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Quote: #2 – Built a Solution Without A Problem (i.e. No “Market Need”) Choosing to tackle problems that are interesting to solve rather than those that serve a

Quote: #2 – Built a Solution Without A Problem (i.e. No “Market Need”) Choosing to tackle problems that are interesting to solve rather than those that serve a market need was often cited as a reason for failure. Sure, you can build an app and see if it will stick, but knowing there is a market need upfront is a good thing. “Companies should tackle market problems not technical problems I am trying to figure out how to think more clearly about this type thing and write about it. I am sorry to see so little discussion here on HN for this submission.

enewc 13y ago
The brutal truth is that most startups do not do anything remotely important or useful enough to adopt. The predominant attitude among many Silicon Valley wannabe billionaires is hoping to get acquired instead of doing anything actually ambitious. Which explains why what we see today are hordes of startups based on "products" that would be trivial features for more established companies.
cgore 13y ago
I kind of relate it to modern music. Modern "academic" music is typically quite complicated and dissonant, and requires a great deal of skill on the part of the musicians to play: it sounds like crap. Modern "popular" music is simple, only a few months on the guitar will get a normal player where they can play most rock/pop. You can waste months writing "perfect" Haskell that nobody cares about, or write some really buggy Java and make Minecraft.
ma2rten 13y ago
Since the beginning of hacker news this has been one of the most discussed topics here. Paul Graham's essays are a good place to start.
- DorintheFlora 13y ago
  I am aware of his essays. I am trying to think and talk about something specific, let's call it Memology for the moment. I am not talking about start-ups per se but more about he architecture of ideas and how we separate the wheat from the chafe. I have explored that in terms of human psychology for myself. I would like to explore it for the business space. I hope it will be of interest to other people at some point. Thanks.

enewc 13y ago

The brutal truth is that most startups do not do anything remotely important or useful enough to adopt. The predominant attitude among many Silicon Valley wannabe billionaires is hoping to get acquired instead of doing anything actually ambitious. Which explains why what we see today are hordes of startups based on "products" that would be trivial features for more established companies.

cgore 13y ago

I kind of relate it to modern music. Modern "academic" music is typically quite complicated and dissonant, and requires a great deal of skill on the part of the musicians to play: it sounds like crap. Modern "popular" music is simple, only a few months on the guitar will get a normal player where they can play most rock/pop. You can waste months writing "perfect" Haskell that nobody cares about, or write some really buggy Java and make Minecraft.

ma2rten 13y ago

Since the beginning of hacker news this has been one of the most discussed topics here. Paul Graham's essays are a good place to start.

DorintheFlora 13y ago
I am aware of his essays. I am trying to think and talk about something specific, let's call it Memology for the moment. I am not talking about start-ups per se but more about he architecture of ideas and how we separate the wheat from the chafe. I have explored that in terms of human psychology for myself. I would like to explore it for the business space. I hope it will be of interest to other people at some point. Thanks.