One of the most common mistakes I notice among aspiring entrepreneurs is that they spend months building a product before speaking to a single potential customer.
I remember having a conversation with someone who was excited about a personal finance app he had been developing. He had invested nearly six months into building the product, left his job to pursue the idea full-time, and even raised some initial funds from his friends and family. He genuinely believed he had created something that would transform the way people managed their finances.
When the product finally launched, the results were disappointing. A few people downloaded the app, but very few continued using it. Believing the problem was with the product, he kept improving the user interface, introduced new features, and tried different marketing approaches. Despite all these efforts, nothing really changed.
During our discussion, he asked me a question that many first-time entrepreneurs eventually ask:
“The product is good, so why aren’t people using it?”
Instead of discussing marketing or product features, I asked him something much simpler:
“Before you started building, how many potential customers did you actually speak to?”
After a brief pause, he admitted that he hadn’t spoken to anyone. He believed he already understood the problem because he had experienced it himself.
That conversation reinforced an important lesson for me. One person’s experience does not automatically represent an entire market. Many entrepreneurs become so convinced that they understand a problem that they skip the most important step—validating whether enough people actually face the same challenge and are willing to pay for a solution.
In my opinion, this is one of the costliest mistakes a founder can make. Successful startups are rarely built on assumptions; they are built on conversations, observations, and a deep understanding of customer needs.
The Problem with “I Just Knew”
Here’s the thing: You are not your customer.
I don’t care how much you understand the problem. I don’t care how much you’ve experienced it yourself. You are one person. Your experience doesn’t reflect the market.
I’ve worked with dozens of founders. The ones who succeed are obsessed with understanding the problem. The ones who fail are obsessed with their solution.
I’ll say that again: Obsessed with the problem, not the solution.
The founder with the finance app thought he knew the problem. But he never validated it. He never asked other people what they struggled with. He assumed his experience was universal.
He was wrong.
Problems Are Not All the Same
After years of watching founders succeed and fail, I’ve noticed that problems fall into three categories.
The Presented Problem: Someone tells you about it. A customer complains. You know exactly what needs fixing.
The Discovered Problem: Nobody tells you. You have to notice it yourself. You watch, observe, and connect the dots.
The Created Problem: You build something and then try to figure out why it matters.
Most founders focus on created problems. They build first and figure out the problem later. That’s backwards. The most successful founders focus on discovered problems — the ones they find by paying attention to what frustrates people.
How to Actually Discover Problems
I’ve seen a few patterns in founders who are good at this.
They get out.
One founder I worked with in logistics spent three weeks riding shotgun with delivery drivers. He watched them juggle multiple apps, get stuck in traffic, and struggle to plan routes. He didn’t ask them what they needed. He watched what frustrated them.
That’s how he found his opportunity. Not by reading reports — by sitting in a truck and paying attention.
They listen.
Founders love to talk. They love to explain their ideas. But you can’t discover problems while you’re talking.
The best problem finders ask questions. They’re genuinely curious about what frustrates people. They don’t interrupt. They don’t jump in with solutions. They just listen.
When you really listen, people will tell you exactly what they need. Most founders just don’t pay attention.
They ask “Why?” more than once.
A founder once told me his customers said the app was too slow. He immediately started optimizing load times.
But if he’d asked “Why?” one more time, he would’ve discovered something different:
- Why is load time important to you? → Because I check this during lunch break.
- Why do you check it during lunch? → Because I don’t have time at work.
- Why don’t you have time at work? → Because I’m in meetings all day.
The problem wasn’t load time. It was that his customer had no time. The real solution wasn’t a faster app — it was a mobile-first experience designed for 15-minute lunch breaks.
A Simple Way to Dig Deeper
I recommend this exercise to founders who are stuck.
When you discover a problem, ask “Why?” five times. Don’t stop until you reach the root cause.
A fintech founder I advised noticed people weren’t using his investment app.
- Why? → Because they didn’t trust it.
- Why? → Because they didn’t understand how it worked.
- Why? → Because the interface was confusing.
- Why? → Because we designed it for experts.
- Why? → Because we assumed our users were financially literate.
The real problem? They were designing for the wrong person.
They changed the interface. They simplified the language. Retention improved immediately.
That only happened because they asked why instead of assuming.
Written By
CA Roshan Jha
Founder, Startup Solutions 247
Chartered Accountant | Big4 Experience | Startup Advisor