I’m an entrepreneur, through and through. Today, I both own several companies - including Content Marketer and Narrow.io - and act as a silent partner in a few others, but my career as a business owner actually goes as far back as high school, where I made a few bucks burning mixtapes for my friends and classmates (though, unfortunately, burn rates back in those days were too slow for this enterprise to become scalable).
Throughout my years in the startup world, one of the things that’s surprised me the most is the number of people who tell me that they couldn’t do what I do. And if you ask me, that’s BS. Becoming a successful entrepreneur isn’t about being able to raise huge sums of cash or having the knowledge and skill to expertly apply the latest marketing strategies. It’s about one thing:
Solving problems.
True entrepreneurs know that the best companies are those that are founded to meet a demonstrated need amongst their markets. And few people know that better than Daniel Kempe, the Founder of Quuu, a web app that grows your social media content through relevant hand-curated content suggestions (not by algorithm). To get his insight on this important subject, I sat down and asked him a few questions based on his experiences:
Sujan Patel: Do you have any advice on how to go about finding the right idea for the next big startup?
Daniel Kempe: “Well, for me, it’s not about the search for ideas, it’s identifying problems or gaps with existing products or services. Ideas are tough to come by, at least good ones are. But problems, they’re everywhere! Almost every product or service you use on a daily basis was created to solve a problem.
Since I fell in love with the world of tech, design, productivity and innovation, I have been coming across things that I’ve said to myself ‘this would be great if only it…’ and would just hope it came about, as if by magic. The problem is, so many companies get the idea out there, but don’t really listen to their users, or at least don’t look to refine their idea enough to continuously improve.”
Patel: You get your inspirations from problems, but how do you propose taking that next step to act on it?
Kempe: “I guess that kind of depends on the type of problem that you’ve uncovered. Generally speaking you’ll come across two main types: ‘Original Fix’ and ‘Enhancement’. The first, ‘The Original Fix’, is like somebody needing to get from one side of a lake to another, so the answer (or the idea) is to build a boat.
However, if this boat already existed, but the issue was that it took a full day to cross the lake, you could come up with the idea to speed it up by adding an engine that you’d created – this is an enhancement.
The enhancement option is generally easier, and is what my own company originates from. If you’re not someone who naturally realizes that, when there’s a problem, there’s an opportunity there, then try to think back to when you last got frustrated at anything. Somewhere, lurking in those memories, you’ll find a problem that can be solved. It could be general, or it could be a process within a vertical industry (for example, a project management fix within a creative agency).
Basically the bigger or more common the problem, the bigger the opportunity!”
Patel: Do you have any advice for people that do successfully highlight a problem that could present a business opportunity?
Kempe: “Well, this is where the revelation of MVP (minimum viable product) really clicked for me. The concept that you didn’t have to spend 4 months planning a business before launching, and potentially realizing half a year after the idea sprang into your head that there’s no market for it, or even worse you’ve been beat to market by someone who’s capturing lots of market share.
Why not just get the idea out there, develop the minimum amount of profile the company needs to reflect the product and test whether people want to see more?
The magic ingredient in taking an idea and running with it is that you need to be genuinely passionate about bringing it to market and what it can achieve. This passion will propel you forwards and give you that necessary focus to overcome the adversity that always presents itself when growing a startup. With this in mind, maybe search for problems in an area that you’re already engaged in and passionate about.”
Patel: Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Kempe: “Keep the dream alive, stay focused on your end goal (whatever that may be), believe in yourself and above all understand that failures are still progression, merely stepping-stones on the path to success.”
Key Takeaways
I appreciate Daniel’s willingness to be interviewed for this article, but just in case you didn’t read the full thing, here are a few key takeaways to walk away with from his experiences:
- Build businesses by solving problems. Look around you and take note of the problems you encounter in your daily life. How could you fix them? Can you brainstorm an entirely new solution (what Daniel calls ‘The Original Fix’) or can you think of a way to transform an existing solution for better effect (‘The Enhancement’)? Is there a way you can piggy-back off of the success of existing businesses by creating products that complement their service (which will save you time over launching an entirely new concept)? The more you practice seeing opportunity in everyday problems, the more likely you are to hit on the idea that’ll make you a successful entrepreneur.
- Embrace the MVP. Don’t think that you need to go through a lengthy process to bring each of your ideas to market. Instead of pouring money into business planning, R&D and production/manufacturing before you’ve even confirmed that there’s a market that’s ready and willing to buy what you’ll offer, launch a minimum viable product (MVP) to test the waters. Take a page out of the playbook of sites like Product Hunt and confirm market interest before investing heavily.
- Believe in yourself. Quuu wasn’t Daniel’s first entrepreneurial venture, just like Content Marketer and Narrow.io aren’t my first businesses. We’ve both reached the point we’re at today by seizing opportunities and embracing the lessons that we’ve found in our previous failures. You can do the same. Don’t let failure get you down; it’s a necessary frustration all entrepreneurs must deal with. The sooner you start embracing it, the sooner your company will advance.
So now, I want to hear from you. What other lessons do you take from Daniel’s experiences? What else would you add on the subject? Leave me a message with your thoughts in the comments section below:
