And after a few months of head banging, trying to get the market problem to fit the Big Solution, many of these entrepreneurs give up.

I would submit to you, however, that this is the absolutely wrong thing to do.

Instead, you should consider something abjectly blasphemous: changing your solution.

To what?

Start by asking yourself this question: What is your problem?

Let me elaborate.

We at Intermz recently wrestled with our Big Idea. After months of research and design, we launched what we thought would be the revolutionary learning tool, a sort of three-dimensional Wikipedia that could double learning speed and make learning new things as natural as breathing. People would contribute fabulous content that would change the way we learn. We were really happy with it. But when we launched it, no one used it.

What was our problem? To make our big solution feasible, we went with a big assumption: that people would write content.

We realized later that what we were asking people to do was much harder than we thought. Writing compelling content about a topic in terms of a different topic is rare skill. (Maybe 1 out of a 100 people can do it, and far fewer than that will actually do it for free.)

So what did we do?

We reinvented ourselves by setting out to solve our own problem: change our solution from a learning tool to a learning program. We are now going to teach people (students and corporate employees) how to use analogical thinking to get ahead. By doing that, we get to change our product without abandoning analogical thinking, our Big Idea.

And for the first time, we had found a cohesive direction that addressed a problem with wallets attached to it. (The training industry has a well established business model with understood revenue sources–unlike our original ad-based public website product.)

So, if your startup is at a crossroads during this economic crisis, and you’re thinking about walking away from your dream, stop and think. Ask yourself, “What is my problem?”

In fact, we even talk about Intermz in terms of different things, like glasses, x-rays, and ophthalmologists. 

We also hear people on the news say it: “In terms of Iraq,” “In terms of the economy,” “In terms of women.” 

How often do you use the phrase “in terms?” 

We think the reason people use the phrase so much is that all of us are constantly thinking in terms of comparisons to communicate information. 

We hope using Intermz becomes as natural a way for you to get information using comparisons as it is to communicate using them. 

Over the next couple of days, try noticing how often people say “in terms,” as we get ready for September 15 beta launch. 

You might be surprised.

Secondly, we are excited to announce that we will be releasing a private beta of Intermz.com v2.0 to you, our loyal newsletter subscribers, on September 15, 2008.

It will give you cleaner, faster navigation of information on your termz.

It will be built from the ground up for CLARITY.

It’s a private beta so we hope that you, a part of a very limited crowd, will tell us whether we hit this one out of the ballpark, if we’re somewhere in the ballpark, or if we’re off our rockers. We’ll have a support forum set up just for your feedback.

You might remember in a previous newsletter that we mentioned there is scientific evidence that our method works. The method is learning by analogy. If you don’t mind numbers, see for yourself (pg. 10) how powerful Analogy Training can be compared to traditional, Direct Training.

Need to learn a new job skill, a new hobby, study for a class?

Intermz.com is the machine that will help you know it all.

Talk to you soon,
Ted Pin

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