It all starts with an idea – that amazing spark an entrepreneur attempts to turn into a business. The question is whether that initial idea or concept solves a real problem. It’s a fundamental question that underpins every business that wants to scale. For a startup, defining what it means to ‘solve a problem’ is more complex than it seems. Yes, the entrepreneur may be motivated by an observation or a frustration and want to disrupt established industries, but it’s often difficult to do these things in a way that has the potential to grow.
The path to a billion-dollar valuation isn’t just about clever technology – it’s about finding a solution that addresses a genuine problem for millions of consumers or businesses. The most successful startups solve real pain points – issues that are present in everyday life, can be tested, and don’t just exist in the imagination or on a pitch deck. Startups that thrive are usually the ones that build products or services that solve pressing, everyday issues.
This article explores how to define a real problem, how ideas are discovered, and how to test an idea for its potential to scale. It also examines common pitfalls, such as becoming too attached to a concept or technology before the ‘problem-solving’ aspect is established.
The issue is pressing – the UAE startup ecosystem is currently ranked 21st in the world and second in the Middle East, with a 32% annual growth rate between April 2024 and April 2025. It’s a growing hotbed of talent and investment. Founders need to understand how to harness this and ensure the idea they are bringing to the market has what it takes for the long haul.
Identifying a problem worth solving
We’re not talking about a solution to a mild inconvenience – the key is to identify a gap in the market that causes genuine frustration. The issue might be contributing to inefficiencies, financial losses, and missed opportunities on a scale large enough to warrant building a company to address it.
This scenario is encountered repeatedly when looking at some of the world’s most successful startups. Airbnb emerged from the frustration around expensive – or unavailable – hotels during peak events. Uber solved the difficulty of hailing reliable transport in cities. Slack understood that workplace communication was becoming ever-more fractured and sought to find a solution.
It’s true that these companies had innovative technology as part of their solution, but it wasn’t just tech for the sake of it. They identified widespread, relatable challenges and figured out a way to solve them. In other words, they didn’t need to ‘invent’ demand, as they were already addressing problems that millions of people were dealing with.
Does the problem justify launching a business?
This checklist will help you determine if your problem has the potential to scale into a successful business:
- Are you experiencing it yourself? It’s very common for startup founders to be motivated by the urge to solve their own problems. If you’re experiencing an issue on a daily basis, you have unique insights into its nuances and potential solutions. The question is whether the issue is urgent enough for it to be solved on a large scale.
- Are you seeing daily inefficiencies? When you are observing everyday business operations, it’s amazing how problems start to reveal themselves through all kinds of inefficiencies.
- Listen to customers. When you’re doing market research, it is not only about asking people what they want but also about understanding the problems they face. Look for recurring themes when you scan forums or social media. Use these to validate whether those frustrations are truly widespread.
- Observe changes in the landscape. It could be a new technology, a demographic shift, or an update to a regulation. These can all create problems in existing markets that need to be solved.
- Check if others are using workarounds. If other people are using their own solutions, and those workarounds are not optimised or smooth, a seamless version has a good chance of finding a market. If you’re noticing workarounds, it shows both demand and dissatisfaction.
Testing the viability of your business idea
So, the problem you have identified definitely exists – the next stage is to test the viability of your solution.
Having gone through the checklist above, you need to ask some tough questions. How frequent and intense is the problem? Is the issue faced by a large enough market to support growth? These factors will help you determine whether the problem has the urgency to warrant building a company around it.
The next question is whether people will be willing to pay. Not every frustration generates demand for a paid solution. Gaining a deep understanding of the competitive landscape is key at this point – ask whether the existing solutions are inadequate, or whether the market is already served sufficiently. And what is the level of urgency? Problems that can be solved with minimal education and show immediate benefits are more likely to scale quickly than those requiring significant time and capital.
Finally, it’s important to ask yourself if you have fallen in love with your technology or your initial concept but are now simply hunting for a problem to attach it to. Taking this path can often result in a product that feels forced. It may solve an issue – but is it one that customers see as a priority?
What we are talking about here are the many apps that launch each year with slick interfaces but no compelling reason for people to use them. Investors will be quick to spot this mismatch. A ‘problem-first’ mindset is essential. The most effective solutions feel inevitable because they address the issue so perfectly.
Building your startup to solve problems at scale
Even if your startup begins by solving a specific issue for a niche group, the potential for scale depends on how universal the problem is and whether your solution can evolve. This development could take the form of an app, taking a cue from Facebook, which scaled horizontally from one demographic (college students) to a global network. Alternatively, you can scale vertically by solving related problems that exist in the space your startup operates in, which we saw with Shopify when it grew from offering simple online store tools to a wide variety of payment and logistics options.
At its heart, entrepreneurship is not about building technology, raising capital, or chasing valuations. It is about solving problems that matter. The startups that endure, and those that reach the billion-dollar mark, are almost always those that address real challenges in people’s lives or businesses.
Ideas are everywhere, but truly transformative companies are rare. The difference lies in identifying problems that truly matter and committing to solving them better than anyone else.
