I need more problems

I was reading this article in my local newspaper about an AI browser plugin that simplifies text for students who need literacy support, because many articles on the internet at angled at adults.

I went like, Wow, I’m so envious. I want to build something like that too.

That’s such an elegant, simple, concise solution to a well-defined problem. I love it. I love problems and ideas like this.

So simple, yet sophisticated.

But the developer didn’t do it alone. He first knew about the problem from an educator, someone with experience out in the field dealing with problems every day.

That really struck me. Hard.

To make great products, you need access to great problems. It’s not the clean code that make your servers sing. It’s not pixel-perfect designs that’s lickable. It’s not persuasive marketing that makes you sell your first-born. Those are important, no doubt. But not what’s fundamental, not what comes first.

Solving a good problem is the fundamental.

And I realised I don’t really have access to that. Access to hearing about or experiencing problems in a niche that I’m interested in.

Whatever I observe are just random social media posts, or small daily life things within the tiny bubble of my very routine existence. being observant helps, but there’s a natural limiter to what me as one person can experience and observe.

Maybe that’s why I feel stuck.

Maybe, like the dev in the article, I should attend hackathons, or events where people share problems and issues they face in their industries, and in buffet style, I can pick and choose what I piques my curiosity and what to work on.

Or partner someone who does, someone who needs a solution desperately.

Or dive deep into a community I’m interested in and solve problems for them, like how I did it with Carrd.

I need to find more problems. Better problems.

Tl;dr – To build a great product, find great problems. Lots of them.