There are two types of entrepreneurs: the ones obsessed with ideas, and the ones obsessed with problems.
Guess which graveyard is more crowded?
Most startups die not because the founders didn’t work hard, but because they built something the world wasn’t asking for. They started with an idea — which is really just trying to predict the future. And when the future doesn’t cooperate? Game over.
Now contrast that with problem-first founders. These are people who start with what’s broken, annoying, inefficient, or expensive — today. Not what might exist 10 years from now, but what’s painful right now.
Look at Steve Jobs. The iPhone wasn’t some overnight stroke of genius. He’d been tinkering with hardware and software for over 20 years. He’d seen what worked (the iPod), what failed (Apple Newton), and what people actually wanted. Bill Gates had a vision of a tablet PC years earlier — but the tech and user behaviour weren’t ready. Timing killed it. Jobs nailed the problem and the timing.
That only happens when you’ve spent years in the trenches. When you know the landscape deeply enough to see the missing pieces.
So if you're early in your journey? Don’t chase ideas. Chase problems.
Solving real problems takes less imagination and more empathy. And it doesn't require you to predict the future — just to pay attention to the present.
Ideas are great. But they're a better tool for experienced operators, not beginner builders.
Start with what sucks. Fix that.
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