Building Problem-Solving Products
Avoiding the Technology hype trap!
You guessed it right! We are talking about some of the emerging technologies like Blockchain, AI, ML etc. ! Aaron has a timely reminder that as long as the problems are being solved, nobody really cares about the underlying technologies!
Nithin Kamath. the founder of Zerodha recently discussed something on similar lines In spite of being one of the biggest discount brokers in India, they haven’t found any AI/ML/Blockchain use-cases yet! See below some insights from their CTO, Kailash Nadh :
The CTO is of the opinion that "Powered by AI / ML" marketing is more of a fad. “AI powered” AI/ML driven marketing/implementations are less important than the Products core use-cases ( which eventually solve user/customer problems!) Imagine tech companies in the 70s and 80s saying - "We are an object-oriented programming startup..”!!! In a data science context, most people might be doing Linear Regressions under the garb of AI/ML :)
In a VC-driven funding frenzy , these buzzwords like blockchain, metaverse, decentralized finance etc. will raise the hype quotient and may help raise funds (will not solve all pertinent user problems!)
Investors should rather focus on “What X company is solving and what the Y value/saving for the end users/companies than hyped on only underlying technologies! I think overtime, capital allocators like VCs/PEs will increasingly start building managed marketplace style models themselves. Tech stack would be pretty standard (Nocode/Low code platforms will play a big role) Focus would be more on new business models & product innovations, because at the end of the day its problem solving that matters!
The focus should not be too much on tech stack but to build our product. Also need to spend more time in validating product and understanding the level of problem its solving. UX and Tech stack comes after the problem-solving is figured out.
I recently read the book “The Minimalist Entrepreneur” by Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad and has provided excellent perspectives about the importance of problem-solving for minimalist approach startups.
The only thing that matters is getting to product/market fit - Marc Andreesen
Utility and product-market fit is the Key : 95% of new products fail, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. But, usually this isn't because they are badly made, but because they don't solve the right problem. Utility and product/market fit is all that matters.
Importance of Communities : Community → Problem → Product → Business Finding the right communities as part of the process is critical whether building from scratch or already in the middle of building a product. Helping the community precedes building a business and would help in more collaboration on the problem-solving process.
Focus on Problem Solving Feedback loops from communities to be part of the process, avoid scale if needed ( both in terms of people and features etc.). Leverage of fancy tech can wait but focus on solving the right problem should be a continuous process…
Your customers don't care about your product, they care about their problems. - Sahil Lavingia
