Solve A Problem

Richard Feynman once wrote a four paragraph letter of apology to one of his students. The student had been struggling with a problem that Feynman had suggested. Recognizing the error, Feynman tells him that what really matters is to solve a problem that he can solve.

"It seems that the influence of your teacher has been to give you a false idea of what are worthwhile problems. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to."

"No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it."

Startup founders and product managers can take this to heart. Your first product won't be the whole product for the market. What can you do today? What problem can you solve right now?

You can find the full text of Feynman's letter in What Problems To Solve at Hotel Genius.