“Problem. Idea. Solution.”
You may have seen this before. It’s on some of the Edson E+I Institute merch, but more importantly, it’s at the core of the ethos that we try to instill in our entrepreneurs.
Learn how to find and define the problem you want to solve.
While there are as many pathways to entrepreneurship as there are entrepreneurs, it is common to find yourself becoming an entrepreneur because you’ve found a problem and want to solve it. This framework is an excellent way to ensure that your start-up has a solid foundation. The calling to solve a problem can keep you motivated when you face difficulties, be a north star when faced with tough decisions, and help you build a community with and gain support from others who are affected by the same problem. When you are trying to solve a problem, whether your business is for-profit, low-profit, or non-profit, you will know that your venture is making a positive impact.
Learn how you can make impactful change.
Making Purpose-Driven Opportunities: The Sad Girls Club
Photo: Kelsea Robin performing at the Sad Girls Club
This is exactly what led me to start my venture. When I’m not helping ASU students connect with entrepreneurship, I am a singer/songwriter performing under the name Kelsea Robin. In 2019, I arrived in Phoenix ready to perform, but I had no idea how to make opportunities for myself. I floundered for years making little progress, and harbored a lot of resentment towards a music scene that didn’t seem willing to make space for me. When I began applying entrepreneurial thinking to my fledgling music career, things got a little better, but it really didn’t turn around for me until I started my venture: Sad Girls Club.
The idea came almost by accident. I was playing a show with a friend and fellow sad girl, and we started joking around about how dramatic our songs were and started calling it Sad Girls Club. We almost laughed it off, but then I thought, “Sad Girls Club…that could really be something.” I threw together a logo and a brand guide, worked out a business model, put together a pitch deck, and we were off to the races. Sad Girls Club helps music fans discover Phoenix’s saddest lady songwriters while leveraging the power of community to create more opportunities for women in music and build a more diverse and interesting local music scene. Essentially, by programming similar artists together, each artist can bring their fans and communities out to support the entire show, and everyone’s fan bases will grow more quickly. Our brand promise to music fans is that they will get quality sad girl music at all of our shows. As we gain recognition, people will be willing to spend their precious time out at our events, as we take the risk out of wasting time on artists the listener doesn’t like when trying to find new music. Just over six months since our founding, we are putting on about two shows a month at local venues and slowly but surely growing our social media presence.
Finding a Strong Shared Purpose
The cute tagline and showy brand colors might help get people’s attention, but the real success of Sad Girls Club is in our community. The foundation of that community is in a strong shared purpose. I found a way to solve a problem I had not only for myself but also for so many other women in music. That is where you find the magic in your “entrepreneurial why.” When I found a way to move beyond only making music because I wanted to and started something that had value for other people, that’s when things turned around for me.
Want to get into creative entrepreneurship? Learn how artists can generate business prospects.
But don’t just take my word for it. We asked Sandul, ASU student and founder of Legion Platforms, an online games company focused on creating high-quality 3D games that are accessible to billions of people, how a strong purpose has supported his entrepreneurial journey. Here are his insights into how a strong purpose helped him grow Legion Platforms to over 8 million users across 190 countries:
A well-defined purpose is like the foundation for any startup. You need to find a purpose that you can be committed to during difficult times and one that you genuinely enjoy working on. Additionally, this purpose needs to be easy to define. A clear purpose is a must for customers. You need to have great customer service and provide value for your customers to succeed. The most important marketing source is word of mouth, which is why strong customer service and purpose are necessary.
One of the most important instances where a strong purpose helped me was when I was releasing my first product. It was a tough new experience as I never released a product before then. But the most important thing is I held through the difficult times, persisted through problems, and kept my focus on the larger goal ahead due to strong purpose and conviction.
My purpose has always been to provide the best experience for millions of people across the world, and that is exactly what I have been able to achieve so far, and am working towards achieving much more of that. Brand identity and messaging instantly get shaped by a strong purpose, and customers notice that. Strong purpose alone can help you compete with much larger companies because a lot of larger companies do not have a strong purpose like startups do. I think the most important thing is finding something you truly care about, something you could spend hours talking about, and something that you would never give up on. Those three components are what you need to get a strong purpose and use that purpose to build your startup to new scales.
I think purpose has helped me so much in terms of being a mentor for newcomers. The most important thing I tell everyone is to never give up, no matter what happens. The most important thing for creating a great product is persistence and determination, nothing else even comes close to these traits. Additionally, your purpose has to be something that you truly enjoy. Nobody can force you to get attached to a purpose, so you have to choose based on what you love.
Are you a student like Sandul who wants to start a venture? Check out our Venture Devils program.
Start Your Entrepreneurial Journey with Edson E+I
And there you have it. If you are looking to get into entrepreneurship, finding problems you’re passionate about solving is a great place to start, no matter your industry. And if you have a problem you want to solve and don’t know where to begin, visit our website to get started on your entrepreneurial journey.
