1.1 The Value of the Problem

“We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
Anaïs Nin, Seduction of the Minotaur

Progress happens when a problem is solved. Not when an idea is brought to life.

Look at the illustration. The black lines are problems that lie in the direction you are trying to move. The gray line quickly finds a way around them. The green line heads straight toward the problem and tries to open a way through it. From a distance, the gray movement can look more efficient because it moves on faster. But getting around a problem is not the same as making it disappear.

The super-smart type can think fast, talk fast, and act fast. When a problem slows things down, the super-smart type finds an opening, changes direction, or lets go of the problem. That may be the right decision. Not every problem is worth owning. But if we always take the detour, our speed can become a way of leaving problems before we have understood them. We move on. The problems remain.

The super-wise type looks slower. Instead of immediately explaining or acting their way out of a problem, they listen, take notes, and stay long enough to understand what the problem consists of. Then they take ownership of what can actually be changed. Ownership does not mean the problem is your fault. It means accepting responsibility for not simply passing it on.

We need both abilities. The super-smart ability finds possibilities, openings, and the action we can take quickly. The super-wise ability decides which problem we are no longer willing to work around. Without super-wise reflection, creativity can become a stream of new routes around the same old problems. Without super-smart drive, ownership can end as an understanding that never changes anything.

The order therefore matters. First, we need to be wise enough to stay with the problem. Then smart enough to solve it.

The world is not short of ideas and additions. Neither are the people around you. Neither are you. We already have more products, features, plans, and possibilities than we can give our full attention to. What we need is less: less trouble, less friction, and fewer problems consuming our time, money, and relationships.

An idea asks for attention. A problem already has it. When we recognize a genuine possibility of eliminating a problem we already carry, our attention shifts almost by itself. Not necessarily because the solution impresses us, but because we recognize the problem and can imagine a reality without it.

That is the movement this book begins with: from idea-driven thinking to problem-solving. Idea-driven thinking starts by asking: What can I add? Problem-solving asks: What can I remove? Ideas should continue to emerge, but they must be tools for the problem, not the direction of the company.

The world has enough ideas. Which problem will no longer be here because you chose to own it?

When the Idea Comes First

As first-time founders, we are easily driven by big, smart, inspiring ideas that we imagine will create a better world. An innovative, cool water bottle. An app that reinvents communication between athletes, journalists, and media outlets immediately after a competition. Or a social media page about healthier living that ANYONE can follow.

The ideas are different, but the movement is the same: We see what we want to create before we see the person who will use it. We imagine the name, the design, the features, and the attention the solution could attract. Only then do we begin looking for problems that can justify it.

When the idea comes first, it changes what we see. We notice everything that confirms its significance and more easily overlook what makes it less necessary. A compliment becomes interest. Interest becomes demand. A follower almost becomes a customer. Little by little, our own conviction begins to look like an answer from reality, even though reality has not answered yet.

That is the strength and weakness of idea-driven thinking. It can help us see possibilities that others do not yet see. But it can also make us super-smart at thinking, talking, and acting our way around the question that should have come first:

Which problem is actually getting smaller?

With experience, we learn more often to begin from the other side. We stay with a pressing, real, and specific problem long enough to understand it before choosing the solution. Plastic consumption may be a massive problem. Unequal access to clean water may be a very real problem. Not knowing how to reset your smartphone before handing it to a new owner may be a highly specific problem.

The experienced approach is no less creative or ambitious. It gives creativity a direction. Instead of first asking, How do I get other people to understand my idea? it asks, What do other people already need solved?

The first-time founder and the experienced founder are not two fixed people, either. They can be the same person on the same day. In one moment, we fall in love with what we can add. In the next, we listen for what other people need removed.

An idea can start the work. The problem determines whether the work has a reason to exist.

Significance Is Not the Same as Value

It is hard to relate to a new idea, but easy to relate to a problem you already know. When someone describes something we have experienced ourselves, we do not first need to understand the entire solution. We recognize the situation, the frustration, and the moment when something does not work the way we need it to.

Every startup is a solution and therefore depends on a problem it exists to solve. But the existence of the problem is not enough. Nor is it enough for many people to agree that the problem matters.

A problem can be enormous for society and almost invisible in one person's daily life. Another problem can look small from the outside and still consume everything for the person standing in the middle of it. It may be annoying on Monday and urgent on Friday. It may be something you can live with until a deadline, a bill, a customer, or physical discomfort makes the cost of doing nothing greater than the cost of acting.

