This Brilliant 'Cohort' Trick Can Help You Come Up With a Business Idea Worth Millions When you're looking to solve a problem or start a new business, Future CEO Rishi Mandal has a three-step tactic that helped him get his start.
By Jason Feifer Edited by Mark Klekas
Want to build a company worth millions — or maybe billions?
Serial entrepreneur Rishi Mandal has a surprising trick he calls the "cohort" model. He's used it to build multiple companies and raise more than $100 million.
It goes like this:
- Step 1: Identify a problem you want to solve.
- Step 2: Find people who solved that problem for themselves, in small and personal ways.
- Step 3: Figure out how to scale their solution for the masses.
"I've built and scaled multiple companies, and this applied every time," says Mandal. He ran product Slide, which was acquired by Google; then cofounded Sosh, which was acquired by Postmates; and is now the cofounder and CEO of Future, a fitness startup that's raised more than $110 million.
How Mandal's "cohort" model works
To start, Mandal says it's helpful to think about a quote that's often (though falsely) attributed to sci-fi writer William Gibson: "The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed yet."
In other words, the world is full of great ideas and opportunities — but not everyone has access to them.
An entrepreneur's purpose is to solve problems, Mandal says. So instead of inventing a new solution and then hoping it works, why not first look around for solutions that already exist — but that most people don't have access to?
"You can sometimes see something that works for a small group of people," he says. "And you could wonder, 'Could that apply to more folks?'"
To do this, he says, you need first to identify "cohorts" of people who have solved the problem you're trying to solve.
How to apply the "cohort" model
He offers his current company, Future, as an example of this.
When Mandal was looking to start a new company, he and his cofounder Justin Santamaria got to wondering: Why don't more Americans engage in physical fitness? Most Americans start each year with a new workout routine, but about 80% of them quit as the year goes on, he says.
Then Mandal and Santamaria thought: Are there examples of people who are very busy, but also remain dedicated to their fitness routines?
The answer was yes: Many corporate executives, celebrities, and professional athletes are exceptionally busy, but also always make time for fitness. This was a "cohort" worth studying.
"They're not relatable to the general population," Mandal says, "and yet my assertion is, it's still worthy of wondering how they solve the problem. What fundamentally are they doing?"
The answer was simple, he discovered: They all have personal trainers who keep them on track.
Of course, these people can also afford personal trainers, and afford to make time for their workout routines. So that became Mandal's task: His company needed to make personal trainers more affordable and accessible, and to create routines that users will stick to. That's what his company Future now aims to do, with an app that connects people virtually to trainers.
How the "cohort" model can work for you
It's simple, Mandal says: If you're trying to solve a problem, start hunting for people who already solve it for themselves.
For example, let's say you want to create a better way for people to clean their homes.
"You might have to start asking your friends, 'Who's the cleanest person you know?'" he says.
Soon you'll have a list of self-identified neat freaks, who you can study. What systems do they use to keep their houses clean? What important tactics do they use?
Once you understand their solutions, you'll need to start assessing them. Ask yourself: Can their solutions be adopted by normal, messy people? What are the barriers to entry? How can those barriers be solved for?
"My core belief is that a lot of great ideas exist, but people don't have access them," Mandal says. Entrepreneurs can help bridge that gap.
To hear more from Mandal, hear him on the Entrepreneur podcast Problem Solvers.
