Don’t Build Ideas, Solve Problems
One of the most common (and deadly) mistakes in entrepreneurship is creating a solution before identifying the problem.
You might think you have the next big idea, but have you really done the research to see if it could be successful? Is there a need in the marketplace? Is the space full of slow-moving companies unwilling to change? Then maybe you have an opportunity. If not, you might be wasting money and time.
The first where do you begin is to look for problem? Ask yourself the questions: What do I want to make absurd two years from now? What products I cannot live without? Validate your problem? Who needs this solution to the problem? Is there a market for the solution?
Solve real painful problems. Google made search better. Amazon simplified online buying and selling. Netflix solved on-demand streaming media. Uber is trying to make on-demand car service better. What can you make smarter or better?
”MODERN STARTUPS SOLVE REAL PROBLEMS”- AND THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THIS STATEMENT RIGHT
MYRA -ONLINE PHARMACY
Founder — Aziz and Anirudh
The fastest and smartest way to get your medicine
Bengaluru-Based Myra Is An Online Pharmacy That Delivers Medicines At Home In An Hour.
THE PROBLEM WHICH FORCES THEM TO COME WITH THIS IDEA:
The idea of Myra Medicines stemmed from a problem faced due to inaccessibility of medicines at a time of need.
Faizan Aziz fell sick on a monsoon day in Bengaluru. The process of purchasing the prescribed medicines left him exasperated. A few days later he had not fully recovered and his wife fell ill too. So a feeble Faizan had to go out to get medicines for his wife and got them only after an hour’s struggle.
The next day, he narrated the painful experience to his friend Anirudh. Both friends then realized that delivery time is a critical issue and it can be solved using technology and data science. That’s how Myra was born in April 2015.
The startup, which does 1,000 transactions a day, says it has a customer retention rate of 75%.
“WE HOPE TO HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ILL, OLD OR ANYONE WHO NEEDS ACCESS TO MEDICAL CARE,“ SAYS CO-FOUNDER FAIZAN AZIZ.
HEALTHIFYME — LIFESTYLE TRACKING PLATFORM
FOUNDER — TUSHAR Vashisht
HealthifyMe is an app that connects users to fitness trainers virtually, motivate them on goals.
Tushar (CEO and Co-founder HealthifyMe) had returned from his investment banking career in the US to join the Unique ID project with the Govt of India.
His job took him across India to several villages, towns and cities. At the end of it, he was convinced he wanted to help people improve their lifestyles. Lifestyle diseases, which Vashisht noticed were a major problem among the vast population, caught his attention.
HealthifyMe recently crossed 1 million downloads, the second healthcare app to touch this figure (the first was Practo).
The Bengaluru-based startup raised $7 million in 2016 and was featured as one of the best apps on the Playstore.
INSHORTS — NEWS IN 60 WORDS
Founders: Azhar Iqubal, Deepit Purkayastha, Anunay Arunav
Inshorts summarizes long news articles to 60-word articles that are crisp and concise. In the era of information overload this is an elegant solution.
The FOUNDERS realized that the future of the country, the youth, who were ready to spend hours on Facebook or WhatsApp, were not even aware of the most important news of the day.
Seeing this repeated pattern around us, and after talking to these people, we concluded that the ONLY REASON THE YOUNG GENERATION WAS NOT READING NEWS WAS BECAUSE THE EXISTING SOURCES WERE VERY CONTENT HEAVY — not optimized for a person who wants to get updated in minutes. SO, WE STARTED NEWS IN SHORTS TO ADDRESS THIS PAIN POINT.
THE INSHORTS APP ROLLED OUT IN SEPTEMBER 2013 AND HAS GROWN TO OVER 8 MILLION USERS. “ABOUT 40% OR APPROXIMATELY 4 MILLION USERS” ARE ACTIVE ON A MONTHLY BASIS.
As you can see from all the above examples, some of the most successful STARTUPS STARTED BY IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEMS AND THEN FINDING A SOLUTION TO IT. Consumers are overwhelmed with the paradox of choice on daily basis. FOCUS ON BUILDING A MUST HAVE NOT A NICE TO HAVE PRODUCT FOR THEM.
