Startup Rule #3: Solve A Pain Point

Ask yourself what pain you solve? You have to solve a consumer or industry pain point. If you don’t you’re just another copy cat product or service. Does it make it easier? quicker? cheaper? Too often startups fall into the trap of creating something they think is neat or cool and fail to ask this basic pain point question.

For example, lets say you want to open a coffee shop. OK, but what pain point are you solving? Is there a lack of coffee shops in the area? Is the current coffee offering too expensive or of bad quality? Is there a convenience problem with the current offerings? You have to ask these questions, you have to ask potential customers these questions. Only then will you create something that brings value to the market – because you will in some part help solve a market pain point.

Say the problem with the area in convenience. You have to find parking, you have to walk in, you have to walk out, the weather is always bad half the year. The pain point is convenience. Sure the current offerings are doing just fine, but there is opportunity in solving this particular pain point. A potential answer – drive through service. It’s quick, it’s easy, I don’t have to park, I can stay in my car, I’ve created my own market position.

One company that did ask is Dutch Brothers Coffee with 124 coffee stands in only six states.

When you solve a pain point you create new market space, you change the game. For that reason Startup Rule #3 is Solve A Pain Point.

Startup Rule #5: Don’t Try To Do It All Yourself

The most important investment a startup can make is an investment in its people. When you’re not working on your core product you are wasting your most important asset, your time. Treat your sweat equity like you are actually getting paid by the hour. You have to value your time like you are getting paid. If you spend three days trying to set up the legal aspects of your company then you’ve wasted three days of productivity. If you think your time is worth $20/hr, those three days just cost you $500. Hiring out the tasks to a law firm who specializes in startups for $350 is a better move, not only will the firm set up the right legal entity for you, but it will come with advice and guidance.

The same can be said for tasks like accounting. Hiring a friend or accountant for $15/hr a few hours a week will free up your time so you can focus on whats most important, building your business. If you bog yourself down with doing the day-to-day tasks required to run a business you won’t have enough time or energy to actually do the stuff you wanted to do in starting your own business. In everything you do, you will have to pay somebody. Whether you pay someone else or pay with your own time, you still have to pay someone. The sooner you start learning this, the quicker you will build and grow your business. If your business goals include building something bigger than yourself, you might as well start building the support structure around you sooner than later.