Don't solve problems

There's a common theme among budding entrepreneurs. They think they need to solve a problem, and then find customers to sell their solution to that problem.

It's totally backwards. But, it's a very attractive line of thinking. Most people on Indiehackers are developers/technical, so they default to solving problems.

Engineers solve problems. Developers solve problems. Employees solve problems. And they get paid a salary to do so.

Entrepreneurs provide value. They help people. They create things that enable people the be better versions of themselves. And, they get paid based on the value they provide. Not the time they spend solving the problem.

If you want acknowledgement, and a salary wage, solve problems.

If you want to start a real business and make money, help people do what they were already doing more efficiently (faster, simpler, cheaper, etc.).

You can do both, but only one aligns with the demand of the market.

People know what they want to do. They know how they want to make money, be entertained, be productive. Your job as an entrepreneur is to help them do that better.

This ranges from the smallest apps, to the biggest companies in the world. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to get paid lots of money.

Think of Uber. It's a streamlined, network based taxi service. It's an iteration. It's helping people do what they were already doing (taking taxis) and making it more efficient.

Think of Google. People wanted to find the right information, faster. Libraries had been around for centuries. There's encyclopedias, and other reference texts that existed before the Internet. Google helps people get that information more efficiently.

You can rattle off any company. It's all the same. It's all iterative. There's no massive breakthrough in innovation that's not just a more efficient version of what people were already doing.

One could say the way these companies grow is novel, and innovative, and unique to this day and age. But successful products are helping people do what they've always done.

So, if you're struggling to come up with an idea or struggling to create something that people actually want to use, then you may want to adjust your thinking.

The reality is, people are already doing what they want to do. It's not up to you to change that. It's up to you to make that better.