One of the hardest things to remember when building a startup is to start with the problem.

It’s so easy to be seduced by a vision you have in your head about some way the world SHOULD work.

You fall in love with the exciting opportunities that are possible if only investors and users saw the world that same way you did.

In reality investors, and users, tend to respond with more urgency and energy when you are solving an immediate and painful problem in their everyday lives.

Find a real, urgent and (economically) painful problem. Then find a pragmatic and tactical solution.

Then, and only then, do you get permission to create new value, build network effects and change the world in creative ways.