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Updated August 14, 2024Youβre reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. Heβs the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrowβs great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.
You now have a clear idea of who your reader is, what they want, and what they need. Now letβs find out whatβs standing in their way: the obstacles, blind spots, villains, and forces of nature that may stop them from reaching their goals.
By recognizing the obstacles standing in your readerβs way, youβre saying to them, βYou donβt have to fight this alone. Weβre on the same team. Itβs us versus the world, and weβre going to win.β
Thatβs the definition of empathy: to understand and share the feelings of anotherβespecially in the face of uncertainty.
Most obstacles fall into one of two categories: villains and mountains. Villains are forces trying to hurt your reader. They can be internal or external, but the pain is usually immediate and acute. Mountains are challenges for your reader to overcome. They are opportunities for your reader to grow and become the best version of themselvesβto achieve something great.
What stands in Sandyβs way from opening her pottery studio? Her villains are self-doubt and a well-meaning family member trying to hold her back. Sheβs also worried about competing with a more established pottery studio in town. Sandyβs mountains include growing her savings from six months to eighteen months, finding a studio space, and learning how to market her new business.
The best way to address your readerβs obstacles is to turn them into advantages, just like Bill Burnbach did with the Volkswagen Beetle. You can help Sandy harness her self-doubt and use it as motivation to learn more quickly. Show her how to turn that βcompetingβ pottery studio into a collaborator.
Make a list of all the potential villains and mountains standing in your readerβs way. Next, youβll help them turn those obstacles into opportunities.
The first four questions you just answered were research. Now itβs time to turn those insights into action.
Your reader is facing down villains and mountains on the way to achieving their wildest dreams. What can you do to help? Remember the lesson from Tata Motors: you are not a savior. Instead, think of yourself as a guide. You provide maps to scale mountains and swords to slay villains.
The Airbnb founders had dozens of mountains and villains to address (twice as many as a typical business, since they were building a two-sided marketplace). They had to help guests overcome the mountain of uncertainty when choosing an Airbnb. They provided professional photography as a map for each listing. Airbnbβs hosts had to face villainous guests stealing or destroying their homes. Chesky and Gebbia gave them a weapon to defend themselves in the form of damage protection.