Chapter 3: Designing Your Solution 🎨

"Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent." - Joe Sparano

Once you've identified a problem worth solving and defined your first user persona, it's time to design your solution. This means mapping out the user journey, prioritizing features, and creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with the least effort.

🚀 Goal: Help you create a clear product blueprint using simple frameworks and AI tools—no design or technical skills required.

1️⃣ Your Solution Depends on Your Users (B2C vs. B2B)

Not all digital products are the same. Your user persona and business model dictate whether you build a B2C Mobile App, a B2B SaaS, or an API-first product.

📌 B2C (Business-to-Consumer) – Mobile App / Web App

• Examples: Social networks, fitness apps, personal finance apps
• User Behavior: Requires intuitive UI/UX, quick onboarding, virality, and retention hooks
• Key Consideration: Mobile-first approach, low friction to start

📌 B2B (Business-to-Business) – SaaS / API-first product

• Example: CRM tools, AI writing SaaS, workflow automation APIs
• User Behavior: Complex needs, decision-makers vs. end-users, sales-driven adoption
• Key Consideration: Clear ROI, integration with existing tools, pricing models

💡 Why This Matters?

Before sketching your idea, define:

• ✔ Who is your target user? (Individual consumers vs. business users)
• ✔ How will they use your product? (Mobile-first vs. desktop SaaS)
• ✔ Do they need an end-to-end platform or just an API?

2️⃣ Start with a Simple Sketch (No Design Skills Needed)

Many founders hesitate at this stage because they think they need fancy UI/UX design skills. You don't.

🛠 Tools You Can Use:

• ✔ Pen & Paper – Fastest way to sketch ideas
• ✔ Figma / Uizard – AI-powered wireframing tools for beginners
• ✔ Whimsical / Miro – Drag-and-drop tools for user flows
• ✔ Balsamiq – Simple, fast wireframing tool perfect for MVPs

💡 Pro Tip:

The goal isn't pixel-perfect design. It's to visualize how your user moves through the product.

🎯 Action Step:

Take 5 minutes to draw:

• What does the first screen look like?
• What happens when the user takes an action (e.g., clicks a button)?
• If you prefer digital tools, Uizard can turn hand-drawn sketches into UI designs!

3️⃣ Map the User Journey (AI-Assisted)

Before building anything, define how your user interacts with the product.

✅ User Journey Mapping Framework – The 5 Es of UX

1. Engage – How does the user discover the product?
2. Enter – What's the onboarding/signup experience?
3. Engage – How does the user achieve their goal?
4. Exit – What happens when they complete the task?
5. Extend – What keeps them coming back?

🎯 Action Step: Use ChatGPT to Generate a User Flow

Try this prompt: "I'm building an AI-based resume builder. Can you create a user journey from the landing page to the final resume download?" AI will provide a first draft that you can refine.

4️⃣ Apply the Single Feature Rule

The biggest mistake founders make? Trying to build too much.

💡 The Single Feature Rule:

Focus on one core feature that delivers the main value.

• ✔ Dropbox MVP: A simple file-syncing demo video (not even an app)
• ✔ Instagram MVP: A basic app for sharing filtered photos (before adding stories, reels, etc.)

🚀 Example:

If you're building an AI writing tool, don't start with a full editor, grammar checker, and templates. 👉 Just launch an AI-powered "First Sentence Generator" and test demand.

🎯 Action Step: Ask yourself:

👉 "What is the ONE feature that solves my user's problem?"

5️⃣ Define Features Using MoSCoW Prioritization

Now that you have the core feature, break features into Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, and Won't-have (MoSCoW framework).

Priority Level | Features

• Must-have 🛠: Core functionality that makes the product work (e.g., AI resume generation)
• Should-have ✅: Important but not critical (e.g., multiple resume templates)
• Could-have 🤔: Nice-to-have, adds extra value (e.g., AI-powered cover letter generator)
• Won't-have (for now) 🚫: Features that can wait (e.g., job-matching recommendations)

🎯 Action Step:

Make a MoSCoW list with just 3-5 core features.

6️⃣ Preparing for the MVP Phase

At this point, you should have:

• ✅ A sketch of your product idea
• ✅ A user journey map outlining key interactions
• ✅ A clear focus on your single most valuable feature
• ✅ A prioritized feature list using MoSCoW
• ✅ A decision on whether it's a B2C app, B2B SaaS, or API-first solution

💡 The next step? Bringing your idea to life with an MVP. But how do you build it?

• What tech stack should you choose?
• Can you use AI tools to build faster?

📌 That's exactly what we'll cover in Chapter 4: Choosing your tech stack. 🚀

📌 Summary (TL;DR)

• ✅ Define if your solution is a B2C Mobile App, a B2B SaaS, or an API
• ✅ Sketch your idea – No design skills are needed
• ✅ Use AI (ChatGPT, Uizard) for quick user journey maps & mockups
• ✅ Follow the Single Feature Rule – Start small & focus on one core value
• ✅ Prioritize with MoSCoW – Must-have vs. Nice-to-have