Future = Opportunity. Just like a Problem is.

Had the pleasure of talking to Bill Reichert of Garage Tech Ventures at the @Startup Grind Georgia event. It’s such an unfortunate thing that in Silicon Valley people of his expertise walk in the streets and the rest of the world struggles to get the access… But anyway thanks to Colin Donohue and the rest of The Startup Grind Team for making Europe-Asia Connect Conference.

To get to my point for years I’ve struggled to understand what was the difference between a startup solving a problem and a startup building a future. As I believe I’m building a future and my problem is not of today, this thought kept me up at night: How do I present my startup in a way that makes sense?

And now with a very simple exchange with Bill I came to an epiphany and huge load got off of my mind.

What I didn’t understand before and I realize now is that building a future is an opportunity. Just like solving a problem. Investors do not invest in your solution just cause you’re a problem-solver. They see an opportunity in solving a problem. Bigger the problem and a need for solution, the better. That’s why investors want to see the problem clearly, it helps them understand and believe in your solution.

So if you can make it very clear why the future you’re building is going to happen then you don’t need to be solving the problem of today. You just need to present your solution as an opportunity. Period.

There’s nothing new about what I’ve written above. But I have never looked at it from this perspective. And it eases my mind.