> You and your adviser picked your thesis topic because it’s an interesting technical problem with good opportunities to publish, not because it has a large opp

> You and your adviser picked your thesis topic because it’s an interesting technical problem with good opportunities to publish, not because it has a large opportunity for impact in an underserved market with few barriers to entry. This is obvious, yet an easy mistake. Behind it is applying the same values to a business as to a PhD - not only in topic selection, but also in execution. It's related to the conundrum that solving a problem that real people have now does not always require a technically great soluton. Even a revolutionary business does not necessarily require a technically great solution. Academic success requires academic values and skills; business success requires business values and skills. Of course, if you want to create a technologically revolutionary business, you'll need both.