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Step 02 / 08 · Find a problem worth solving
Is your problem painful, frequent and expensive for a specific group of people? And do you understand it better than anyone? Great companies start there.
Why it matters
The most common startup is a solution looking for a problem. The founder builds something clever, then goes hunting for someone who needs it. The problems worth building for are the ones people already try to solve with spreadsheets, workarounds, consultants or sheer effort.
A sharp problem makes everything downstream easier. The product is obvious, the message writes itself, and your first customers find you because you describe their day better than they can.
How to do it
Not “small businesses”. Try “owners of ten-person plumbing companies in Québec”. The narrower the customer, the faster you learn.
Ask about their last week, not your idea. What did they spend time and money on? What did they try, and what did it cost them?
How often does it happen, how much does it cost, and what do they use today? A problem that is rare, cheap or already solved is not a company.
The strongest signal is money or hours already going into a bad solution. That budget is your market.
One paragraph a customer would read and say “yes, exactly”. If you can’t write it, you haven’t found it yet.
Common mistakes
You’re ready for the next step when
From the studio
Our companies start from gaps we have lived with. TrustSwap began that way: large crypto deals ran on trust or on expensive lawyers, and nobody offered simple escrow. The best problems are often ones you have paid to solve yourself.
Where the studio can help
Partnerships, corporate development and positioning: the relationships that open markets and doors.
Experience · Founding Partner of GDA Capital. Mentor and advisor at Techstars, Founder Institute, Outlier Ventures and FounderFuel.
Positioning, brand, messaging and a plan tied to revenue, from the first campaign to a full marketing function.
Experience · Led an 8-figure brand launch at L’Oréal Canada. CMO at TrustSwap. Youngest person ever on the Canadian Marketing Association’s Martech Council.
Read next
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Building something genuinely new, and why monopoly-level focus matters.
Work with the studio
Tell us what you’re building and what you need. We read every application, and every founder gets an answer.
