Looking for other people's problems
If you can fix your own software pain in an afternoon, you weren't the buyer. Here's the frame I'm using to find problems worth selling into.
This blog is how I get to $1M, inshallah. I'll write what I'm doing so I can't fake progress — and so anyone hunting for something worth selling can steal the useful parts.
If you can clear your own software problems in an afternoon, you were never the buyer. Builders with AI underprice pain. Business owners with staff and lost deals do not. Same headache, different wallet. Sell to the second group.
A problem is worth chasing when:
- They already lose money or time on it, repeatedly
- They already pay people or tools to cope
- Existing software only covers part of the job
- You can own the finished outcome, not another chat UI
- It passes three checks: they can pay, you can stand the work, and a $20 model can't finish it alone
You don't need to love the industry. You need to care about the workflow. Talk before you build. Ask what they do today, what breaks, what they've tried, and what it costs — not whether they'd "use an app."
I'm starting with paid delivery for one job at a time. Software comes after I know which parts actually repeat.