This assignment asks you to describe a prototypical person experiencing the problem that interests you. The most common professional tool used to develop these types of descriptions is a customer persona. These can vary in format quite a bit (scroll through this article to see some contemporary formats – https://www.justinmind.com/blog/user-persona-templates/ (Links to an external site.)). Most typically they look something like this:

You should notice a few things about this example.

• Notice the name – it’s a funny, fake name (with a motto!) meant to evoke a “cartoon character” (stereotype) that’s makes it easy to understand and imagine this important character in your startup story.
• Notice the demographic characteristics – these can help you (and your allies) find, contact, sell to, and support those who experience your problem.
• Notice the goals (jobs-to-be-done) and frustrations described – you can leverage your characterization of your problem to develop these descriptions.
• Notice the habits and favorites listed – these provide insights on what your user/customer knows, likes, and does on a recurring basis (frequently), perhaps limited to things broadly related to the problem you are hoping to address.

Now it’s your turn. This assignment requires you to develop a characterization of an imaginary character – sometimes called a “customer architype” – who represents the type of person you intend to help (your user/customer). In storytelling terms, this is a description of the “victim” that you (the hero) will rescue from the problem (the villain). Once these characters are in place, the rest of your startup story can unfold! Please follow the instructions below to complete this assignment.

Grading

Your grade for this assignment will be assessed using the rubric below.

Rubric

Starter Step Rubric (20 points)

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