discover a need that no one else knows about yet
2026-07-14 13:03 Note Type: Tags: paul-graham, y-combinator, startup, money, friends
I recently came across this article by Paul Graham, whose articles are very famous anyway, especially in the startup world. I loved the line, " you're going to have to discover a need that no one else knows about yet". And ofc, then build it, with your friends, and let them share it with the world, and then those people share it with their friends and so on.
To quote it precisely from his article.
So how, exactly, do you make something people like so much that they tell their friends about it? The problem with market economies, and also the great thing about market economies, is that it's hard to make something customers want that they don't already have. As soon as a new, satisfiable need is discovered, people rush to satisfy it. So you're going to have to discover a need that no one else knows about yet.
How do you do that? By feeling the need yourself.
You're young, and usually young founders should make something that they themselves want. You don't have enough experience yet to know what other people need. But at the same time your own needs are uniquely valuable, because your needs predict future demand. You're the age when people start using new things. Whatever you and your friends start using now, everyone is going to be using in ten years. Since your intuitions about other people's needs are usually a crap signal, and your own needs are an especially valuable one, you should usually listen to the second signal; you should make something you and your friends want.