Start with a problem, not an idea
Ideas are cheap. Real problems that real people have are gold.
Examples for:
An idea is a solution. A problem is something real.
Almost everyone starts with an idea: “let’s make an app”, “let’s start a shop”. But an idea is a guess about a fix. A problem is something real people struggle with today. Strong projects start from problems, because you can check them: just go and look.
✕ NOT A PROBLEM“Gaya needs a cleanliness app.” (That’s a solution.)
✓ A PROBLEM“Sabzi sellers near the station throw away ₹200 of vegetables a day because there’s no shade in the afternoon.”
The magic sentence
Every good problem fits this sentence:
Who struggle to do what because why.
- Who is a specific group you can go and meet: “Class 6 students who walk to school”, not “people”.
- Do what is the struggle, not your fix. If it contains “app” or “website”, try again.
- Why is your first guess at the reason. You’ll dig deeper at the next stop.
Try it
Problem or solution?
Tap your answer for each card.
“Make an app for the school canteen”
“Kids in our colony miss the 7 am school van because the stop is 2 km away”
“Start a YouTube channel”
“Tilkut makers sell almost nothing outside the winter months”
“Put dustbins everywhere in Gaya”
“Grandparents in our lane can’t read the small print on their medicine strips”
Try it
Write your problem sentence
struggle tobecause
Sabzi sellers near the station struggle to keep vegetables fresh because there’s no shade in the afternoon.
This is just practice. Nothing here is saved or sent.
For social impactAlso think: who benefits if this is fixed, and how many people? “40 sabzi sellers on Station Road” is a great answer.
Pick something close to homeA small problem you can see every day beats a huge problem you can only read about. You need to visit it, film it and talk to people about it in the next two weeks.
For your application, you’ll need:
- One sentence: who struggles to do what, and why
- Social: who benefits and how many people
- Entrepreneurship: who would pay, and roughly how much
Go deeper
Kids, take charge
Watch · Kiran Bir Sethi · TED · 9 min
Design for Change
Try · Kids solving local problems, worldwide · Browse
How to Get Startup Ideas
Read · Paul Graham · Essay · 25 min
How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas
Watch · Jared Friedman · Y Combinator · 30 min
How I started a sanitary napkin revolution
Watch · Arunachalam Muruganantham · TED · 8 min
Dashrath Manjhi, the Mountain Man
Read · Wikipedia · 5 min