TC Disrupt Experience - Seriously, What Problem are You Solving?

I think some of this gets back to talking to customers asap and getting over the fear of them telling you that they don't want your product. The faster they tell you what pains they really are having, the faster you can move in the right direction. But good pitches need the one sentence "here's who we are" followed by the one sentence "here's how we're solving your problem". Get that correct and people will at least know why you are worthy of taking their cash. And as he referenced, vitamins = where you spend spare change, health care (painkillers) = large $$

Wait, what? You're writing a rant about other entrepreneurs not solving problems when your startup is "google alerts for video games and movies" with no apparent business model?

>> You need to be a painkiller, not a vitamin.

If you read that article, he actually says "very few are (painkillers)" ... being a vitamin isn't bad, it's just easier to market a painkiller ...

>> I feel like an asshole for saying all this, because I never want to talk badly about fellow entrepreneurs.

The fact that you have to add this to your post is a good clue that it may have been unwarranted or poorly worded.

Look, my startups don't cure cancer but I like to think they solve problems for people. If people ask me for honest advice about their startup or pitch, I will definitely give it. But I don't go to conferences and then publicly rip the participants (or most of them).

I know you didn't ask for product feedback, but I think your product has a problem: You need early adopters to start using it, but early adopters naturally hear about the news and developments that you claim to deliver. In otherwords, I shared your product with a few coworkers, we signed up, then we all independently decided that we'd hear about those things naturally, through other channels. Sounds like a vitamin.