Expert Insights & Summary

Expert Insights

Achintya Krishna on Opportunity Evaluation

1. Began with sports video drills for grassroots athletes—discovered a gap in structured digital coaching.
2. Added tournament registration to solve a real need but found it low-margin and logistically complex.
3. Evaluated each feature by its scalability and market traction—key to opportunity filtering.
4. Pivoted to interactive drills using computer vision (pose, ball, and rim tracking)—a scalable tech solution.
5. Explored gamification and fitness modules to broaden market relevance beyond basketball.
6. Emphasized value of early prototypes—even if flawed—as tools for discovery and validation.
7. Realized opportunity evaluation is continuous: listen to users, test fast, and adapt based on data.

Zooming Out with Mayank Nagori

1. Started Good Gum with a small SKU but big ambition: a biodegradable, healthy gum.
2. “Zoomed out” to evaluate the bigger market gap—not just chewing gum but healthy impulse consumption.
3. Noticed gum’s high value-to-volume ratio—ideal for India’s fragmented, low-cost retail.
4. Repositioned gum from candy to post-meal dental wellness, creating a habit-forming use case.
5. Ignored the "TAM trap"—focused instead on building a new category with storytelling and distinct branding.
6. Aimed to evolve into functional gums—energy, vitamins—to capture daily routines.
7. Zooming out helped shift from product obsession to solving a lifestyle problem with long-term potential.

Market Check: Are We Really Solving a Problem?

1. Team began with workshops on debate, public speaking, and study skills for school students.
2. Constantly tested the problem-solution fit via interviews, surveys, and small pilots.
3. Found validation in parents’ aspirations and students’ lack of structured support in these areas.
4. Measured success through engagement, feedback, and willingness to pay—key market checkpoints.
5. Tweaked content and delivery formats based on classroom response, not assumptions.
6. Used effectuation: started with available networks, co-created with partners, kept risk affordable.
7. Proved that solving a problem means continuously checking—are we relevant, differentiated, and valuable?

Payoshni on Opportunity Evaluation

1. Motivated by gender equity—started with deep user research (300+ women surveyed).
2. Validated need through conversations with corporates: hiring isn’t the problem, retention is.
3. Identified “double duty” (home + work pressure) as a key driver of female attrition.
4. Spotted a whitespace—no one was solving post-hire engagement for women.
5. Evaluated opportunity by triangulating user pain, buyer readiness, and competitor gaps.
6. Positioned solution as retention-centric: mentoring, re-onboarding, and workplace support.
7. Showed that opportunity evaluation needs structured research, empathy, and market insight—not just ideas.

Summary