A playbook for Generating Business Ideas

Non-Essential Problems
Something might be a problem to someone, but if they don’t have an incentive to
solve it, they probably won’t be motivated to use or pay for a solution. For
example, it’s hard to dig holes in the backyard, but as the customer’s
compensation or self actualization isn’t tied to their ability to dig holes, a
solution for digging holes probably won’t be valuable.
The Importance of Domain Expertise
Domain expertise can help you understand what the essential needs are of people
within your domain. For example, if you have been a lawyer for thirty years, you
might be more conscious of what problems you, and therefore other lawyers,
face. If you have been a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at a Fortune 500
company, you might have a better idea of what CTOs at Fortune 500 companies
care about than someone who has not been a CTO. If you have been a private
banker for ten years, you would probably know more about the needs of private
banking clients than someone who has not been a private banker.
Lack of domain expertise or a professional network can be overcome by enough
passion and hard work to learn what a given customer segment’s needs are.
Chapter 5 on interviewing customers covers how to do this.
Hard Problems
It’s not enough for people to have a need. It must also be hard for people to
satisfy the need. To build a successful business, you’ll need to provide a product
or service that makes it easier for people to satisfy a given need, or is better in
some way than other options people have for satisfying the need.
Connecting with other people and forming friendships is a biological need.

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However, I have seen several startups attempt to satisfy this need without
success. I suspect the reason they have not been successful is because there
aren’t many people that find it hard to find friends. In other words, it is a need,
but most people are able to satisfy it by meeting people in ways such as school
or work. The one company seems to be quite successful in satisfying this need is
meetup.com.