Start with the Problem, Not the Solution | 3min snip from Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth

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Lessons from a two-time unicorn builder, 50-time startup advisor, and 20-time company board member | Uri Levine (co-founder of Waze)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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Start with the Problem, Not the Solution

Falling in love with the problem serves as the north star of your entrepreneurial journey, leading to less deviation and a higher likelihood of success. Always begin with a big, worth-solving problem that many people face. Understand their perception of the problem before building the solution to ensure value creation. Focus on why you are solving the problem and the value you create for the user, rather than starting with the solution or the company's technology.

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Uri Levine is the co-founder of Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, acquired by Google for over $1 billion. He’s also founded nine other companies, been on the board of 20 companies, and advised more than 50 companies. He’s most recently the author of Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs, hailed by Steve Wozniak as the “Bible for entrepreneurs.” Uri is dedicated to creating impactful startups that solve real-world problems and has seen everything from failure to moderate success to big success. In our conversation, we dig into:

• Why falling in love with the problem is key to startup success

• The phases of the startup journey and how to navigate them

• Why firing is more important than hiring

• How Waze iterated to achieve product-market fit

• Tactics for telling a compelling story when fundraising

• Much more

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