What's the PROBLEM your product solves?
In the month that I've been here, I've been noticing a pattern in a lot of launches - strong demos, polished UI, clear outputs of "what it does."
But when I ask myself "What problem does this solve?" I sometimes have to dig for the answer. (I come by that thinking honestly - I've spent 33 years building and fixing businesses, so this is the lens I can't turn off.)
The products where the problem is obvious are the ones people actually buy - you see it, you go "oh, that's exactly my issue," and you're sold on it.
It also makes pitching easier. If you're clear on the problem, explaining your product to anyone - buyers, other makers, whoever - gets a lot simpler.
And it's a small tweak with a big payoff - naming the problem clearly in your launch messaging can be the difference between people scrolling past and people stopping to actually look.
Curious what others think: when you're checking out a launch here, do you look for the problem first, or does the demo/output usually sell you on its own?
Replies
WebCurate.co
I completely agree with this. Whenever I check out a launch, the first thing I try to understand is the problem it's solving. A polished UI and nice demo can definitely grab attention, but if I can't quickly understand why I would need it, I'll probably move on.
In fact, I think products with an average design but a very clear problem statement often perform better than products with amazing design but unclear value.
@hosseinyazdi I'd agree with you on that - I had a Client spend $30k on a really slick marketing campaign that looked great but didn't bring in any business (she did this before we worked together). And why didn't it work? She wasn't clear on the problem she solved - it was all about her and her credentials, trying to convince people she was the right person to hire - but they didn't know for what!
Receiptor AI
For @Receiptor AI the problem is dead simple but widespread: businesses, finance teams, accountants are wasting time, money and nerves chasing receipts and invoices for bookkeeping, tax returns, and audits.
In one sentence, you have my ICP, the pain we address, and the use cases!
@luigi_receiptorai You NAILED it - that's having CLARITY on the problem you solve!
But here's what I'm wondering: if the problem is that clear and that widespread, why are most businesses still doing it manually? Is it a "we don't know a solution exists" problem, or is there something about the switching cost/behavior change that keeps them stuck even after they know better?
Propane
It's a mix.. the problem needs to resonate, but so does the messaging and solution
@atherkildsen Agreed, it is a combination and having the clarity on the problem you solve helps the messaging resonate.
Propane
@anna_ludwinowski 💯
Problem first, always. If I can't tell what gets easier in the first few seconds, a slick demo just feels like a feature looking for a reason. The demo only earns my attention after the problem makes me feel seen.
@fbajo "A feature looking for a problem" - nailed it!
The pain is simple: many independent educators and storytellers assume that quality animation requires a studio, a team, and a huge budget—so their ideas never get made.
I'm an indie creator from Chennai, India, and I started RandomTyms while trying to solve this problem for my own family.
My children wear glasses, and I wanted them to see heroes who look like them, speak a natural mix of Tamil and English (Tanglish), and navigate the same modern world they do.
So I began experimenting with an AI-powered workflow built entirely on a smartphone to see whether one person could create engaging educational stories without traditional production resources.
RandomTyms isn't just about relatable stories for kids—it's also an exploration of whether local creators can build meaningful educational media without needing a studio-sized budget.
@randomtyms Thanks for sharing here! Sounds like you're solving a huge problem for indie creators in this specialized area. The question is does your messaging clearly pinpoint the pain from that problem? Are your Prospects utterly frustrated because they think there's no other way besides having a studio & huge budgets?!
@anna_ludwinowski Thanks Anna, really appreciate you calling this out! You're right about the studio/budget pain. For me it started more personal — my two kids wear glasses and never saw heroes who look and talk like them in Tanglish. I built RandomTyms so parents like me don't need a studio or huge budget to give their kids that representation. I'll tighten the messaging to make that frustration clearer.
oqoqo
Absolutely agree! Sometimes as creators we tend to fall in love with the solution. We were recently redesigning our website and after a couple of iterations I realized that we never mentioned the problem we are solving anywhere. Guess this happens to the demos here too. Great reminder!
@margharitha Ha, it happens to all of us, at some point! The main thing is you noticed and can fix it ;)
SlimSnap
Problem first, always. For @SlimSnap it's this: you paste a screenshot into a coding agent and it edits the wrong element on a busy screen, so you redo the work. The fix is marking the exact element so the agent acts on that instead of its best guess. The sharpest way I've found to say it: the longest prompt you'll ever write is a screenshot.
@bickov Very cool product! While I like the tagline you mention (it is snappy), something that hits harder at the problem would be something like: "You point at one element. The agent edits a different one. You redo the work - every time, until you give up in frustration and fix it by hand. SlimSnap marks the element so the agent knows, not guesses." This shows the bleed and the bandage ;)
SlimSnap
@anna_ludwinowski This is much sharper, thank you. The escalation is what mine was missing, "redo it every time until you give up and fix it by hand" is the part that actually stings, and that's the real cost, not the single wrong edit. Stealing "shows the bleed and the bandage" as a test for any problem statement. Quick one: do you find the bleed has to come first, or can the bandage lead if it's vivid enough?
@bickov If it bleeds, it leads - a vivid bandage without the bleed just reads as a feature, no matter how well you phrase it. You only feel the relief of a bandage once you've felt the cut.
The only exception is when the bleed is so universal nobody needs it spelled out - everyone already knows the wound, so naming the bandage alone triggers it in their head automatically. That's rare, though.
Does it reduce the steps and make it easier to solve a problem than the existing tools that already solve the problem? - is my first thought.
Lesser steps, same output - saves time, gets my job done quick, and eventually more time to focus on other things.
@aakash_srinivasan Great - if that's the problem your product solves (time is money!), make sure that appears CLEARLY in your messaging copy.
Totally agree. When the problem is clear, the demo feels like proof instead of decoration.
That was a lesson for us with Vault, too. The output looked nice, but the real problem was helping users understand how they can avoid spending hours designing and coding engaging website interactions from scratch if they just use Vault.
We had to sharpen the messaging, and that tiny shift made it much easier to understand.
This is an interesting question and as someone who is about to launch, this has got me thinking - am I actually capturing the audience and do they understand my product. I am in that phase where I have a product I believe in but getting it out there is proving more difficult than expected.
@lisa_doherty Congrats on the launch!!
That gap is so real right now - you're deep in the "I believe in this" phase, and the market hasn't caught up to how you see it yet.
One thing I've found useful: if you had to name the exact moment someone would reach for 360now - not the workflow, but the moment itself - what would that be?
Maybe something like "you just got promoted into managing people and have zero idea if you're actually any good at it." That puts the audience into that sentence where they can FEEL the tension and say, "oh yeah, that's ME!".
Sometimes the audience-capture problem is really just that the moment hasn't been named yet.
@anna_ludwinowski Thank you Anna. Very wise words. Appreciate the advice.
@lisa_doherty You're most welcome - glad it was helpful :)