It’s taken me years to understand the old startup mantra of: “Make something people want.” It’s simple. However, like most simple things, it’s not necessarily easy.
I have a tendency to conflate “something people want” with “something that sounds cool to me.” What are things people actually want? A good place to look is where they already spend their time. Even better is how they already spend their money.
I once had a startup idea to make a new, better version of Mint.com. You know, one that actually worked. Sounds cool, but do people want it? Do they pay for it now? No, not really. What do they actually want/pay for? Credit cards. Bank accounts. Financial planning. Wealth advisory.
When building a company, offering something people actually want can save a lot of agony. The next step is also simple: make it 10x better or cheaper.
Also published on Medium.