Solving real pain is the only shortcut to demand.

I once paid twenty dollars for a garbage bag at a concert just to stay out of the freezing cold rain.

I remember standing there, soaked and shivering, while a guy walked by selling garbage bags for twenty bucks each. Not ponchos. Not jackets. Garbage bags.

And I paid it without thinking twice.

In that moment, the pain was so real that the value felt obvious. I did not care what it looked like. I did not care what it cost. I cared about staying warm and getting through the night.

That is supply and demand in its purest form.

When the pain is high enough, people will always pay a premium. They are not buying the product. They are buying relief. They are buying safety. They are buying a way out of discomfort.

Every great startup is built on that exact moment. The moment when someone is cold and tired and desperate for a solution, and your product becomes the garbage bag that saves their night.

If you want people to pay for what you are building, solve a real pain. Feel their discomfort. Understand the urgency. And build the thing that makes them say yes without hesitation.

Solve a real pain and people will pay real money.

linky

  • ChaosMaterialist [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    27 days ago

    I feel like I’m punching down by criticizing LinkedIn posts because this whole thing reads like a self-own. Garbage poncho dude exploited an transient arbitrage moment and this LinkedIn Bro thought he got a Harvard Business degree. How does this guy get inspired by garbage ponchos but completely miss how poncho seller found his market? I guess that’s why he’s an inspired LinkedIn bro instead of a garbage poncho seller himself.

    I remember standing there, soaked and shivering, while a guy walked by selling garbage bags for twenty bucks each. Not ponchos. Not jackets. Garbage bags. And I paid it without thinking twice.

    Unlike the author, this dude looked at the weather report and exploited the author’s lack of preparation. I once heard a national park rescue worker say that Westerners are so accustomed to controlled environments they get themselves into all sorts of trouble, like brazenly driving through a blizzard and getting stuck, or (in this case) not looking at the weather report and bringing a poncho.

    Every great startup is built on that exact moment.

    Buddy, nobody is buying $20 garbage bags on the regular. A single arbitrage moment does not make a business.