This is Scale & Strategy, the ‘bifocal glasses’ of BizOps newsletters (we bring everything into focus).
Here’s what we got for you today:
Go Deep to Build Fast: A Research Thinking Toolkit for Founders
There’s a dangerous mirage in the AI era: mistaking speed for traction.
Anyone can spin up an MVP in an afternoon, but that shortcut often skips the hardest and most important work — figuring out why you’re building something and who it’s for. You can ship fast and still end up with a product no one wants and a company no one wants to join.
Jeanette Mellinger — former Head of UX Research at Uber Eats and BetterUp — argues that before founders chase product-market fit, they need to find problem-solution fit (and the often-overlooked founder fit).
“Problem-solution fit means finding a deeper customer need that you are uniquely positioned to solve — and doing it with better early signals and stronger team alignment from the start,” she says.
This isn’t about slowing down. It’s about building velocity — speed in the right direction. Her framework borrows from UX research and behavioral psychology to help founders move fast without skipping the foundations.
Why problem-solution fit beats speed
Mellinger compares it to a Bobo doll — it wobbles but never falls over. That stability comes from its base. The same goes for startups.
Problem-solution fit is that base: the intersection of who you are, the problem you’re built to solve, and the solution that actually works. It’s not linear. You’ll circle back between all three constantly — but it starts with you, the founder.
IDEO’s business test still applies: Is it desirable, viable, and feasible? Founders tend to nail the last two and ignore the first. They build things that look smart on paper but don’t fit into how people actually behave.
“You can build something desirable but not needed,” Mellinger says. “Or something technically great that nobody bothers to use.”
The Three Phases of Deep Research
Mellinger breaks her framework into three modes of discovery: Incubate, Immerse, Integrate. You’ll move between them constantly as you refine your product, team, and customer understanding.
1. Incubate — Let richer ideas surface
This phase fights the urge to build immediately. It’s structured wandering. Observe, read, listen, and let ideas connect naturally. The best insights often come between work — when your brain is idle enough to make new links.
“Incubation is conscious,” she says. “You’re not doing nothing — you’re letting ideas steep.”
Don’t confuse motion with progress. Constant activity kills creativity.
2. Immerse — Go deep fast
Once you’ve collected signals, dive into them. Mellinger says focused immersion — like a one-week sprint with five ideal customers — beats 100 shallow interviews any day.
It’s not about quantity of data but the quality of context. “I’ve talked to hundreds of customers” sounds impressive. But “I watched five customers actually try to solve the problem” changes how you build.
3. Integrate — Build for behavior change
This is where founders usually stumble. You’ve learned a ton — now you have to make it stick. Integration is about designing for human inertia.
Even the best products fail if they’re not easy to adopt. Behavioral research helps here.
- Fogg Behavior Model: Behavior = Motivation × Ability × Prompt. Miss one, and your user doesn’t act.
- Hooked Model: New products must be 9x better to overcome existing habits.
Understand these forces early, or you’ll build something brilliant that no one uses.
Applying the Framework
Mellinger’s toolkit applies across three layers: Founder, Problem, and Solution.
Founder: Build your foundation
Your first job is aligning your team. Ask:
- Why do we actually want to work on this?
- Would I do this with these people for 10 years?
- What do I do best, and what drains me?
Then map your “zones”: Genius, Excellence, Competence, and Incompetence. Stay in the zones that energize you; outsource the rest.
Once aligned, codify your foundation in a one-pager:
- Core: Who you are, values, working styles
- Aim: Mission, goals, long-term vision
- Path: Roadmap and accountability system
This isn’t busywork — it’s how you avoid future misalignment and unnecessary pivots.
Problem: Know your customer better than they know themselves
To find the right problem, go where your customer already spends time — forums, communities, conferences, or Slack groups. Observe before you ask.
Then run short, structured research sprints: in-person interviews, behavior mapping, workflow observations. You’ll learn more by watching customers solve a problem than by asking how they’d like it solved.
Distill what you learn into a Customer Foundation:
- Core: ICP, key needs, and behaviors
- Aim: What success looks like for them
- Path: How they’re solving it now, who else they use, and where the gaps are
That’s your blueprint for what to build and what to ignore.
Solution: Build for real behavior change
Your goal isn’t to ship fast — it’s to ship something that people adopt.
Use design sprints to quickly test hypotheses and prototype experiences. Focus on what makes your solution 9x better than existing options. Then design the entire customer journey — from awareness to reuse — through a behavioral lens.
Map every step and ask:
- What motivates them here?
- What’s blocking them?
- What triggers action or drop-off?
Turn these insights into a Product Foundation that anchors your roadmap:
- Design principles (the rules your team builds by)
- Product vision and success metrics
- Opportunity map (what to tackle now, next, and later)
The takeaway
Fit isn’t a checkbox. It’s a loop. You’ll keep cycling through incubation, immersion, and integration as you scale and hit new inflection points.
This framework isn’t about slowing down; it’s about building smarter so you don’t have to rebuild later.
Or as Mellinger puts it:
“I want founders to build Bobo dolls — solid foundations that can’t get knocked down. Depth first, speed second.”
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