[dchuk]

While it's important to initially form an idea around a problem to be solved, the focus really should be on building a product to solve a problem in such a way that it would be painful for your customer to stop using your product.

That's how you create enough demand to properly charge for your product versus offering it for free and it being considered just a really cool idea.

That being said, there's quite a few "startups" launching every week that are really just neat projects or ideas, but aren't proper startups/products/businesses. That doesn't make them bad, just not in the same category as something that charges money. They're essentially trying to solve a problem they created themselves...said another way, they're a solution in search of a problem.