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The world doesn’t need more people who notice what’s broken. It needs more people who fix it.

For those who see a problem and think, “someone should do something about that,” and are ready to become that someone. A book, a toolkit, a podcast, and a growing community of courageous problem solvers.

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The Book That Starts It

Three Pipe Problems

The Art of Seeing What Others Miss and Solving What Others Won’t.

by Jason VanLue

The gap between seeing a problem and having the courage to solve it is where most good intentions go to die. This book is the bridge. A practical framework for turning what you observe into what you solve.

Real stories of people who solved what everyone else walked past, and the tactical frameworks they used to do it. Built for anyone with the courage to try.

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This isn’t just another book.

It’s a field guide for solving what matters.

Three Pipe Problems doesn’t just ask you to think differently, it challenges you to act differently. In a world where AI can execute almost anything, the scarce skill is knowing which problems are worth solving, and having the courage to solve them. That’s the whole game.

  1. 01 Why the AI era makes problem solvers more valuable, not less.
  2. 02 How to find the one problem worth solving, and the courage to start.
  3. 03 Tactical frameworks that cut through complexity when everyone else is frozen.
  4. 04 True stories of ordinary people who solved extraordinary problems, and exactly how they did it.
Who It’s For

This book was written for the person in the room who can’t stop seeing the problem.

Nonprofit Leaders & Social Entrepreneurs

chasing greater impact with thinner resources

Builders & Creative Professionals

solving problems that matter, not just polishing what’s broken

Founders & Mission-Driven Builders

building something the world actually needs

Agency Leaders & Product Builders

shipping solutions people actually use

…and anyone who refuses to look away.

What’s Inside

Chapter Overview

Why problem-solving matters — and why it starts with you.

  • The World Needs Problem Solvers
  • Problems Worth Solving
  • The Modern Problem Solver

The inner work that makes the outer work possible.

  • Resilience & Grit
  • Critical Thinking & Adaptability
  • Urgency & Agency

The practical skills every problem solver needs.

  • Technical Foundations
  • Business & Economics
  • Design & Customer Centricity

From solving problems alone to leading teams that solve them together.

  • Building & Leading Teams
  • Strategy & Execution
  • Organizational Impact

Where you go from here.

  • The Game Is Afoot
  • The Problem Solver’s Manifesto

The problem beneath all the others. Personal, honest, and worth staying for.

The Evidence

Every story in this book is real.

Ordinary people who observed a problem everyone else walked past, and refused to look away.

Exhibit 01 / 12 Visit ↗

The Farmlink Project

500M pounds of food rescued

Two college students and a pickup truck.

Exhibit 02 / 12 Visit ↗

The Empowerment Plan

100,000 coats sewn by people leaving homelessness

The problem was never coats. It was jobs.

Exhibit 03 / 12 Visit ↗

charity: water

200K+ water projects across 29 countries

Every dollar traced.

Exhibit 04 / 12 Visit ↗

Bonton Farms

From a vacant lot

A garden that transformed South Dallas.

Exhibit 05 / 12 Visit ↗

Atlas Free

31 a day people freed from trafficking

140+ organizations across 60+ countries.

Exhibit 06 / 12 Visit ↗

Girls Who Code

500,000+ girls and counting

Twenty in one classroom became half a million.

Exhibit 07 / 12 Visit ↗

Tim Tebow Foundation

975 churches hosting Night to Shine in 74 countries

One unforgettable night.

Exhibit 08 / 12 Visit ↗

The Freedom Story

91% graduation among the most at-risk

Prevention through education in Thailand.

Exhibit 09 / 12 Visit ↗

Seed Effect

100,000 savings-group members

Rebuilding economies in refugee settlements.

Exhibit 10 / 12 Visit ↗

Mel Trotter Ministries

A city rethought

Reinventing how we think about homelessness.

Exhibit 11 / 12 Visit ↗

Saving Moses

189,000+ nights of safety for vulnerable children

Where the need is greatest and the help is least.

Exhibit 12 / 12 Visit ↗

Alpha Omega Miracle Home

St. Augustine

Single mothers and senior women, healing each other.

