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Yes, it's one of the Silicon Valley, clichés: "what problem does it solve"? A common answer is that an existing product is great but it can be made even better

Yes, it's one of the Silicon Valley, clichés: "what problem does it solve"? A common answer is that an existing product is great but it can be made even better or cheaper. It's weird to frame it as solving a "problem".

adventured 7y ago
I'm not sure how it's weird. Lowering costs is solving a massive problem - for consumers and businesses alike. There are few greater problems to be solved for the majority of people, than lowering their cost of living - or cost of operations for a business - while providing the same or better quality of a thing. That process has been a fundamental requirement for all of human civilization as we've known it the last ~5,000+ years. Without it, most of us are not here. It generates an incredible incremental gain spiral, a compounding of small surpluses that build and unleash bigger things over time. For a business it frees up capital which can then be put into productivity, R&D, salaries and countless other things. For consumers it can boost savings or enable other purchases and investments that improve life. It enables new demand which will unleash new goods that were not feasible or viable previously. It's all about generating a surplus that can then be directed toward some additional goal. Better and cheaper is one of the required tenets of mass standard of living progress.
- fapjacks 7y ago
  That's an idealistic way to look at it, considering the backdrop of human behavior.
robryan 7y ago
Or even that your product is roughly the same, not really better or cheaper, but looking to carve out a small share of the market. A lot of ecommerce is basically this, your products are the same branded goods other retailers are selling, your website offers roughly similar experience and your pricing is roughly the same. Before the internet the differentiator was location, millions of store distributed across the world selling the same Nike shoes for example. Now a handful of ecommerce sites could serve the whole online market for Nike themselves.

adventured 7y ago

I'm not sure how it's weird. Lowering costs is solving a massive problem - for consumers and businesses alike. There are few greater problems to be solved for the majority of people, than lowering their cost of living - or cost of operations for a business - while providing the same or better quality of a thing. That process has been a fundamental requirement for all of human civilization as we've known it the last ~5,000+ years. Without it, most of us are not here. It generates an incredible incremental gain spiral, a compounding of small surpluses that build and unleash bigger things over time. For a business it frees up capital which can then be put into productivity, R&D, salaries and countless other things. For consumers it can boost savings or enable other purchases and investments that improve life. It enables new demand which will unleash new goods that were not feasible or viable previously. It's all about generating a surplus that can then be directed toward some additional goal. Better and cheaper is one of the required tenets of mass standard of living progress.

fapjacks 7y ago
That's an idealistic way to look at it, considering the backdrop of human behavior.

robryan 7y ago

Or even that your product is roughly the same, not really better or cheaper, but looking to carve out a small share of the market. A lot of ecommerce is basically this, your products are the same branded goods other retailers are selling, your website offers roughly similar experience and your pricing is roughly the same. Before the internet the differentiator was location, millions of store distributed across the world selling the same Nike shoes for example. Now a handful of ecommerce sites could serve the whole online market for Nike themselves.