Why I stopped brainstorming startup ideas and started collecting problems
When I first tried to build startups, I did what many founders do:
I brainstormed ideas.
I wrote lists of “cool products” and “big markets”.
Most of those ideas went nowhere.
Over time, I noticed a pattern:
I was starting with solutions, not problems.
The mistake I kept making
I rarely talked to real users before building.
When I did, I often asked questions like:
“Would you use this?”
People usually said “yes”, but nothing happened later.
I realized that I was asking the wrong questions.
What I tried instead
I started asking people a simpler question:
“What is a problem you deal with often and would like to solve?”
People answered very differently.
They talked about small, annoying, but real problems they face at work or in everyday life.
What I learned from 150+ real problems
After collecting more than 150 real problems, a few things became clear:
- Many problems are small, but very painful
- People describe problems in their own words, not in “startup language”
- Good problems often don’t sound exciting at first
But they are real and recurring.
Turning this into a small project
At first, I collected these problems just for myself.
Later, other founders asked if they could see them too.
Eventually, I turned this experiment into a small project called ProblemHunt.
It’s a simple place where people share real problems, and founders can browse them before building products.
This is still early, and I’m not sure yet if this format is ideal.
What I’m still trying to understand
I’m curious how other founders approach this:
- How do you usually validate problems?
- How early do you talk to users?
- What signals tell you a problem is worth solving?
I’d really like to learn from your experience.
If you’re interested, check out ProblemHunt here:
https://problemhunt.pro