Here is the real difference between a breakthrough startup and one that’s just treading water... It all comes down to the kind of pain you're solving... See, customers experience what is unideal in their world in two categories. This is what I call the "Power Law of Customer Pain." It says that ✅ For any particular customer in any market, there are: One or two “scorched earth” problems, and A long tail of minor annoyances. ✅ “Scorched earth” problems cause devastation for the customer. This leads to the customer pulling in the startup solution with incredible desperation. The customer needs a scorched earth problem resolved immediately. Something on long tail of minor annoyances may be considered “problems” by the customer, but it’s really not. It is just an inconvenience that is often annoying, occasionally frustrating, but can be dealt with. The customer doesn’t move urgently to act to resolve it. ✅ Customer devastation with the market problem —> [leads to] —> customer desperation to pull in the startup’s solution. ✅ That desperation only happens with scorched earth 🔥 problems.
