[kunle]

I think the OP is on to a pretty big theme. Most of our lives we're taught to solve problems, not to find them. The idea of an exam is that you're given a bunch of problems to solve. Most people describing themselves would (or would like to) score themselves highly on the ability to solve problems.

In an environment where everyone is smart and driven (such as SV), being a good problem solver is just not enough. Being good at finding and articulating valuable problems is much harder, and I would bet that more startups/founders fail at this. Part of this is because, most people are never trained, and never think to ask what makes a valuable problem.