Idea · Lesson 1 · 11 min
Is this a problem worth a decade?
Before the idea, the problem. You’ll spend years on this — so pressure-test whether it’s worth them. Score your problem on pain, frequency, market, budget, timing, and your edge, and find the weakest link that decides everything.
Start with the problem, not the idea
Founders fall in love with solutions. But you’ll spend the next several years of your life on this — so the question that matters first isn’t “is my idea clever?” It’s is this problem worth a decade of my life? A great problem can carry a mediocre first idea; a weak problem will sink even a brilliant one.
A real problem wins on more than one axis
The trap is judging a problem on a single dimension — usually how much it personally annoys you. But a company-sized problem has to clear several bars at once:
- Pain — does it genuinely hurt, or is it a vitamin?
- Frequency — does it come up often, or once a year?
- Market — do enough people have it?
- Budget — is there money to fix it, or only goodwill?
- Why now — has something shifted that makes this newly possible?
- Your edge — is there a reason you can win it?
The lowest score is the one that matters
You don’t need a perfect five everywhere. But a single low score is usually fatal: a painful, frequent problem nobody will pay for isn’t a business; a lucrative problem you have no edge in isn’t yours to win. So the most useful output isn’t the average — it’s your weakest link, and an honest decision about whether you can fix it.
Now score yours
Write the problem in one honest line, then score it on each dimension. Watch your weakest link surface — and be truthful about it. Keep the scorecard; it’s saved privately to you, never posted anywhere.
Score your problem
Promising, but not yet a decade-long problem. The gap is pain — pressure-test it before you commit.
A company-sized problem rarely wins on one axis — it’s the lowest score that tends to sink it.