What problem are you trying to solve?

So much churn in my career would have been solved with just asking the right question... PLUS: read to the end for a great example of Simpson's Paradox...

Too often in my career, overeager colleagues across multiple functions ask, “Can we do X, Y, or Z?”

I always tell them, “The answer to the can question is almost always yes, but first, tell me, what problem are you trying to solve?”

Entrepreneurship isn't about solving problems for the problem's sake. It's about creatively solving the right problems.

As engineers, our default mode is to match problems with solutions. We like to dive in headfirst, concoct a remedy, and be on our way. It could be a quick fix or a bit of hackery. It could be an elegant innovation that will stand the test of time. Either way, that effort won’t matter if you aren’t solving the right problem.

Startups, above all, are challenged by people milling around and solving the wrong problem to the detriment of the larger mission. I see a few reasons for why this happens and why it is such a problem in what I call “The Three Paradoxes:”

1.) The Paradox of Efficiency.

A startup’s maximizing function is to use its resources smartly to reach the next stage of product-market fit and growth. Even well-funded startups are ticking time bombs beholden to the Power Law¹ - so solving problems that enable the company’s success is crucially important!

Unfortunately, sometimes startup employees try to efficiently tackle problems as they appear, rather than focusing on the highest impact problems. Ask, “What problem are we trying to solve?” and you might see that you are in a death-by-a-thousand-cuts situation of bug squashing versus prioritizing what matters.

Solve the wrong problems and risk throwing a wrench into the works.

2.) The Paradox of Ambiguity.

Startups are, by their very nature, incredibly ambiguous. Maybe it is a new market with an emerging customer base that doesn’t quite know what they need yet. Maybe it’s a novel application of technology in the solution, and we don’t quite know how the pieces fit together yet. Maybe it’s everything, everywhere, all at once.

When startup employees see ambiguity, sometimes the default reaction is action. Sometimes, bias for action is the correct response! When faced with many uncertain choices, picking one first and knocking it off the list is entirely rational. The paradox is that, within ambiguity, are we solving the right set of problems to turn ambiguity into clarity?

Going deep into building a complete solution for a customer challenge that might reflect a niche circumstance, not the market as a whole, is an example of solving the wrong problem within ambiguity. Ask, “Why did we choose this path?” and you might see that it’s the wrong problem in the first place.

3.) The Paradox of Creativity.

All startups think of themselves as creative. Most are merely clever.

Engineers often default to clever. A clever person takes the constraints of a specific problem and devises a solution that works. But when you aren’t solving the right problem, this leads to solutions in search of a problem. If you discover this too late in your startup’s journey, you are dead in the water.

Creativity is more than clever input maximization: it is taking on a new perspective to understand the contours of the customer you are serving. Paradoxically, creativity requires space to approach a problem obliquely rather than head-on. How often have you banged your head against your keyboard at the office, only to have a moment of enlightenment later on in the shower after a run?

Ask, “What is the impact on the end-user and customer?” and you will be farther along in solving the right problem creatively than most.

Software is complex. Customers and people are complex. Building a company is complex. Life is complex. The more that we hyper-focus on the how—getting it done, going from point A to point B—the more we lose sight of the forest for the trees, potentially solve the wrong problem, and miss out on the creative breakthroughs, deep insights, and more that just come if you can state what the problem is…

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🔗 Links Worth A Read

• Why We Built A System of AI Agents to Automate E2E Testing - “the next major wave of innovation will come from task-specific LLM-based systems that connect and orchestrate multiple expert models and techniques to achieve a certain goal”

• The Folly of Hunting Enterprise Whales - In enterprise SaaS, which would you rather have - 1 deal for $500k, or 10 deals for $50k each?

• Why visa reforms benefit not just California’s tech sector but the economy overall - Read my Op-Ed in CalMatters calling for immigration reform

• Large Language Models: A Survey - a thorough comparison of the LLMs currently on the market

• Ethan Aaron via LinkedIn “Here's what's happened with Snowflake, and where it's going” - I couldn't have summarized the whole Snowflake situation better

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PS: here’s a great example of Simpson’s Paradox 😉

“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

1. A small number of investments drive most of the returns. In other words, 90% or more of early stage startups will fail.