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technique
Problems list
1 creator use or recommend it
▲ 1 active in the last 90 days
1 recommend
Last discussed Nov 12, 2026
A practice of keeping a running list of problems people complain about, used to generate business ideas.
Recently discussed in
How to Get Rich (My Talk at a Business School)
Ali Abdaal · Nov 12, 2026
What creators say
Ali Abdaal
Recommends it
“So if you're just going to take one thing from this video, I would recommend, if you haven't already, start a problems list on your phone. And every time you talk to people, just ask them about their problems. And as they're telling you about their problems, just write down some of the problems that you're gathering on your phone.”
Why Ali recommends Problems list Hide
- Good for
- Generating business ideas by collecting people's problems
- Likes
- Starts from real problems people will pay to solve rather than a solution looking for a problem
- Compared with
- Contrasted with starting from a product idea, which leads to building things no one wants
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