| >"We are living in a time when doing what gives us meaning and what market demands from us are ever so aligned. Building things that motivate me gives me meaning. And there is a market for those things" Apparently not tho, right? . There are conflicting pieces of advice in the start up world I think. 1, do something that you're passionate about, a startup is a tough and long, to remain engaged enough to put in the effort necessary you have to want to do it. 2, Build something people want. Ive heard both of these pieces of advice from y combinator folks via videos etc. If people don't want what you're passionate about, it won't do you any good to build it anyway. You have to be passionate about something that people just happen to want too. Yet if I look at success stories I don't really believe the founders were that passionate about what they ended up with ; they later will rationalise what they have with something that sounds like a legitimate passion by abstracting out to a level that meets that requirement. So I think the advice that says 'do what you love!' even when combined with 'make something people want', is not particularly useful. . I think you have to be passionate about making a business work. Not necessarily passion for that project, but passion and determination to make your own thing a success. The market has to determine the eventual shape that thing takes. Chances are you won't be particularly thrilled in your gut about your apartment rental solution, or cloud file sharing service. Honestly, thats not that exciting is it. But when asked the founders will talk about it like they're saving humanity. I don't buy their enthusiasm for the project itself, what I think happens is they have a passion for making their own thing work. Market fit first + passion is great. But passion needn't be for that idea. I think passion for the idea can be a problem as shown here. |
In a perfect world, people will want to use products I am passionate about building. But since that is rare, I think we need to find balance between what our hearts tell us to build and what people need.
Maybe the safe balance is, as you say, being passionate about making our own things work.