Most Entrepreneurs Don’t Solve Big Problems Anymore
What happened to entrepreneurs who wanted to change the world over making a quick buck?
Let’s stop assuming that having the title “Entrepreneur” automatically means you’re making a big impact in the world. It doesn’t.
When we hear the “entrepreneur”, we think of someone who is financially independent. Rich. Drives a sports car. Has “freedom” to determine their own schedule. Someone who “changes” the world. Someone who dreams big and goes against the grain. Someone who “hustles” or is on “the grind” 24/7.
We’re all talk
When you think about entrepreneurship, you probably think about Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson. SHIT…you might even throw Donald Trump in the mix!
I was born and raised in the Silicon Valley and I’ve heard and seen it all. I know brilliant engineers who’ve went to the best schools, gotten the best grades, and have developed the strongest skills in engineering move to careers in which they build products that make no meaningful change in the world whatsoever.
I’ve seen people go to hackathon to hackathon just spend their weekends working on apps that make it easier to send GIFs to your friends or take funny pictures. Damn, it’s great to use hackathons to build your skills, but if these projects are all you do, there is so much more opportunity to use your skills for GOOD. And I’m no saint, I’ve done this too.
I’ve seen people create startups than are an “Uber for X” or Food Delivery app. For God’s Sake, please. We don’t need another food delivery app or an Uber for Dogs or a cloud enterprise solution or photo-sharing app that allows you to choose from over 63 filters!
I mean c’mon, look at this video about a gas-delivery app!
And don’t think this only applies to tech, I’ve seen my fair share of digital marketing “entrepreneurs” and social media “gurus”, portray themselves and their business as if they’re leading the way for positive change in the world.
Let’s be real
We live in a world where people love to tweet about problems in the world and how the world should be, but don’t do SHIT about it.
There’s so much hypocrisy that I don’t know where to begin. The business world is chock full of investors who complain about how our political and economic system are or how healthcare is broken or how there’s so much poverty in our country, yet when there’s a company that they can invest in or a nonprofit they can donate in order to support this cause they pass it up.
The same thing with founders. Everyone and their grandma is complaining about politics and how many problems our country has. But are they doing anything about it? NO. You can’t say you care about societal problems when you work at a big bank or a company that focuses on helping rich people manage their investment portfolio better.
Mo Problems Mo Opportunities
Our country and world don’t lack problems.
- The majority of people don’t have access to quality affordable healthcare.
- The education system is failing to keep up with technology and student loan debt is at an all-time-high.
- Billions of people don’t have electricity.
- Millions don’t have clean water.
- Our ozone layer is depleting while the world is being polluted.
- The immigration system is broken.
- Our country has a mental health crisis and has a deadly mass-shooting every few weeks.
- Poverty is rampant.
- Our political and economic system is controlled by special interest groups and lobbyists.
- The criminal justice system is unfair to POC and minorities and protects those with big business interests.
I’m just started. I can go on and on and on. These are big, scary challenges, but there is a lot of opportunity to solve these problems as a business or social enterprise.
Solving a real problem will lead to success
Most startups fail because they build something that nobody wants. In other words, they’re solving a problem that nobody has or that doesn’t exist.
There is so many big, real problems to find that you can empathize with in your own life, with your community, and whole that’s around you. You just have to get out of your comfort zone and bubble to recognize the problems that people are having around you and envisioning a better way to do things.
The problem you solve should be like migraines. They won’t go away.
“You will need to significantly increase your chances of startup success if you focus on solving only those problems that are causing serious issues for your customers. Customer problems are either headaches or migraines. Your ordinary headache is just something annoying. ‘Oh, I have a headache,’ and maybe you take an aspirin or you don’t. Either way, it goes away and you don’t even remember it an hour later.”
“And then there are migraine problems … They are horrible! The pain is like an icepick in your brain … With most pain you can lie down or do something to make it bearable. With a migraine there is no escaping. The world is blurry and your stomach is churning … That’s a problem worth solving. Hence the commercials. Hence the drug and Botox and billboards on the side of the road advertising doctors who treat them with everything, including brain surgery. From the handful of migraines I’ve had, I can tell you, on a scale of 1 to 10, the pain is a 10. A throbbing 10.”
Let’s give it up for the social entrepreneurs
There are countless businesses, social enterprises and nonprofit that are making positive change in the world.
Remember in 2008 when every single person was wearing TOMS shoes. In 2006, the founder, Blake Mycoskie, saw tons of little children walking on dirty streets with no shoes to protect their feet in Argentina. His solution was TOMS — a for-profit business that sold cute shoes with a buy one give one business model that was sustainable and not reliant on donations.
Or Warby Parker who not only makes amazing glasses at a great prices, but also is committed to helping to world see and has built in a Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program into their business model.
charity:water is one of my favorite non-profit organizations of all time. After a decade of promoting night clubs, partying in NYC and a moral crisis, Scott Harrison left his party life to work for humanitarian organizations. After his experience at working in Mercy Ships, an org providing free medical care in Liberia, he found out that most people were getting such terrible diseases because they didn’t have access to clean drinking water. He then started charity:water and the organization has given over 7 million people clean water in over 24 countries.
It’s time to put your effort where your mouth is
I’m not one to leave out a call-to-action and, again, I’m not a saint. But there are two types of people in this world — people who solve problems, take action and make meaningful change and then there are people who don’t, people who complain about problems and don’t make a actual difference in the world. Which one are you?
Do meaningful work for nonprofits. Sign up for Wethos — https://wethos.co
If you’re a person with skills in anything from website development, design, marketing, social media, writing or more, sign up to do freelance work with Wethos. I’ve been working there as a designer for 2 months and it’s been challenging, yet very fulfilling!
This company was started because we believe the nonprofit sector — the most hardworking and passionate people in society solving the world’s biggest problems — simply deserve better. Nonprofits are understaffed and overworked and the way to help them is to give freelancers a way to get paid for doing meaningful work. Our mission is to give nonprofits access to the highest quality products, resources, and talent.
We have gotten over 1000+ freelancers and nonprofits to signup with us and have facilitated over 100+ projects and we’re just getting started!
The sad reality is that we live in a world where people value getting the most money; however, I truly believe that most people in this world would rather do something that fulfills them, do something that they find meaningful and fun, and do something that solve the problems in the world that they deeply care about.
Now what are you waiting for. GO CHANGE THE WORLD!
If you’re passionate about social impact or want to go deeper on this, hit me up at rohitrtigga@gmail.com or on Twitter. I’m always happy to collaborate and hear about projects, ideas and initiatives that make a positive change in the world!
