Forget Pain Points: Think Convenience

Are you searching for the next big new idea in AI?

This advice from Ev Williams, co-founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium should serve as a signpost.

His advice are for entrepreneurs searching for the next big idea for the Internet in 2013, but it is as relevant for AI today.

Here is a summary of his advice:

“The Internet is an engine of convenience. We often think of the Internet as enabling you to do new things. But people just want to do the same things they’ve always done. Take a human desire, preferably one that has been around for a really long time…Identify that desire and use modern technology to take out steps.”

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Who is Ev Williams and Why You Should Listen to Him?

Ev Williams is the co-founder of Blogger, which coined the term “blog.” He later also co-founded Twitter and Medium. It is undeniable that his work has had a profound impact on the Internet. After 20 years of experience, he presented his “unified theory of the global computer network” at the XOXO conference in Portland, Oregon, in 2013. He believes that the key to success on the Internet is not to invent something entirely new, but to improve upon existing human desires by offering greater convenience.

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The Internet as an “Engine of Convenience”

Williams posits that “the internet is simply a giant machine designed to give people what they want.” He emphasizes that it’s an “engine of convenience,” and those who can “tune that engine well” by solving basic human problems with greater speed and simplicity will succeed.

He notes:

“We often think of the internet as enabling you to do new things. But people just want to do the same things they’ve always done.”

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The Evolution of His Understanding

Initially, in 1994, Williams described the internet as “a puzzle comprised of three things: Computers, information, and people.” However, his view evolved. He now sees the internet’s essence in “connections” – between people, data, and software. Likes, follows, check-ins, and shared thoughts are all examples of these proliferating connections.

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Convenience: Speed and Cognitive Ease

The organizing principle behind what thrives online is convenience, achieved primarily through two things:

1. Speed: People don’t want to wait.
2. Cognitive Ease: People don’t want to think.

He highlights that major Internet successes like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple master these aspects by removing steps from complex actions.

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The Formula for a Billion-Dollar Internet Company

Williams offers a clear formula:

“Take a human desire, preferably one that has been around for a really long time…Identify that desire and use modern technology to take out steps.”

Examples:

• Blogger: Simplified content publishing by removing manual steps like saving and uploading, allowing users to “simply type their content into a web form and click ‘publish’.”
• Uber: Addresses the ancient desire of “getting from here to there” by “tak[ing] out some steps in that process” and forming a direct connection between the user and the driver.

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My Own Take

Most investors and entrepreneurs look at great ideas from the perspective of pain and painkillers. But many ideas that took off seemingly don’t solve a great pain. E.g., What pain does TikTok solve? What pain does ChatGPT solve?

While we could argue that inconvenience is a pain, that only happens after we experience greater convenience. Ev Williams’ “engine of convenience” perspective offers a better way to identify great ideas.

If you are still not convinced? Here are examples of how humans have always pursued convenience to the extreme of creating whole industries:

• Agriculture: We don’t want to grow our own fruits, vegetables, crops, and livestock.
• Food & Beverage: We don’t want to cook our own food.
• Manufacturing: We don’t want to create our own physical products.
• Transportation: We don’t want to walk everywhere.

GenAI and LLMs now gives as a new level of convenience, similarly in both speed and cognitive ease. Thus, it is no surprise that it take off as the fastest growing technology in human history.

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Let’s Share This to Help Others

If this helps you, or you know friends searching for the next big ideas, share this post to help guide their journey.