The One Exercise That Finds Your First Product

The One Exercise That Finds Your First Product

Set a timer for 20 minutes.

Get a blank page, digital or paper. Don't overthink this. Write down every problem you've solved. Every situation where someone came to you asking for help. Every time you figured something out that seemed hard but turned out to be learnable. Every process you built that works. Every question people ask you repeatedly.

Don't filter. Don't judge whether it's impressive. If you solved it, write it down. If three people asked you the same question, write it down. If you spent six months figuring something out, write it down.

The product is already on that list. You just have to find it.

Why This Works

Most people who want to build a product start by asking: what should I build.

This is backwards. You don't have ideas sitting around waiting to be built. You have problems you've already solved. You have knowledge you've already acquired. You have shortcuts you've already learned. You have failures that taught you what doesn't work.

That's the inventory. That's the raw material.

The problem you've solved is a product because someone else is going to want to solve that same problem. They're going to hit the same wall you hit. They're going to spend hours or days trying to figure out what you figured out. And they would pay to skip that part.

What Goes on the List

You don't need to filter for "impressive" or "novel" or "nobody else is doing this."

You write down:
- Problems you've solved in your work
- Things people ask you to help with repeatedly
- Processes you've developed that save time
- Things you've learned the hard way that could help someone else
- Decisions you had to figure out that most people don't think about
- Questions you get asked constantly
- Things you know that your friends don't

This is just an inventory. Some of these won't become products. That's fine. The list is messy and incomplete. That's correct. You're not done learning. You'll never be done solving problems.

You're just looking for the one that's worth turning into something other people can buy.

How You Find the Real One

After the 20 minutes, read the list. Look for the problem that shows up multiple times in different forms.

Someone asks you about it.
You've solved a version of it in your job.
You've seen other people struggling with it.
You have a specific way of approaching it that works.

This is usually near the top of the list. Not always. But usually.

Look for the problem where you have a clear framework for solving it. Not just random advice. A repeatable process. A way of thinking about it. A sequence of steps that works.

The best first product comes from solving a problem where you've already developed a method. You didn't just wing it once. You've done it multiple times and realized, "Oh, there's a system here. That's how I approach this every time."

Why Your First Product Doesn't Have to Be Perfect

The inventory exercise works because it anchors you to reality.

You're not trying to invent something new. You're not trying to be creative. You're not trying to find a market that doesn't exist yet. You're just articulating something you already know how to do.

This means it doesn't have to be perfect. It has to be real.

An imperfect course on something you've actually solved is worth more than a perfect course on something you think might be a problem. An incomplete framework that comes from your actual experience is worth more than a complete framework that came from research.

The people who buy your first product are buying it because they trust that you know what you're talking about. They don't care if your presentation is polished. They care if your thinking is clear.

Who Buys This Product

After you finish the 20 minutes and you've identified the problem, ask yourself one question: who is currently struggling with this.

Not "who might struggle with this someday." Who is actively hitting this problem right now.

These are the people you'll sell to first. These are the people who are desperate enough to buy before you've built anything fancy. These are the people who will give you feedback and help you improve.

A course on how to interview candidates is worth something. A course on how to interview candidates if you're a startup founder hiring your first engineer is worth a lot more, because that's a specific person with a specific problem who's actively trying to solve it.

The Exercise In Practice

Let me give you an example of what this looks like.

You set the timer. You write:

• How to organize a growing email list
• Choosing between outsourcing and hiring
• Managing ADHD and complex projects at the same time
• Building a product with limited resources
• Communicating with your team when you're not on site
• Pricing your own work without underselling
• Learning to code when you're over 40
• Managing your own time without a manager
• Deciding what not to do
• Getting unstuck when a project isn't moving

Now you look at this list. You notice that half of these come up when people talk to you about starting their own business. You notice that you have a specific way of thinking about time management, about what skills actually matter, about how to scale without losing quality.

The product is right there. It's something about building a business when you're bootstrapping. It's about how to move fast without hiring a team of ten people. It's about the specific constraints and advantages of being a solopreneur.

You know this. You've lived it. You have frameworks for it. People ask you about it.

That's the product.

What Comes Next

You've identified the problem. You know who has it. You know what your approach is.

The next step isn't to build the perfect course. The next step is to articulate it clearly enough that someone else can understand and use it. That might be a guide. Might be a course. Might be a community. Might be one-on-one coaching. The format follows the problem.

But first, you have to know what you're solving. The inventory exercise gets you there. It's not creative. It's not based on inspiration. It's based on your actual experience.

And that's worth more than inspiration.

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