A common startup adage: “Founders need to solve their own problem.”
But this is really just a shorthand for the full statement: “Founders need to solve their own problem — as long as many others share the same problem.”
If you’re only solving your own problem, where you’re 1 of 1 who has that problem, it’s called a hobby project 😊.
The formula for building a successful business has always been the same:
✅ Build something the world needs and wants
✅ Get people to pay for it
Yet, too many founders mistake “building what they want” for “building what the world wants and needs”.
So the next time you see the statement “Founders need to solve their own problem”, internally try to finish the sentence with the second part, “as long as many others share the same problem”.