
serious barrier for girls that don’t do
sports
attracting different sports clubs would make
it much easier for finding a fitting sport
8. Higher priorities on academics and
social events need a flexible sports
offering.
Flexible sports offering increases workout
time by at least 3 hours per week for 70% of
respondent
9. We will be able to get positive
Feedback on our idea
Out of all the girls we presented this idea to,
at least 70% stated to like it.
10. A comfortable environment
encourages doing sports.
Out of all the girls we presented this idea to,
at least 90% stated that a comfortable
environment is essential for them to do
sports.
11. A girls only setting incentivises
sports for insecure girls.
Out of all the girls we presented this idea to,
at least 70% stated that sports is more fun in
a girls only setting
12. We will be able to get positive
feedback on our idea
Out of all the girls we presented this idea to,
at least 70% stated to like it.
Appendix D: General Results
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7
H8
H9
H10
H11
H12
1 Nilufar
2 Sanne
3 Danique
4 Nora
5 Ana
6 Tessa
7 Emma
8 Anisa
9 Lena
10 Isa
11 Sina
12 Rose
13 Eliv
14 Alessia
9
Group 5
Assignment 2
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Solution Validation
15 Fatima
16 Bea
17 Andrea
18 Dunja
19 Sara
20 Meli
Result
76%
88%
90%
58%
85%
100%
100%
50%
100%
100%
12%
75%
Goal
70%
70%
70%
70%
70%
80%
70%
70%
70%
90%
70%
70%
Legend: green = positive, red = negative, orange = unsure, white = no response
Appendix E: Revised Hypothesis
Assumptions
Hypothesis
1. Our product solves the problem of young At least 70% of all interviewees stated that
girls being inactive
they would do more sports when using the
app
2. Girls like shopping
If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
state that they like to go shopping
3.Sports can be incentivized by point If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
systems and discounts for shopping
state that the prospect of getting discounts
for shopping would positively influence
their activity level
5. We will be able to get positive Feedback If we interview 20 girls, at least 70% will
on our idea
state that they like our idea
6. Girls enjoy experiencing diverse sports At least 80% of all interviewees that we
offers in their selection process
presented this idea to state that if they can try
different sports, they believe that they could
find one that they like
10
Group 5
Daniel Baak, Jana Bachström, Fabrice Bickel, Anouk Breitenstein, Sebastian Kahl
Assignment 2
Solution Validation
7. Finding a new sport and club is time- At least 70% of the girls that we presented
consuming and is seen as a serious barrier this idea to will state that a sports day
for girls that don’t do sports
attracting different sports clubs would make
it much easier for finding a fitting sport
10. A comfortable environment encourages Out of all the girls we presented this idea to,
doing sports.
at least 90% stated that a comfortable
environment is essential for them to do
sports.
11