SST Workshop

From Problem to Prototype

A Founder's Playbook

Keith Teo / Founder, Cclarity

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My Journey

Five companies. One pattern.

Every time, it started with a problem.

R

Raydar

Stock photo search using NLP. I was in AI before AI was cool. Founded and exited.

G

Grab

PM on transport. Built a product with SMRT, improved the driver app.

GD

Good Doctor

B2C telemedicine for Indonesia. Healthcare for 270M people.

LC

Layer C

E-commerce on Polygon blockchain. Solving fake transactions, fake goods, fake customers.

C

Cclarity

Helps B2B founders find customers on LinkedIn. Pre-sold with a landing page BEFORE writing code.

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The Pattern

I didn't start with a product idea. I started with a problem I kept seeing.

C

Cclarity — B2B founders kept telling me LinkedIn wasn't working. They were posting into the void with zero strategy.

CHM

CheckHowMuch.sg — I wanted to know what my HDB block was worth. The data existed but nobody made it easy to use.

CV

Canva — Design tools were too hard for non-designers. Now worth US$40 billion.

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Founder-Market Fit

Why YOU are the right person to solve THIS problem.

I didn't build a medical device. I don't know the regulations, the doctors, or the science. Zero founder-market fit. I built something where I had 3 years of unfair advantage.

Your unfair advantage right now: student life, your hobbies, your family's business, your neighbourhood, things your generation understands that adults don't.

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Framework

The Problem Stack

Not all problems are worth solving. Run every idea through three filters.

F

Frequency

Does this happen daily, weekly, or once a year? Daily problems build habits.

I

Intensity

Is it annoying or genuinely painful? More pain = more urgency for a solution.

W

Willingness to Pay

Would someone pay to make this go away? This is the real test.

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Activity 1

Problem Hunt + Fit Check

15:00
Click to start
  1. 1
    Brainstorm problems you experience OR problems you see adults struggle with. No solutions yet. Only problems.
  2. 2
    Write top 3 on your sheet. Score each: Frequency / Intensity / Willingness to Pay (high, medium, low).
  3. 3
    Why does YOUR group understand this problem? What's your unfair advantage?
  4. 4
    Who exactly has this problem? Who is the BUYER? (They might not be the same person.)
  5. 5
    Circle ONE problem: highest score + strongest founder-market fit.
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Validation

The biggest mistake: building something nobody asked for.

1

Talk to 5 people

"How do you deal with this today? What have you tried? Would you pay for a solution?" No leading questions.

2

Fake door test

Create a landing page or social post. See if people click, sign up, or share. You haven't built anything yet.

3

Pre-sell it

The hardest but most convincing. Describe the solution, ask for commitment before it exists. This is exactly what I did with Cclarity. Landing page + pre-selling, zero code.

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Prototyping

A prototype is NOT a finished product.

It's the smallest thing you can show someone to get feedback.

Paper sketch
→
Landing page
→
Clickable mockup
→
Working MVP
AI doesn't replace thinking. You still need to know WHAT to build. AI just makes the building faster.
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Activity 2

Build Your Prototype

25:00
Click to start

Use ChatGPT or Gemini to create ONE of these:

A

Landing page

Describe your solution. AI generates a page you can screenshot.

B

App mockup

Describe 3 screens to AI. Screenshot each output.

C

Social post

Instagram post announcing your product. AI writes the copy.

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Pitch Time

Show us what you built.

3 minutes per team. Cover these four things:

03:00
Click to start
1

The problem you chose and why it matters

2

Why YOUR team is the right one to solve it

3

How you'd validate it this week

4

Your prototype. Show the screen.

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The Market Votes

Time to invest.

07:00
Click to start
$10
You have $10 in fake money. This is your capital.
/
Split across teams or go all-in on one.
X
You CANNOT invest in your own team.
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You just did in 2 hours what most adults never do.

  • The gap between you and a founder isn't age. It's action.
  • Run your validation experiment this week. Talk to 5 people.
  • That's how every company starts.
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What to do after today

Scan to get your validation checklist

QR code to validation checklist

Your post-workshop validation checklist

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