Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution

Originally published 2025-11-29Book excerpt (tagged #做難而正確的事; author not identified; the Waze/Page account is from the book and has not been independently verified)

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Collected in Robin Shen’s Field Notes · Content type and attribution are shown above

English translation of the Chinese post originally published 2025-11-29. Translated 2026-10-30 with AI assistance. Historical figures and claims have not been updated or independently verified. 中文原文

Reading guide

The excerpt says that defining a problem is easy: when you describe it to someone, they should say, “Yes, I have that problem too.” The more people describe the problem, the more certain you can be that it is real. Before rushing to devise a solution, repeatedly ask people with the same difficulty how painful it is, how valuable solving it would be, and how often it occurs. The text says that when Google considered acquiring Waze in 2013, Larry Page expressed interest in the “toothbrush model”—something used twice a day. It places problems in a matrix whose axes are total addressable market and degree of pain; the figure is not available.

Key points

Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
People hearing the problem should say, “I have that problem too.”
Establish the problem’s pain, the value of solving it, and its frequency.
Daily problems are more worth solving, according to the book’s toothbrush-model account.

One clear path continues into the distance among several branching routes, suggesting choice and focus. — Entrepreneurship & strategyThematic illustration · AI generated

Full text — English translation

What problem do you want to solve? Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Defining a problem is easy. When you tell someone about it, that person should say, “Yes, I have that problem too!” In most cases, people will tell you how they see the problem and how painful it is when it happens to them. The more you hear people describe the problem, the more certain you become that it really exists and that your value proposition is right. If they describe their view of the problem and also say that solving it would be valuable to them, we can be sure that it is a very painful problem. Before rushing to develop a solution, however, you still need to ask yourself—and repeatedly confirm with people who share the difficulty—how much pain the problem causes, how valuable solving it would be, and how often it occurs. If you are solving a problem people encounter every day, perhaps several times on the commute to and from work, then it is a big problem worth solving. In 2013, when Google was considering acquiring Waze, Larry Page said Google was interested in the “toothbrush model”: something you use twice a day. All problems can be placed in the following matrix. Its two axes represent total addressable market and degree of pain. See the figure. #做難而正確的事 [Do What Is Difficult and Right]

These articles are personal notes, book excerpts, and collected reprints. Figures and events reflect the time of the original publication, are not current information, and do not constitute investment advice.

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