Section 4a — Making Solution Hypotheses
What Is a Hypothesis?
You've brainstormed your ideas and narrowed them down to your best ones. Now it's time to turn those ideas into hypotheses.
A hypothesis is a statement that makes a specific, testable prediction. In science class, you might know a hypothesis as an "educated guess" about the outcome of an experiment. In entrepreneurship, it works the same way — but instead of testing chemicals in a lab, you're testing your business idea in the real world.
A good hypothesis tells you:
- What you believe will happen
- Under what conditions
- And for whom
Why Write a Hypothesis?
Writing a hypothesis forces you to be specific and honest about what you're claiming. Instead of saying "I think my idea will work," you say exactly what you predict will happen — and then you test it.
This is important because:
- It keeps you grounded in evidence rather than wishful thinking
- It makes your idea easier to evaluate
- It helps you know when you've succeeded (or need to pivot)
- It protects you from wasting time and resources on ideas that won't work
The Prioritization Step
Before writing your hypotheses, it's important to go back to your top 3–6 ideas from brainstorming and prioritize once more.
Ask yourself: Which of these ideas is most likely to:
- Actually solve the root problem identified in my 5W1H analysis?
- Be feasible for me to test with limited resources?
- Be genuinely wanted by the people affected?
The ideas that score highest on all three criteria become the basis for your hypotheses.
Once you've prioritized, you'll write one hypothesis per idea — giving you 3 testable predictions to work with.