Week 6 — Who Exactly Are You Building For?
NST Entrepreneurship · Founder Lab
Week 6 — Day 1/2
WEEK 6
WHO EXACTLY
ARE YOU BUILDING FOR?
Market → Segment → ICP → Evidence
Founder Lab · Discover Before You Build
WEEK 6
WHO EXACTLY
ARE YOU BUILDING FOR?
Market → Segment → ICP → Evidence
Founder Lab · Discover Before You Build
WHO HERE KNOWS
THEIR CUSTOMER?
Hands up.
02ARE THESE CUSTOMERS?
WHICH ONE IS AN ICP?
NONE. YET.
They're starting points.
LAST WEEK
Can this problem become a market?
THIS WEEK
Which part of that market do you attack first?
“Everyone” is not a strategy.
04THE FUNNEL
MARKET
Everyone who could plausibly experience the problem
SEGMENT
People sharing meaningful behaviour/context
ICP
The segment we deliberately pursue first
PERSONA
The human pattern we learn through evidence
NARROW IT.
Too broad?
DIFFERENT TEAMS GOT DIFFERENT THINGS RIGHT.
KUNAL KUMAR JHA
Discovery Discipline
Tested 3 candidate problems
5+ conversations/problem
Compared before choosing
CAMPUSFLOW
Test Design
Numeric failure conditions
Time-bound test
Campus-scale pilot
AKSHAT KANWAR
Customer Access
10–15 conversations
Narrow starting market
Clear next experiment
OM ASHISH
Understanding Alternatives
Real customer trade-offs
Late-night context
Testable uncertainty
DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH PROBLEM #1.
PROBLEM A
5+ conversations
PROBLEM B
5+ conversations
PROBLEM C
5+ conversations
How many of you tested more than ONE problem?
08A GOOD TEST CAN FAIL.
<80%
staff shifts updated by Week 3
→ FAIL
<30%
weekly student usage
→ FAIL
WHY IS THIS GOOD?
SMALL ENOUGH
TO ACTUALLY FIND.
BUT…
10–15 conversations from one campus still don't represent everyone.
MESS
Closed
SWIGGY
Expensive / trade-offs
MAGGI
Available now
→ HEALTHY LATE-NIGHT FOOD?
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY COMPETING AGAINST?
ACROSS 18 SUBMISSIONS…
WE'RE GETTING BETTER AT
🔎 Finding problems
🌍 Desk research
🗺️ Market framing
💡 Interesting concepts
OUR NEXT LEVEL
🗣️ Real conversations
🎯 Choosing one customer
🧾 Evidence-backed claims
🧪 Tests that can fail
WHICH IS STRONGER?
A
“73.6% of Gen Z
struggles with X.”
B
“I watched 8 people.
6 used the same workaround.”
A OR B?
B TELLS YOU WHAT TO DO NEXT.
Secondary research still matters. It just doesn't replace customer evidence.
PRECISION THEATRE
Estimate ≠ Measurement
Assumption ≠ Fact
“I DON'T KNOW YET” CAN BE A SMART ANSWER.
FAKE PERSONA TEST
PRIYA, 21
Pune
Engineering student
Uses Instagram
Likes coffee
Busy schedule
SO WHAT?
YOUR MARKET IS ABOUT TO GET SMALLER.
5-minute break
WHO FIRST?
PAIN
Who feels it most?
FREQUENCY
Who faces it repeatedly?
ACCESS
Who can you reach this week?
ACTION
Who already spends time, money or effort?
Your first ICP is a hypothesis. You can change it.
17SAME PROBLEM, DIFFERENT CUSTOMER
HOUSEHOLD
Runs out of rice
Inconvenience
Food waste
SAME
STOCK
PROBLEM?
KIRANA SHOP
Stockout
Lost sale
Cash tied up
Daily decisions
YOU HAVE 7 DAYS. WHO DO YOU INVESTIGATE FIRST?
18USER ≠ BUYER ≠ GATEKEEPER
USER
Experiences it
BUYER
Pays
GATEKEEPER
Can allow/block
EverNear
elderly parent → adult child → ?
CampusFlow
student → hostel/institution → staff/admin
RoadGuard
road user → municipality/contractor → procurement
WHO HAS TO SAY YES?
YOU CAN KNOW
AN INDUSTRY
WITHOUT KNOWING
A CUSTOMER.
WHO WILL YOU TALK TO TOMORROW?
20TEAMS · YOUR CURRENT IDEA
ICP MURDER BOARD
Don't defend your customer assumption.
Try to kill it.
12 minutes
ICP MURDER BOARD
STATE 2 / 2EVIDENCE WE HAVE
EVIDENCE WE DON'T HAVE
WHAT COULD PROVE US WRONG?
WHO DO WE TALK TO NEXT?
CIRCLE EVERY CLAIM YOU CANNOT PROVE.
60 seconds
60-SECOND DEFENCE
20 sec — WHO?
20 sec — WHY THEM?
20 sec — WHAT EVIDENCE?
Class gets ONE challenge
“HOW DO YOU KNOW?”
SOMETHING IS CHANGING.
NST PATHWAY
FOUNDER LAB
Discover
E-CELL / SHARKSPHERE
Practice · Community · Exposure
FOUNDRY
Build Seriously
MENTORS · PILOTS · ECOSYSTEM
Execute
A GOOD DECK DOESN'T OPEN THIS DOOR.
EVIDENCE + EXECUTION DOES.
WEEK 8
OPPORTUNITY GATE
NOT
“How pretty is your deck?”
BUT
“What do you know now
that you didn't know in Week 1?”
BEFORE YOU LEAVE…
OUR FIRST CUSTOMER IS ______
BECAUSE WE OBSERVED ______.
THE BIGGEST THING
WE STILL DON'T KNOW IS ______.
2 minutes
MARKET → SEGMENT → ICP