Discover Your Problem-Solver Archetype

Every problem moves through five phases. Which one is your instinct?

  • See the Problem Notice what others overlook — the gap between what is and what should be.
  • Shape Yourself Build the resilience and clarity to stay with a hard problem.
  • Build Your Arsenal Gather the tools, skills, and knowledge the problem demands.
  • Rally the Team Bring the right people together and move them toward the work.
  • Strike the Match Commit and act — the scarcest resource isn't intelligence, it's courage.

Take the free Problem Solver’s Toolkit — a twelve-minute investigation that ends with your archetype, your profile across all five phases, and a personalized Case File you can start working today.

Build Your Free Case File
1 See 2 Shape 3 Build 4 Rally 5 Strike
About the Author
Jason VanLue

Jason VanLue

Jason VanLue has spent over twenty years building things that solve problems for people. He’s led product and design organizations, founded and exited companies, and built products for global organizations like Google and Cisco, plus universities, hospitals, and hundreds of nonprofits and small businesses. Most recently, he leads product and design for Virtuous, a nonprofit software platform serving thousands of mission-driven organizations.

Three Pipe Problems distills everything he’s learned about empathy, resilience, leadership, and what it actually takes to solve problems that matter.

Jason lives near the beach in St. Augustine, Florida, with his wife and three kids. You’ll find him watching UCF football or UNC basketball with more intensity than the situation warrants. And if you give him an opening, he’ll bring Tolkien or Holmes into the conversation. Especially if a cigar is involved.

jasonvanlue.com → LinkedIn →
The Philosophy

What We Believe

1

Everyone is a problem solver.

The ability to solve meaningful problems isn’t reserved for designers, engineers, or executives. It belongs to everyone.

2

Empathy is essential.

You can’t solve a problem you don’t understand, and understanding starts with the people who live inside it.

3

Small changes create ripples.

You don’t have to change the world. You have to change one thing, and let momentum do the rest.

4

Design is more than decoration.

Design is problem-solving made visible, built for the person on the other side of the screen.

5

Adaptability creates resilience.

The best problem solvers aren’t the smartest. They’re the most adaptable.

6

Impact over intent.

Good intentions aren’t enough. What matters is what you build, who it serves, and whether it works.

The Casebook

The companion workbook for Three Pipe Problems.

The book gives you the method. The Casebook is where you put it to work.

Pick one real problem and work it all the way through the five phases, from seeing it clearly to striking the match.

Twenty guided exercises, the Problem Worth Solving Scorecard, a strategy canvas, and a 90-day plan. You finish with a one-page Case File and a 30/60/90-day log to hold yourself to it.

On its own for $22, or bundled with the book for $36.

Get the Bundle Learn more about the Casebook →
The Casebook — the workbook companion to Three Pipe Problems, by Jason VanLue
The Store

This is Where You Start

Read the books, use the tools, get in the game.

Paperback

Paperback

$18

The full method, start to finish — the book that makes you a sharper problem-solver.

Get the Paperback
Includes Digital PDF
The Casebook

The Casebook

$22

Where intent meets action. One real problem, worked all the way through the method.

Get the Casebook
Best Value
Book + Casebook Bundle

Book + Casebook Bundle

$36

The method + the action plan. Read it, then run it.

Get the Bundle

Prefer Kindle? The ebook is $9.99 on Amazon.

The Three Pipe Dispatch

Join the Irregulars.

Every other week, straight to your inbox: stories about the people solving hard problems, how they work through them, and practical tips and tricks you can put to use right away.

Plus first access to new podcast episodes, new Field Guides, and the chance to see your own case in print.

Free, always. Unsubscribe anytime.

Coming Soon

The Three Pipe Podcast

Conversations with people who saw what others missed and solved what others wouldn’t. First season is in the works. Subscribe for updates below.

Notify me when the first season opens
Open Cases

Working a problem worth solving? Bring us the case.

The best ones get featured in The Three Pipe Dispatch, explored on the podcast, or matched with people and resources who can help.

Submit a Case