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My advice is to solve a problem you yourself have.

This is a subset of "solve a problem someone has".

(Someone = You) is often a sufficient, but not necessary, condition.

(Someone = Someone Else) is an equally sufficient condition, especially for those with subject matter knowledge and industry connections.

Either way, solve a problem.




So what if my biggest problem is determining a valid problem to solve?


That problem can be a business, just like any other. Reference: Eric Ries.

My advice is just to pick something and start. You'll probably end up someplace completely different, but you need to start to get there.


Yeah well an answer would be to solve problems entrepreneurs have, or "selling shovels" as some might like to say. But it's an interesting conundrum, I don't have any deep or special knowledge of some other field that would allow me to see problems faced in that industry, so going by the advice of solving my own problems translates to solve the problems of starting a business.


Why is that your biggest problem? Why do you need to start a company? I can almost guarantee that the reasons you come up with can be solved with alternatives much easier than starting a company.


I want to build something people value from the ground up and don't foresee myself being happy working for another company any longer.


Being a consultant is the first thing that comes to mind. You pick your projects, set your price, and customers tend to appreciate you more than a boss would his employees (outlying companies aside).


I actually agree and thought this originally. But I think it would involve more politics than what I'd feel like putting up with. However I think consulting is a really good business to transition into organically, from simply helping out multiple different organizations then just end up building a career out of it. Plus I think having founded a successful company or two (that's more innovative than not) is a good prerequisite.


I think there's a really good business in that.


then it must be great to be you




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