Strategies to find out if your company is solving a big problem - 4/23

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Co-hosted with Red Sentry, The Johanson Group, and a crew of YC S25 founders. Plus, Madison from The Room podcast will be there too.

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📰 Today's Edition: Why Solving a Big Problem Matters… But Only Sometimes

It's not always important to solve a big problem.

If you want to run a successful local ice cream shop, you can build a fantastic business and make a great living. That's a perfectly valid path.

But if you're seeking venture capital, the game changes entirely.

The VC Definition of a "Big Problem"

In venture capital, "big problem" has a specific meaning tied to financial outcomes.

At Hustle Fund, we invest in companies that can produce outsized returns. We need these returns to pay back our limited partners—the people who invest in our funds.

When we invest, we ask one simple question: at the post-money valuation that we can invest in your business, do we think we can 100x?

If we invest at a $1 million valuation, we're looking for a $100 million outcome. That means selling to Google or going public at that number.

Why 100x? Because that's what it takes for a single investment to return the fund—covering all the capital we raised before we see any profit.

The big returns from a few winners need to make up for the many investments that don't succeed.

So when VCs talk about "big problems," we're really talking about:

• Large total addressable markets (billions of dollars at stake)

• Evidence of strong, unmet demand

• Ability to acquire customers effectively and efficiently

• Potential for massive financial outcomes

That's the venture-backable definition. Yours might be different—and that's fine.

How to Determine If You're Solving a Big Problem

How do you figure out if your problem is venture-scale? Here's what works:

1. Do Your Market Research

Start by understanding your Total Addressable Market. ChatGPT can help with initial research, but don't stop there:

• Industry reports

• Competitor data

• Market size calculations

• Growth projections

Then narrow to your Serviceable Addressable Market—the portion you can realistically target initially. Maybe you're building a global solution but starting with the US. These boundaries define the real scope of your opportunity.

2. Conduct Customer Validation (The Step Most Founders Skip)

This is where most founders fall short: they don't talk to enough potential customers.

If you're building a sales solution, talk to heads of sales at tech companies. If it's a consumer product, interview dozens of potential users.

What you're looking for in these conversations:

• The intensity of the pain point

• Their willingness to pay for a solution

• The urgency with which they need it solved

• Current alternatives they're using

• How they'd measure success

Customer discovery isn't about confirming people like your idea. It's about measuring the temperature of demand. Lukewarm interest vs. "when can I have this?" is a telling difference.

3. Map the Competitive Landscape

Understanding competition doesn't mean you need a unique idea. Few successful companies are truly novel.

But you do need to know:

• Who else is trying to solve this problem

• Their strengths and weaknesses

• Where you can differentiate meaningfully

• What barriers to entry exist in the market

Bring up competitors in customer interviews. How do potential customers feel about existing solutions? What gaps do they see?

4. Test with Minimal Viable Products

Before building a full solution, test with MVPs:

• Wireframes or mockups in Figma

• Landing pages that gauge interest

• Manual processes that simulate your eventual automated solution

• Simple prototypes that demonstrate core functionality

Show these to potential customers and experts. The goal isn't perfection—it's learning quickly whether you're on the right track.

The River Analogy: Finding Market Pull

Here's a useful mental model:

Imagine your company as a person treading water in a river.

In scenario one, the river has no current (no market pull), but you're capable of swimming 100 miles an hour. Maybe through sheer founder effort, you can push things forward.

In scenario two, the market itself has a strong current—a 100-mile-per-hour flow pulling you forward. Even if you're just treading water, you're moving quickly.

The unicorn founders? They swim 100 miles an hour in a river that's already flowing 100 miles an hour. Now you're progressing at 200 miles an hour.

When you feel it, you really feel it. And it almost feels like you're succeeding despite yourself, despite not having enough money or the right kind of people. People are still trying to push you forward. That is an incredible feeling. That is really rare to find.

Signs you're in a fast-flowing river:

• Customers eagerly giving you money with minimal sales effort

• Waiting lists forming for your product

• People begging for access to your early beta

• Progress happening despite resource constraints

• Word of mouth spreading without marketing spend

When the market pulls you forward, you can feel it. And VCs can see it.

The Verdict: Big Problem or Not?

After this work, you should know whether you're solving a venture-backable problem.

There's no shame in building a business that isn't venture-scale. Not every company needs or should raise VC.

But if you are seeking venture capital, be honest with yourself about the size of the problem you're solving.

Is it a billion-dollar opportunity? Is there market pull? Can it 100x?

These answers will guide not just your fundraising strategy, but your entire business model.

Dunky, the flying hippocorn

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