Why we build a product that does not solve the problem!

As most of you who have been to our website or Instagram know, the idéa of building Spher came after a womxn friend of mine had been assaulted on her way home. I called my co-founder Marcus and we started to talk about how we could use tech to prevent this from ever happening. Anyone who has ever started a company, watched shark tank, or been to a business school already knows: most companies are built around solving a problem. It can be a ‘you-problem’, a ‘they-problem’ or an ‘everybody-problem’, but the common denominator is that there is an underlying problem which you have a solution to. We know that is how one ought to build a company, and yet here we are, building a product that does not solve the real problem. Womxn are not the problem At Spher WE KNOW THAT WOMXN ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Most of the time it’s not womxn who make womxn feel uncomfortable, dismayed or even fearful in the cab, at the club or on their way home. It’s usually not other womxn who suppress and neglect their voice. It’s not womxn who have constructed a society where one gender holds more power than the other. Yet it’s the womxn who are suffering. You may ask yourself, “if you already know all this, why are you not addressing it”? But men do not understand that they are the problem Our initial thought was to build an app from men, with an aim on making us men understand that we are the reason why womxn dread to walk home alone at night. The idea was noble, but we soon realised that good intentions do not always make good companies. The problem we realised was that we (most) men do not even understand to what degree we are the problem. I cannot talk for all men, but I can talk for myself. I have always viewed myself as the guy who stands up for inequalities. The guy who has an equal amount of womxn and male friends. Well in fact the guy who has not been afraid of calling himself a feminsit and has been fighting sexism for several years. Just imagine how surprised I was when I’m at the age of 30 and realize that I am still a part of the problem. I may not play an active conscious part, but stuff I do, stuff I say and stuff I don’t do, makes me a part of the problem. Here comes a list of things I do/ have done:

• I upon till recently called the flat brännbolls bat for womxns bat
• I was invited and liked a facebook page (Back in 2010) called the “awkward moment when the women do not pick the Iron in monopoly.” (I know this was and is tasteless)
• I constantly say hey guys (even when there are womxn there)
• I don’t always recognize the jokes that are sexist, and when it’s pointed out, I feel ashamed for not noticing it earlier.
• I do not always have the energy to tell others off when they say something sexist.

Well the list could probably be long enough to put the great wall of China to shame. I know I have played and still from time to time play a supportive role in the problem formulation. Based on myself, my friends and other men I know, we formulated a thesis. That most men are just like me, decent but they simply do not understand the role they play in the problem. Now this is not an excuse, it’s rather an explanation to why this problem is so hard to solve. My point here is, no matter how woke you are as a man, you will most likely be a part of the problem. If our thesis is right then why would any man download an app made for a problem they do not believe they are part of? If no one downloads the app, we won’t get any users. Now you may ask, why do we care so much about downloads. Well it’s simple, downloads are essential for us, since downloads can be translated into users. Users can later be translated into traction from investors, and that can later be turned into investments, which will help the company to grow. Once we are big enough we could use both the intelligence we have from our users, but also put aside some of the money generated. This money could then be invested into a solution for the core of the problem. Ask the people who has invested sweat equity One may think we are greedy, another that we are not doing it the right way, the third would question if I after what I told you is the right person to do this. But I will let you in on a secret, I myself have had those doubts. Whenever I used to pitch what we wanted to do, I had that little nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that people and especially womxn would view Marcus and I as frauds and impostors. Yet the reality could not have been more different. Almost every womxn we have talked to, and we have talked to a lot (1500 and counting), has instead supported our effort and understood why we decided to reverse engineer the whole problem-solution. They understood and bought into our vision. But hey, don’t take my words for granted instead ask one of our sweat equity investors (Tyra, Marcella or Genevieve) who have broken their backs for over 6 months, to help us build the best present and future app, which will be launched very soon (Sign up to our waitlist if you are interested, just klick “Notify me”) So to conclude: The reason why we build an app that does not solve the problem, is because: We who are the problem do not recognize that we are the problem. Instead we have to show them by building an app for the ones affected by the problem. With the help of you and some investors 😉 (yes that was a hint) we will together be able to build and launch an app extension in the future. The aim of that app extension is to make other men come to the same conclusion as I have, namely that we are the problem. It’s not until then we truly can combat the problem.