Existing-Demand Improvement Scan
Start with a proven problem, then win through a specific improvement
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
Jenkins says his first research step is to examine both direct competitors and the other ways people already solve the same problem. Their existence is not automatically a reason to stop; it may answer much of the demand question. The founder then identifies what customers actually value in the end product and chooses a meaningful improvement. Moonpig's technology mattered only because it enabled a more relevant, personalized card with low stock requirements. Jenkins compares this with improving bread through ingredients or location rather than inventing an entirely new category. The mechanism converts competition into evidence, maps the current solution set, isolates a customer-valued difference, and tests whether better execution can earn a place in the market.
Origin
When developing Moonpig, Jenkins found another personalized-card company and examined how customers solved the greeting-card problem. He concluded that card content and design quality mattered more than the underlying technology.
Core principles
- 01Existing competitors are evidence that a problem and market may exist
- 02Customers care about the resulting product more than the production technology
- 03A venture can win by improving a few meaningful details
- 04Indirect alternatives reveal how people already solve the problem
- 05Novelty is not required when usefulness is better
How to run it
- 1
Define the existing problem
Describe the job customers already try to complete without assuming your proposed product is the only solution.
Pro tip Frame the problem in the customer's language.
- 2
Map direct and indirect solutions
List competitors and the substitutions, workarounds, or offline methods customers currently use.
Pro tip Indirect solutions often expose the real standard your product must beat.
Watch out Competitor presence proves activity, not that a new entrant can earn viable economics.
- 3
Find the valued outcome
Identify what customers want to receive, feel, or accomplish rather than focusing on how the product is produced.
Pro tip Jenkins focused on whether recipients thought the card was relevant and amusing.
- 4
Choose a meaningful improvement
Select one or a few differences in product, service, availability, economics, or experience that matter to customers.
Pro tip Being better in a small number of important ways can be enough.
Watch out Do not confuse technical novelty with customer value.
- 5
Test the improvement
Show the improved outcome to customers and measure preference, use, payment, retention, or referral.
Pro tip Use a bounded test before building category-scale operations.
- 6
Win through execution
Assume the idea will become visible and build defensibility through product quality, operating detail, and scale.
Pro tip Treat competitors as a reason to execute better, not to hide indefinitely.
In the wild
Jenkins found an existing personalized-card company but believed its card content was weak. Moonpig focused on designs recipients would value, personalization that showed thought, and an online model that could produce one card without carrying conventional finished stock.
→ Moonpig differentiated through the customer outcome and execution rather than being the only company with the idea.
Jenkins uses bread as an analogy: demand, acceptable pricing, and common uses are already visible. A founder can improve ingredients or serve a poorly covered location rather than first proving that people want bread at all.
→ More of the market uncertainty is answered before investment, leaving a narrower improvement to test.
Common mistakes
Treating competition as disproof
Finding existing suppliers can show that the problem and demand already exist; the remaining question is whether the entrant can be meaningfully better.
Obsessing over hidden technology
Jenkins says Moonpig customers wanted a good card and did not care about the production technology itself.
Differentiating without customer value
A unique feature is not useful differentiation unless customers notice and prefer the resulting outcome.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for established categories where customer demand is visible and a product, service, price, or access improvement can be tested.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when existing demand is shrinking, the proposed difference is trivial to customers, or market structure prevents viable entry.
From the transcript
“look around not just at what direct competitors I've got”
“the customer doesn't really care how the card was produced”
“you don't have to be unique”
From the episode
Moonpig Founder: How I Built A $150 Million Business WITHOUT Sacrifice: Nick Jenkins