This Opportunity is Fat

So What is the Opportunity?

This opportunity stems from something that can be completely avoided. In fact, so many people seek a solution to this problem but usually cannot find a sustainable one. What if I told you, that with time, this problem could nearly disappear? How is this possible? Because it is entirely preventable. And yes, those that have already encountered the problem can fix it now by taking advantage of this same opportunity.

The Details

The unmet need is developing a sustainable solution to help others lose weight, stay in shape, and not become overweight in the first place. There are countless amounts of people in the world that struggle with being overweight and have tried to lose weight but can't stick to anything that gives them results. The reason there is such a big need is that of the average increase in daily caloric consumption among humans compared to other years. The reason this has happened is because of the popularity of high-calorie convenient foods like fast food and frozen dinners, among many other reasons. To meet this need now, people are developing "weight loss programs", "crash diets", and "healthy meal replacement snacks" as "solutions" to fat loss to people that are overweight.

I believe the real opportunity lies in developing a sustainable solution to fat loss that specifically focuses on the nutritional aspect of physical fitness. I think there is such a great opportunity to create classes and educate people about how to use basic knowledge about nutrition to control their own weight. Currently, most "solutions" do not teach anyone about nutrition and instead provide thoughtless templates about what people should eat without informing them why. I know that if the consumers of products aimed toward fat-loss bought a program that taught them a true informational understanding of how your eating habits control their weight they would see much better long term results.


Information Learned from the "Prototypical Customer"

I learned from interviewing three different people that the idea I have about emphasizing nutrition education is a great idea, but there were a few aspects I missed that could have helped solve the unmet need. One of the people I interviewed loved the idea but he said that in his personal weight loss journey one of the most beneficial aspects was having a workout partner that he could rely on to keep him motivated and hold him accountable throughout his journey. This made me realize that the system I could create to solve this unmet need could be a mentee-to-mentor relationship model in which the mentor presents the necessary nutritional information and is also available for weekly calls to hold the mentee accountable. If the mentee is able to successfully achieve their goals through the program they can apply to be paid as a mentor and share the knowledge they learned and act as the new motivator.


So What Changed?

Most of the original opportunity is still there, however, the way I want to go about tackling the opportunity is now slightly different. I believe my new opportunity is still the same as it first started, but now I have a more optimal way of matching the unmet need by providing mentors as a source of motivation.

I believe that there is a trade-off between adapting to customer feedback and staying firm to your idea. Chances are, if you've created an idea and worked on it for a long time you know more about the category than most customers so you know what is fundamentally right and wrong. On the flip side though, if you are given feedback multiple times about how you should improve something then at that point it is probably good to listen to the customer.