There is a difference between acknowledging a problem and experiencing it. There is a difference between experiencing it and prioritizing it. And there is a difference between prioritizing it and being willing to spend time, money, attention, or trust to get it solved.

The value of a problem does not sit inside it as a fixed quantity. It emerges between the problem and the person experiencing it. Timing matters. Consequences matter. Existing alternatives matter. So does the person's ability to act.

We can believe something matters and still be wrong about how valuable it is to solve right now.

Both can be true.

Kettle-dorado

Let's say you have found a way to bring water to a boil in an electric kettle 10 percent faster. Or simply faster. In some cases, much faster.

The technology works. Again and again, the prototype shows that the water boils faster than it does in the other products on the market. You begin to see how it could contribute to lower electricity use, reduced CO₂ emissions, the fight against climate change, and greater workplace efficiency through shorter waiting times.

The revelations never end. With every new connection, the solution becomes more significant.

Wow, this could be big!

You investigate materials, production, packaging, and distribution. The budget shows that the finished kettle can be sold at roughly the average price of a regular electric kettle. The branding is brilliant. The name is Kettle-dorado. The page gains thousands of followers, and the project wins startup competitions. People smile when you tell them about it. They genuinely think you have created something clever.

Stop for a moment. What has actually been proven?

You have proven that the kettle can bring water to a boil faster. You have proven that the story can attract attention. You may also have proven that you can build a prototype, raise money, and win a competition.

You have not yet proven that people experience the waiting time as a problem they are willing to pay to remove.

The longer you work on the solution, the more significant it can begin to feel. The time you have already spent slowly becomes an argument for spending even more. Every improvement makes the product better, but it can also make it harder to ask the most uncomfortable question:

Has the improvement made the problem more important to the customer?

After months of relentless, unpaid work, with blood, sweat, and tears, you shut the project down. An unfair defeat after impressing so many people. What happened?

The product worked. The price was reasonable. The name was memorable. The money was spent sensibly.

But nobody would buy it.

It was an electric KETTLE, damn it. The fastest one to boil water!

What happened was not necessarily a failure of the product. It was the moment the product met the problem's real relevance in people's lives.

Reality itself does not take sides. People do. We can like something, acknowledge that it matters, and sincerely hope that other people will buy it without buying it ourselves. We can click like, share a video, and praise the founder because the story is inspiring. None of those actions require us to change our own lives.

Yes, the world might benefit from more efficient electric kettles. Just not me. Not right now.

I am happy with the kettle I already have. I fill it with water, press the button, and begin getting things ready or tidying the kitchen while the water boils. As I have become more climate-conscious, I have started filling it with less water. The water boils faster, and I reduce my consumption at the same time. Right there, I feel that I have already done something.

My habit has made the problem smaller for me without my having to buy your product.

You may see the months you invested in making the kettle faster. I see the few minutes when I am doing something else anyway. Those are not the same calculation.

Your past is your investment. It is not my obligation.

Validated in Reality, Without You

Kettle-dorado's biggest competitor is not necessarily another electric kettle. It may be the kettle the customer already owns. It may also be the habit of using less water, doing something else while it boils, or simply living with the wait.

The same is true for other startups. The competitor may be a spreadsheet, a manual process, help from a friend, a temporary workaround, or the decision to do nothing yet.

When an existing solution works well enough, you are competing with something that has already been paid for, understood, and absorbed into daily life. The customer must not only be able to see the value of the new solution. The customer must also be willing to leave the familiar one behind.

Switching carries its own cost. A person may have to learn something new, trust someone new, move information, change a habit, or risk the new solution being less reliable than the old one. Even a free product can feel expensive if it demands a great deal of time or attention, or creates too much uncertainty.

That does not mean the customer is conservative or incapable of understanding your idea. The customer simply sees the problem from a different place than you do. You see the possibility in the solution. The customer also feels the work that comes with choosing it.

That is why we need to distinguish between interest and action.

A like shows that someone reacted to what they saw. A sign-up shows that someone was willing to share contact information. A conversation shows that someone was willing to spend time. A purchase shows that someone was willing to give up money. Repeated use shows that the solution continues to create value after the appeal of novelty has faded.

The signals are not worthless. They simply prove different things. The problem begins when we take a light signal and use it as evidence of a heavier decision. A thousand people can like Kettle-dorado without a single one of them needing an electric kettle.

