If you want to make something people want,
one way you can start is by solving a problem you have.
If you build something you want or need, a solution to your own problem, chances are others are having a similar problem and want a solution.
This works especially well because you deeply understand the problem you’re solving. After all, it’s your problem too.
I read a story of a broke young man who wanted to be rich but didn’t know what to do. So he interviewed hundreds of millionaires in America, put all their answers in a book, sold millions of copies and made riches for himself. He began by finding a solution to his problem, and because other people had the same problem, he sold them the solution.
A famous example is Airbnb.
Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia couldn’t afford rent in San Francisco and needed a way to make extra money. They rented out air mattresses in their apartment to conference attendees, leading to the creation of Airbnb.
Jan Koum wanted a simple, reliable, and private way to stay in touch with friends and family globally without paying for expensive SMS. He and his friends built WhatsApp.
Dropbox founder Drew Houston conceived the Dropbox idea after repeatedly forgetting his USB flash drive while he was a student at MIT. He created a better way to access and share his files across different devices and platforms and millions of people wanted it too.
Bobby Gruenewald is the founder and CEO of YouVersion, the Bible app with over 100 million downloads. Gruenewald wanted to find a way to engage with the Bible more consistently. He wondered how new technologies could change the way he and others engage with the Bible. He believed that if he could find a way to engage more consistently, it would likely help others who had similar struggles.
I used to open multiple fintech apps in Nigeria to find the best exchange rate when sending money, it was tiring, so I created monierate.com to make it easy for me to find the best rate on multiple fintech apps, and it happens that 1M+ people have that same problem every month.
Other examples of famous products such as Slack, Calendly, Shopify, and GitHub were created as a desire or the founder's need to solve a problem.
The list is endless.
I’m a nerd, so most of my examples would be in tech. But it isn’t just about tech. It applies to all kinds of products and solutions.
The good thing is, if you solve your own problems, you won’t have them again. And if you are lucky, you will be rich and famous.