Don't Chase Ideas. Start Finding Problems.
A practical framework for discovering real problems, spotting market opportunities, and using AI to research ideas worth building.
Quick Overview
Why people instinctively jump to solutions instead of defining the problem
How real opportunities reveal themselves through recurring friction
The signals that separate assumptions from real problems
A framework for finding + mapping problems the way strategists and investors do
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Ask someone what problem they’re solving, and they’ll probably describe a solution.
“I’m building an app that helps people manage their time.”
“We’re creating a platform for freelancers.”
“I want to make a tool that connects X with Y.”
Ask them again what problem they’re solving, and they pause. And sometimes, an honest admission: “Agh, it’s so hard to not include the solution in there.”
I see this often, in workshops, in client work, in conversations with founders.
And this is normal. As humans, we are wired to solve things, our brain loves solutions.
In contrast, problems, feel heavy, almost like you're stuck before you've even started.
What I like about problems is that they keep the solution space open.
Starting with the problem allows for multiple solutions in many different forms.
And that’s the whole secret, that openness and ability to explore what works.
Ideas vs Problems
Problems reveal demand.
What keeps happening that people struggle with?
Ideas create possibilities.
What could we build to solve this problem?
How to Spot Opportunities Others Miss
The art of building useful things begins with a simple skill:
noticing problems others overlook.
Problems are rarely obvious. They have to be noticed, interpreted, and understood.
Before you try to come up with solutions, train yourself to recognize patterns of friction.
Problems leave traces. You just have to know where to look.
You can find them by talking to people, observing a specific situation work, or noticing recurring frustrations in spaces you know well.
They also appear in support tickets, feature requests, and the improvised systems people build when proper tools don’t exist yet: spreadsheets, Slack threads, shared documents, WhatsApp groups.
You see them in Reddit threads where professionals discuss tools that almost work but create friction in daily workflows. They appear in app store reviews that describe awkward product experiences.
Once you start looking for problems, you’ll find them everywhere.
But not every problem is an opportunity.
The ones worth exploring tend to leave evidence behind; recurring complaints, workarounds, data points, or repeated friction in real workflows. If a problem exists only as an assumption, it’s still a hypothesis and needs validation.
The checklist below helps you recognize those signals.
What Makes a Problem Worth Solving?
Use this quick checklist to evaluate whether a problem is worth investigating.
✅ Clarity on who is affected.
Is there a clear group, role, or type of user affected?
✅ The problem is painful or urgent.
Does it cost people time, money, stress, or operational risk?
✅ The problem happens repeatedly.
Does it appear across teams, communities, or situations?
✅ Evidence the problem exists.
Do we have real proof? Research, support tickets, reviews, or community discussions.
✅ People are already working around it.
Are manual steps, spreadsheets, or improvised systems involved?
✅ The problem appears in a specific moment.
Where or when does it show up in a workflow?
✅ Tools exist, but they fall short.
Are existing solutions incomplete, complicated, or frustrating?
A Simple Framework for Identifying Real Problems
Next time you want to build something and need an idea. Try something different.
Instead of asking what could I build, start by exploring what people are struggling with.
What this framework helps you do👇🏽
Instead of jumping straight into ideas, this approach helps you look at a market the way a researcher, strategist, or investor might:
Scan the landscape for signals
Extract recurring operational problems
Validate them with evidence
Analyze real-world workarounds
Assess opportunity viability
Rank the most promising opportunities
The idea is simple: start with what keeps breaking, then use that to identify what might be worth building.
