Solve stupid problems — win stupid prizes
I don't know how to tell you this.
But most indie products are doomed from the beginning.
Founders solve problems that people don't care about.
Indifference is more dangerous than competition.
Here's what to do instead (3 steps from our free guide)
1) Start with your audience
I know you have product ideas.
Tons of them.
New shower — new product idea — new domain.
This is fun. But not very helpful.
Because you start your business from the position of “what you can build”.
And it’s better to frame it — “who should I help”
Pick one audience segment you want to work with for the next 6 months.
Students, Agency Owners, Parents, Gym rats, Ghostwriters.
Focus on the audience you want to serve. Not the product you want to build.
2) Pick a top-3 problem
And now, don’t fall into the most popular trap.
Here’s a question for you.
Imagine you are a student. What is more important to you?
• Find a job
• Eat healthy
• Invest in pension savings
The first problem is definitely in top-3. The second problem might be in top-10. The third problem is not in top-100.
It’s obvious that picking the last problem is a dead-end.
But this is what 90% of Indies do with their businesses.
Nobody needs a logo generator when they have 0 customers.
Pick the problem your audience thinks 24/7 about. It’s easier to sell a product when people are actually looking for it.
Don’t make your life harder.
3) Seek competition
Your final boss is your ego.
You either lie to yourself about 0 competitors and being a unique genius.
Or you find competitors. Try their products. Analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
The second route is boring. But it will push you to stick to a proven product format and relevant value proposition.
Everyone have a profitable unlimited design agency? It means a problem and product formats are validated.
Build one, too. Just don’t forget to niche down your marketing.
Not reinventing the wheel is amazing. Give it a try.
Thats why reddit and blogs is the best way to find idea and validate them. My moto is DO FAST FAIL FAST and reddit is the best place to do thi. So here How It work
Go to reddit and pick a subreddit that you are most familiar ( of course the one with good market also ) with as this will make it easier for you to communicate and provide value in the subreddit.
Go trough the posts and see the one with most comment and engagement ( not just upvotes, downvotes also good things as there is something people don't like )
Go through the comment. Here you can see generally what make people tick. What they like what they don't.
See where you can fit in. What problem you can solve or something you can sell.
Now you should have a brief understand what business you want to make and who will buy the product. So go to creativeblogtopic.com insert the business and target customer and the tool will analyze google trend and search for you. It will then return you topic and keyword that best for blogging for your idea.
From the topic and keyword write a simple blog and also a simple reddit posts. Try make it controversial so it will give a reason for people to engage.
Now you will do it couple of time to test if the idea will get attention and see how people are reacting to it.
If you got engagement now you have an idea that somehow you know people are interested to.
So go built MVP. Remember this MVP is for validating some more. Think the MVP as a glorified survey. Put if interested give email on the back of the product and do pop up asking them to rate the product.
There you go. From there you can get idea and validate it and remember to do it fast. Don't spend so much time as you need to iterate things fast and move on top of your previous understanding of market.
Good Luck
Nobody needs a logo generator when they have 0 customers.
So true :)
Maybe I should print this in big and bold and hang in my room:
NOBODY NEEDS [.......] WHEN THEY HAVE 0 CUSTOMERS.
It will be a good checkpoint of sorts to choose/discard ideas
NOBODY NEEDS [.......] WHEN THEY HAVE 0 CUSTOMERS. Is how I feel about all the people spamming me to sell me things while I’m in such early phases of my startup. But I know that’s going to be me soon so trying to take note of the approaches that annoy me personally.
This one stings a bit, but in a good way lol I've always been an idea guy, often getting carried away. But you're right, it's the people we're helping that matter. I need to flip my thinking and start with the people, not just the cool ideas.
Great stuff man!
"Because you start your business from the position of “what you can build”."
I think this^ is the root of all evils...
This was very insightful and helpful. Thank you :)
you are welcome :)
I made the same mistake too often, probably all engineers do at the beginning unless they hit a check pot. Great article.
Hello Dan Kulkov and fellow Indie Hackers,
I've just finished reading your post, "Solve stupid problems — win stupid prizes," and I must say, it's an insightful piece. Your three-step guide provides a valuable framework for indie product developers to avoid common pitfalls and focus on what truly matters.
However, I believe there's a crucial point that your article misses; the only people who truly understand a problem are the ones experiencing it firsthand. Therefore, the most logical problem to solve is your own.
By addressing a problem you're personally facing, you're not only intimately familiar with the issue but also motivated to find a solution. Once you've found a solution that works for you, you can then market it to others experiencing the same problem. This approach provides solid evidence that your product solves the problem because you have a case study of your solution solving your problem, which is also their problem.
This concept seems simple, yet many people overlook it. Perhaps it's because we often believe that our problems are unique to us, or maybe it's because we're so focused on finding a 'marketable' problem that we forget to look at the issues we face ourselves.
In conclusion, while your guide is on the right track, I believe it's equally important to consider personal problems as potential opportunities for product development. After all, if a solution works for you, chances are, it'll work for others too.
Thanks for sparking this discussion, Dan. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this perspective.
Ah man I have been very prone to this way of thinking. This should be pinned to the front page or recycled every few months.