Post by Maureen Rinkunas

I had such a fun conversation with Katie Nowak about one of the questions I return to again and again: are we solving a problem someone urgently needs solved? We talked about how founders, researchers, and corporate innovation teams can use customer discovery, what-must-be-true statements, and a more scientific approach to venture building to test their assumptions before investing too heavily in the wrong direction. We also revisited the student team (and Professor Pat Costa) that saved me from launching a magnetic kitchen stirrer, which remains one of my favorite examples of why early feedback matters. 😂 Thank you, Katie, for such a thoughtful conversation and for creating space to explore the messy, practical work of turning promising ideas into ventures people actually want and need. I hope you’ll give the episode a listen!