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Paul Graham: You Will Shrink From Contact With Your Users. That's the Mistake.

By Paul Graham · Product · 1 min read

You will make up some idea in your head that you will call your 'vision.' You will spend time thinking about it in a cafe by yourself. And you will build some elaborate thing without going and talking to users — because that's doing sales, which is a pain in the ass.

Key Points

If you care enough about users, the need to grow will eventually give you the right product idea
The mistake: making up a 'vision' in your head instead of talking to users
Find anyone with a problem they'll pay you to fix — best case, you have the problem yourself

You will shrink from contact with your users. That's the mistake you will make.

Follow What Makes Users Happy

Graham: If you care enough about users, you can just follow what will make users happy — the way a scientist follows the truth. Eventually, without much thinking on your part, the need to grow will give you a product idea that's the result of evolution.

Follow what makes users happy the way a scientist follows truth. The product idea will come.

The Vision Trap

Graham: What you will get wrong is that you will not pay enough attention to users. You will make up some idea in your own head that you will call your 'vision.' Then you will spend a lot of time thinking about your vision in a cafe by yourself.

You will build some elaborate thing without going and talking to users — because that's doing sales, which is a pain in the ass, and they might say no.

You'll call it your 'vision.' You'll think about it in a cafe by yourself. You won't talk to users.

Find Anyone With a Problem

Graham: You'd be way better off finding someone — anyone — who has a problem that they will pay you to fix. Fix it. Then see if you can find more people like that. Best case is if you yourself have the problem.

Find anyone with a problem they'll pay you to fix. Best case: you have the problem yourself.

You Will Shrink From Contact

Graham: You won't ship fast enough because you're embarrassed to ship something unfinished. And you don't want to face the likely feedback. So you will shrink from contact with your users. That's the mistake you will make.

You will shrink from contact with your users. That's the mistake you will make.