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I get the sentiment, but 9/10 you won't actually understand the problem until you actually work on it. Work leads to understanding but understanding usually doe

I get the sentiment, but 9/10 you won't actually understand the problem until you actually work on it. Work leads to understanding but understanding usually doesn't lead to work. The counter to this are stories like Stripe. Collison has famously said they never would have started the company if they actually knew how hard the problem was when the started. They identified the problem and committed to solving it. But jumping in blind increased their chance of actually making something unique instead of just another credit card gateway.

gmfawcett 5y ago
Not sure it counters the story, it just sounds like selection bias -- for every Collison that won big, there must be a hundred shadow Collisons who jumped in blind but failed. I totally agree with your first point, though.
- cbsmith 5y ago
  A hundred would be understating it. Thousands easily.
cbsmith 5y ago
> I get the sentiment, but 9/10 you won't actually understand the problem until you actually work on it. Yes, but the "work on it" should be designed so that you progress in that understanding. Too often it does not.
throwawayboise 5y ago
Usually the people asking for the solution don't even really understand the problem. How often are your probing questions at a requirements-gathering meeting met with "we'll have to get back to you on that"
areichert 5y ago
re: Stripe, it feels like what was more important was that they understood that what they were working on truly _was_ a problem -- I don't think the point of the article is to say that you need to completely understand every nuance of the problem you're solving before you can move fast, but that there's a base level of understanding you need to have in order to be effective (which is probably less common in founders/startups than most people think) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
testmasterflex 5y ago
Very true. And I can relate to that on a hardware startup I’m working on giving people bathroom privacy. I went in thinking “oh I’ll just pay some people to fix all the technical things and I’ll do what I’m good at: sales.” Money ran out and so far I coded a website from scratch, learned web design, written software for the unit and just finished the first circuit boards. And the further I get the deeper the rabbit hole goes. It’s probably gonna take 20 years to get where I wanted to be in 5 and that’s fine.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

gmfawcett 5y ago

Not sure it counters the story, it just sounds like selection bias -- for every Collison that won big, there must be a hundred shadow Collisons who jumped in blind but failed. I totally agree with your first point, though.

cbsmith 5y ago
A hundred would be understating it. Thousands easily.

cbsmith 5y ago

> I get the sentiment, but 9/10 you won't actually understand the problem until you actually work on it. Yes, but the "work on it" should be designed so that you progress in that understanding. Too often it does not.

throwawayboise 5y ago

Usually the people asking for the solution don't even really understand the problem. How often are your probing questions at a requirements-gathering meeting met with "we'll have to get back to you on that"

areichert 5y ago

re: Stripe, it feels like what was more important was that they understood that what they were working on truly _was_ a problem -- I don't think the point of the article is to say that you need to completely understand every nuance of the problem you're solving before you can move fast, but that there's a base level of understanding you need to have in order to be effective (which is probably less common in founders/startups than most people think) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

testmasterflex 5y ago

Very true. And I can relate to that on a hardware startup I’m working on giving people bathroom privacy. I went in thinking “oh I’ll just pay some people to fix all the technical things and I’ll do what I’m good at: sales.” Money ran out and so far I coded a website from scratch, learned web design, written software for the unit and just finished the first circuit boards. And the further I get the deeper the rabbit hole goes. It’s probably gonna take 20 years to get where I wanted to be in 5 and that’s fine.

deleted 5y ago
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