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Homework 1: User Discovery, Product Ideation, and Pitch

This homework is worth 150 points.

It is divided into three parts: HW1a (50 points), HW1b (50 points), and HW1c (50 points) each due on different days.

This homework is to be done individually.

HW1a: User Discovery

HW1a is due on Gradescope Thursday, January 22, 2026 11:00am.

Submission

Submit HW1a as a PDF file to Gradescope.

If you prepare the response in some other software (like Tex), please export as PDF before submitting. Include your name and Andrew ID at the top of the document.

References

The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Learning Goals

  • Enumerate different local communities and learn about the civic-related problems they experience.
  • Think through the kind of product you’d like to build. Your ideas are non-binding (and, moreover, you probably shouldn’t get too attached to them)! You’ll have several opportunities to pivot based on discovery or user feedback, and to collaborate with your classmates to refine your ideas.
  • Practice formulating unbiased discovery questions that yield useful data (as opposed to false positives).
  • Practice talking to real people about their pain points.

1. Choosing a Focus (10 points)

Our course theme is Technology for Pittsburgh Communities: Designed with the People Who Live Here. Your mission in this class is to create a technology startup company whose goal is to make Pittsburgh a better place to live. However, your startup isn't here to make Pittsburgh a better place for you — we want your technology startup to make Pittsburgh a better place for other Pittsburghers.

The first step is to choose a community of Pittsburgh residents whose problems you feel you are uniquely suited to solve. That's probably a difficult question to answer right now.

Instead, think about the parts of the city you are familiar with. This could be the street that you live on, the transit option you take to get to school, the restaurants you frequent or grocery stores you shop at, the museums and entertainment establishments you visit, the parks you exercise in, or the roads you drive on.

Think about the communities in the city you've gotten to know. This could be your adult friends who live in Pittsburgh, the people who ride the same bus as you, the neighbors who help you shovel your sidewalk, the people who attend the same social clubs or affinity groups, friends from your youth who also moved to Pittsburgh, the residents of the senior citizen center or homeless shelter you volunteer at, the doctors and nurses who work at the hospital you've had the unfortunate need to meet, or the workers who pick up your trash and recycling every week.

What problems do you think people in these parts of the city or in these communities have experienced? Which of those problems do you think you have the background or interest to solve?

  • Write a paragraph or two about the areas and communities that interest you and some problems that may be worth solving.

Note

You may not choose the CMU campus or any university student community to write about. We want you to think how you can help Pittsburgh's other communities.

2. User Discovery Questions (10 points)

Reading: The Mom Test: Chapters 1, 2, 3.

Remember two of the three pillars of The Mom Test:

  • Talk about their life instead of your idea.
  • Ask about specifics in the past, instead of generic questions or opinions about the future.

With those pillars and the reading in mind,

  • Create a list of fifteen (15) questions that will help you learn about problems that people are having in your areas and communities of focus.

3. Interviews (15 points)

Reading: The Mom Test, Chapter 6.

Have four or more conversations with people who are somewhat engaged in your areas and communities of focus. For example, if you’re interested in solving pain points around exercise stations in Pittsburgh's parks, all four people should at least want to exercise in our parks.

Use your questions from the prior section as a guide, not a script. Ask followup questions to discover what problems your interviewees are having.

  • Describe where you found each of the four (or more) people and how you talked to them (i.e., where were they located, how did you get introduced to them, how did you talk to them (in-person, online, over Zoom, etc.), how long did you talk to them).

  • Describe one mistake you made during your user discovery conversations. What went wrong?

  • Describe one thing that went well during your user discovery conversations. Why did it go so well?

4. Summary (15 points)

What problems did people have? How were they solving them? What was not a problem?

  • Write two paragraphs to summarize what you learned from your discovery conversations.
  • Which problem reported by the people you interviewed is most interesting to you? Why?
  • What ideas do you have about how technology can address this problem?

HW1b: Product Ideation

HW1b is due on Gradescope Monday, January 26, 2026 11:59pm.

Submission

Submit HW1b as a PDF file to Gradescope.

If you prepare the response in some other software (like Tex), please export as PDF before submitting. Include your name and Andrew ID at the top of the document.

