People Who Make Ladders Instead of Seeking Immediate Fruits: The Conditions of a True Startup
Date
Mar 11, 2026
Classification
- Startups
#
- Success/Failure Analysis
Why is starting a startup difficult?
#StartupEssence #ProblemSolving #JCurve #EntrepreneurialMindset #BusinessStrategy
🫑 3-Line Summary
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The true meaning of a startup is not simply a company growing rapidly, but a group that ultimately solves incredibly difficult challenges that others avoid.
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The approach of picking only the 'bottom fruit' that is easy to obtain for immediate sales eventually loses its distinctiveness and collapses on the test of sustainability.
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True startups focus on the process of silently building a solid ladder, even if they are hungry right now, in order to monopolize the 'sweetest fruit' at the top.
🥦 Insight
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The Business Pie Grows Bigger the More Difficult the Problem
Easy problems that are immediately visible are accessible but can be quickly replicated by anyone, so they are bound to become a fierce red ocean in no time.
The massive and complex barriers that others want to run away from are precisely the most certain weapons that, once overcome, provide our team with overwhelming benefits and exclusivity.
If the difficulty of the problem you are trying to solve feels overwhelming and suffocating, it is paradoxically proof that this is the right direction to open up the largest market, so feel free to trust yourself and dig deep to the very end.
🥄 A spoonful of execution
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Why don't we honestly assess whether our team is merely scavenging the fruit at the bottom for immediate survival, or if we are busily building a ladder to solve the real problem?
—— View Original ——
Why do only places that solve 'insanely difficult problems' survive?
We commonly define startups as "early-stage companies growing rapidly along a J-curve." It is a cliché answer that pops up if you type into a search bar. However, having weathered the rough waves of the startup world for eight years, the conclusion I have reached is a little different.
Startups are not simply companies that grow quickly. They are groups that inevitably solve "terribly difficult problems that seem impossible to solve ." It does not matter whether that problem concerns the economy, society, or the future of humanity. The key lies in the fact that the ripple effect generated when these difficult challenges are solved completely overturns the landscape of the market.
Someone might retort, "Isn't it enough to just solve moderately easy problems smartly and generate good sales?"
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