Validation therefore requires a response that costs the other person something. It does not have to be money at first. It may be time, attention, data, trust, a changed habit, or a willingness to accept a small risk. But there must be a noticeable movement from acknowledgment to action.

If you have to stand beside the solution and explain it every time, you may have validated your ability to persuade. You have not necessarily validated the solution's ability to stand on its own.

We can easily find significance in something and creatively assemble a solid argument for how our project solves a real problem. The problem only has validated value for the company when the solution is tested by reality itself.

Without you in the room.

The Problem as the Company's Reason to Exist

The problem is the reason behind all work. Where there is a problem, there is work. But where there is work, there is not necessarily a business. For a business to exist, someone must experience enough value in the way the problem is solved.

The problem a company solves is its strongest basis for deciding whether it should exist, develop, or be wound down. The solution may change shape many times. The problem is the direction that makes it possible to judge whether the new solution is still moving the company toward the right place.

Think of a moving company. Moving is not a constant problem for everyone, but when it happens, it can quickly become urgent. Boxes, heavy furniture, stairs, keys, transportation, and a date that will not move just because you are not ready. The new tenant may be waiting for the home. Work may begin again on Monday. The children need somewhere to sleep. A cabinet has to come down from the third floor without hitting the wall or the person carrying it.

The customer does not need a long explanation of why the problem exists. The customer can feel it in the body and see it on the calendar. The consequence of waiting is clear.

The customer still has alternatives. Friends can help. A van can be rented. The move can be completed over several trips. Some furniture can be sold or left behind. The moving company is therefore not competing only with other moving companies. It is competing with the customer's time, network, strength, and willingness to carry the risk personally.

When the customer chooses the moving company, they are not simply buying transportation from A to B. They are buying relief from part of the pressure. Time is freed. The physical strain is transferred. The risk becomes smaller. The fixed date becomes more manageable.

This is where the value of the problem becomes concrete. Not because it is necessarily a bigger problem for the world than climate change or energy consumption, but because a particular person, at a particular moment, needs it solved.

When your startup solves a real and pressing problem, the customer may be highly forgiving of a product that is not yet perfect. That is a golden moment for a founder: The customer is grateful for the solution even though the execution can still improve.

That is not permission to deliver poor work. The customer's forgiveness tells you primarily about the pressure of the problem, not the quality of your work. If you confuse the two, the customer's temporary gratitude can hide the flaws that later lead them to choose someone else.

When the Problem Grows or Recedes

A problem does not stand still simply because you have built a company around it. New habits, technologies, rules, prices, and expectations can make the problem grow or recede.

A growing problem can strengthen the company's reason to exist. That does not mean the company automatically grows. You still have to solve the problem in a way people choose. Conversely, a receding problem can weaken the company's reason to exist even as the product improves.

It is possible to improve the solution and make the company less relevant at the same time.

Validation is therefore not a stamp you receive once and then own. It is an ongoing response from reality. Who is experiencing the problem now? When do they feel it? What alternatives have become available? What are they willing to change?

The answer that was true when the company began may not be true later. The problem and the company both move through time, but not always in the same direction.

Do not become so loyal to the solution that you stop listening to the problem.

From Idea-Driven Thinking to Problem-Solving

The recipe for a good startup is actually simple: Find an undervalued problem and create a simple way to solve it. Who follows it, how they follow it, and when they serve it will determine the result.

An undervalued problem is not necessarily an unknown problem. It is often a problem people have learned to live with. They have assembled temporary workarounds, changed their habits, or lowered their expectations because the problem has not yet been solved in a way that made switching worthwhile.

The super-wise part of the work is listening for what people have begun to consider normal. What do they do every time the problem appears? What have they accepted? What do they spend time on without questioning it anymore? Which burden has become so familiar that it is almost invisible?

The super-smart part comes next. Once the problem is understood, you can look for the simplest way through it. Not necessarily the most impressive solution. Not the solution with the most features. The solution that removes as much as possible of what people would otherwise have to keep carrying.

Try describing the problem without mentioning your product. If the description falls apart when the solution is removed, you may still be seeing the problem through the idea. If the problem becomes clearer, the solution can become simpler.

Do not begin only by asking how good your idea is. Ask what happens if the problem is not solved. Who experiences the consequence? What are they already doing? What must be true before they choose to act differently?

You do not need to make the world understand your idea first. You need to understand the problem the world is already trying to live with.

Your startup does not begin when the idea appears.

It begins when other people can recognize the possibility of a problem disappearing.