2xTuesday: Blatant/Critical Matrix

Trying a new content series on for size: each Tuesday we're going to publish a single 2x2 with a little explanation. While this weeks is very much in our bullseye of software and sales, they will run a range of topics and ideas. Tune in each week or subscribe to Variance News for updates.

This week's 2x2 comes from entrepreneur and investor Michael Skok. It offers an alternative way to articulate where you sit on the vitamin/painkiller spectrum. In this 2x2, the Y-axis ranges from blatant to latent (how obvious is the problem?), while the X-axis goes from aspirational to critical (how much is it directly preventing success?). Like most 2x2s, the goal here is to find an idea that lives in the top-right blatant-critical quadrant.

Here's how Michael Skok described it in Forbes:

In B2B technology markets, you want to be in the position of addressing problems that are blatant and critical, as they are far more acute than those that are latent and aspirational. Blatant and critical problems stand in the way of business. They put careers and reputations at risk. Latent problems are unacknowledged, which means they often require costly missionary selling. Aspirational problems are optional, which is the hardest of places for a B2B startup to sell.

If you want to learn more about the 2x2, Transcend Strategy Group has a nice post on the topic.