The most durable businesses come from problems the founder personally had or watched people around them struggle with. That is an advantage rather than a limitation, because local knowledge supplies the detail an outsider researching the market would never think to ask about, and that detail is usually what makes a solution actually work.
The test is whether anyone currently pays to make the problem go away.
Start from a problem you have seen repeatedly
A frustration you have experienced, or heard the same complaint about from different people, is a signal. An idea assembled from watching a market you have never worked in usually lacks the specifics.
Write down what people currently do instead. Every problem worth solving already has a workaround, and how annoying that workaround is tells you how much appetite exists for something better.
Check that someone already pays
The strongest evidence a problem is worth solving is that people spend money or significant time on it now. If nobody does either, you may be looking at an inconvenience rather than a problem.
Ask what they pay and to whom. That gives you a price anchor and shows you who you are actually competing with, which is often not who you assumed.
Test the outcome before building the product
You can deliver the result manually first: over messaging, by phone, or with a spreadsheet. That tells you whether people want the outcome and teaches you the workflow before you automate it.
Building first and testing after is the expensive order, and it is how founders spend their savings discovering nobody wanted it.
Design for the market you are actually in
Products requiring expensive devices, heavy data or reliable electricity exclude a large part of the South African market, which is a commercial limit rather than a technical detail.
Where you collect personal information, obligations under the Protection of Personal Information Act apply from the start, overseen by the Information Regulator. Free business diagnostics to pressure-test an idea are available through the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the best business ideas come from?
Problems the founder experienced or repeatedly observed, because that supplies the detail outsiders miss.
How do I know a problem is worth solving?
Someone already spends money or significant time on it. If neither, it may be an inconvenience rather than a problem.
What should I find out first?
What people currently do instead, what they pay, and to whom. That gives you a price anchor and your real competitors.
How do I test without building?
Deliver the outcome manually, over messaging or with a spreadsheet, to learn whether people want it and how the workflow runs.
What limits products in this market?
Requirements for expensive devices, heavy data or reliable power, all of which exclude a large share of potential customers.
Originally published in March 2018. Updated September 2026 into guidance on finding and testing a problem worth building a business on.
