If no one has solved the problem, it's not interesting
Look for where money is changing hands to find your next market.
Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash
Everything has been solved by now. Yes, everything. Not everything has been solved well. There’s always room for improvement. Sometimes even a 10X improvement. But everything has been solved.
I’ve challenged people time and time again to find one example that would change my mind and I’ve yet to encounter one.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” -Henry Ford
So, first of all, it turns out Henry Ford probably never even said those words. But more importantly, this quote is often misused in my eyes.
While Ford did disrupt our world with the automobile, in a time when the horse and carriage were all the rage, he didn’t really solve a problem that wasn’t already being solved - transportation.
The Quadricycle was introduced by ford in 1896 when most people thought a horse was a great way to get to the other side of town. But back in 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railway chartered for commercial transport of passengers and freight. What’s plainly apparent is that by the time Ford introduced his first rickety automobile, a far cry from the 1908 Model T, people had been used to traveling and transporting goods with giant machines for over 70 years.
Disruption necessarily indicates an existing market
Think about it, you can’t disrupt a vacuum!
Disruption (definition: “disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process.”) can only occur when there is something to disrupt.
Any amazing disruption has always occurred in a large market.
In the transportation industry, there have been many such disruptions - the domestication of animals, the wheel, sailing, the steam engine, the automobile, flight.
What’s the common denominator of all these innovative disruptions? They all changed the way we do something that was already being done.
Yes, sometimes disruption runs so deep that it actually creates new behaviors and markets, but it is always rooted in an existing market.
“Follow the money” -Deep Throat, All the President's Men
I know, I know. This phrase means that if you follow the money, you’ll find the corruption. But it’s still good advice.
If a LOT of money is exchanging hands, that means there is a serious problem, pain or need that people are willing and able to pay for. Usually, some of them are unhappy with it. Sometimes, they don’t even know they are unhappy.
If you can carve out a sub-market of those unhappy folks, a common denominator that would bind them together as a segment, both product-wise and more importantly, marketing-wise, and give them something which is noticeably better for them, you’ll have traction and revenue.
Final thoughts
I hope I’ve convinced you not to run and do something “no one has done before!”. As my 16th-century harmony teacher would say when I was studying music in college - “I don’t care if it’s original! Pizza with an ice-cream topping is original but it’s still disgusting!”
Don’t try to invent a market that no one is paying good money for. Try to bring a better solution to people who are happy to pay. Be creative, brilliant and disruptive where there’s room for it!
Do you have any thoughts or questions?
Please comment, I’d love to hear from you!