Learning Goals

  • Develop a vision for your company and product.
  • Identify how your product helps solve your customers' problems and predict how much this is worth to them.
  • Prove the viability of your product (before you build it!)
  • Explain the big idea about your product in the simplest way possible.

1. Product Idea (20 points)

Every startup needs to explain what it does in the simplest way possible. Instagram is a photo sharing service. Venmo is a payment service for your friends. Reddit is a topic-based discussion board.

Complex explanations usually indicate an overcomplicated idea. If it takes more than one short sentence to explain the concept, you're probably trying to do too much. Simplify the idea and try again!

So, what is your startup all about?

Write two paragraphs to answer the following five (5) questions.

Paragraph 1: (10 points)

  • What is the vision of your technology startup?
  • What problem are you solving?
  • Which Pittsburgh community experiences this problem?

Paragraph 2: (10 points)

  • What is your solution?
  • What makes your solution special and distinguishes it from the competition?

2. Value Propositions (10 points)

Recall the template for a good value proposition:

For your target customer who is struggling with problem/pain point, our product is a product category that provides key benefits/gains. Unlike competitors/current solutions, we offer unique differentiator/feature.

Replace each bold, italic entry in the template with specifics from your product idea.

  • Write two unique value propositions for your product.

3. Minimal Viable Product (20 points)

A minimal viable product (MVP) represents the simplest expression of your idea in demo form. A good MVP can answer the three questions of viability:

  1. Do people want it?
  2. Can you build it?
  3. Can you make money doing it?

For this question:

  • Provide two examples of evidence from your user discovery interviews (from different interviewees) that people want your product. (6 points)

  • Provide evidence that this kind of product can be built (e.g. it has been built by you or a competitor in the past, or an outside estimate or analysis has shown it can be built, or describe how to build it as a composition of well-understood components, etc.). (7 points)

  • Provide an estimate of the amount of money your product could make. For example, you could talk about possible subscription or ad revenue, the market valuation of a competitor, or provide data from your user discovery interviews. (7 points)

HW1c: Product Pitch

HW1c is due on Gradescope Monday, January 26, 2026 11:59pm.

Submission

Submit HW1c as a PDF file to Gradescope.

Create the submission by saving your Google Slides presentation to PDF.

1. Slide Presentation (25 points)

Create a presentation to pitch your idea to students in the class. Your goal is to recruit your classmates to join your startup team with you as its CEO.

Requirements:

  1. Your presentation should be 3 minutes long.
  2. Your presentation must be four (4) slides long.
  3. Slide 1 must include the following elements:
    1. Your name.
    2. Your picture (headshot with no body)
    3. The name of your startup.
    4. The vision of your startup expressed in a single sentence.
    5. The Pittsburgh community for whom you are building this product.
  4. Slide 2 must include the following elements:
    1. The name of your product.
    2. What will your product do?
    3. What differentiates your product from the rest?
    4. Offer at least one direct quote from your user discovery interviews that indicates people want this product.
  5. Slide 3 must include the following elements:
    1. List the technical skills needed by your team to do it.
    2. Explain why you believe a team can build this product in a 10-week time frame.
  6. Slide 4 must include the following element:
    1. Offer your most realistic estimate of how much money you could make from this product in the first five (5) years of sales and how your company would make this money.

2. Presentation (25 points)

You will make your presentation to the class on Tuesday January 27, 2026 or Thursday January 29, 2026. The instructors will determine who presents on which day and the order of the presentations. You must attend both class sessions, even if you have already presented at the first session.

By watching these presentations, you will learn about the ideas your classmates have about how to make Pittsburgh a better place. What ideas intrigue you most? Are any similar to your own? Is there any idea you want to work on more than the one you pitched?

3. Team Formation (0 points)

In recitation on Friday, January 30, you will form 4-6 person teams based on your interests in your classmate's startup ideas and the answers you gave in your teamwork skills survey. The TAs will facilitate this process. You will work in these teams for the rest of the semester.

Your team need not commit to any of the ideas that were presented by students in the team, however, don't sell yourself short. At least one of you had a good enough startup idea to attract the others to the team. In the next few weeks, your team will work through the same user discovery and product ideation process to develop your team's plan for the startup you will build together.

Note

You may only form teams with students in same recitation section as you.