I can't find any competitors. Is that a good sign?

Because people with a painful problem do something about it. If you cannot find anyone selling a fix, either the fix is hiding in plain sight or the pain is too small to act on.

Paul Graham made the same point in How to Get Startup Ideas (November 2012, read 12 October 2026). He wrote that "a crowded market is actually a good sign" because it shows there is demand, and that it is "exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors". He also warned that "inexperienced founders usually give competitors more credit than they deserve."

Mostly with what people do today. These are your indirect competitors, and they count:

• A spreadsheet or notes app the customer already set up.
• A person they pay, like an assistant, a freelancer or an agency.
• A general tool that does the job badly but well enough.
• Doing nothing, which is often the hardest one to beat.

If the honest answer for most people is "doing nothing", the problem may not hurt enough. That is the most useful thing you can learn this week.

Search the way your customer would, not the way you would describe your product. Then:

1. Search for the problem in plain words, plus "how do I".
2. Read forum threads where people complain about it and note which tools they name.
3. Ask five people in your ideal customer profile what they used last time. Your ideal customer profile is the specific kind of customer who feels the problem most. 4. List everything they mention, including workarounds.

Sometimes a change opens a problem nobody could solve before: a new rule, a new technology, a new habit. Even then, the people with the problem are doing something about it today. Your job is to show your way is clearly better than that something.

Problem Sharpener turns your idea into one problem sentence, points out the part that reads weakest and gives you a way to test it. A sharp problem sentence makes the hidden competitors easier to see, because it names what people do about it now.

Ask five people who have the problem one question: "What did you do about this the last time it happened?" Write down every answer, including "nothing". That list is your real competitor map.

• Paul Graham, How to Get Startup Ideas, November 2012, paulgraham.com/startupideas.html, read 12 October 2026.