Ideas & Opportunity

Is it a mistake to fall in love with my solution before I understand the problem?

A starting point

Yes, and it is the most common way founders waste a year. If you can only describe your idea by what you are building and not by whose pain it removes, you are solution-first, and you will keep bending the problem to fit your product. Write the problem down in one sentence with a specific person in it, and if you cannot, you do not have a startup yet.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked Watch Read

Watch

▶️ Video

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it A short, plain-spoken YC talk where Seibel says it outright: be in love with your problem and your customer, and treat the product as something that can change. He walks through grading a problem instead of grading an idea, and picking a handful of real early users to check whether your solution actually lands. It is the fastest way to reset from solution-first thinking without reading a whole book.

How to Get and Test Startup Ideas

On Y Combinator by Michael Seibel ~15 min

Grade the problem, not the idea, because a problem is easier to judge honestly than a solution you are already attached to.
Stay in love with the problem and the customer and keep the product flexible, since the first version is rarely the one that works.
Test with a small set of hand-picked users who truly have the problem, rather than chasing early adoption numbers.

Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Read

✍️ Essay

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for judging whether your idea is a real problem or a solution in search of one.

How to Get Startup Ideas

From paulgraham.com by Paul Graham ~20 min read

Live in the future and build what's missing.
The best ideas look like bad ideas at first (schleps and hard-to-explain).
Start with problems you have, in a domain you actually know.

Open paulgraham.com →

📖 Book

✓ Link checked Paid Beginner

Why we picked it The origin text for the modern MVP and validated-learning vocabulary every founder now uses. Read it for the mental model that a startup is a series of experiments, not a single bet.

The Lean Startup

From theleanstartup.com by Eric Ries ~330 pages

Progress = validated learning, not features shipped.
Run the Build-Measure-Learn loop as fast as you can.
An MVP is a learning tool, not a cheap product.

Open theleanstartup.com →

People also ask

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