In our first episode, Brian and Hsu Ken talk about why you should focus on problems, how they found problems for the 3 startups they've founded and what advice they have for first time founders. If you're already working on your startup or have an idea, apply to our accelerator program here: https://bit.ly/apply-to-w23-iterative

Specifically the following questions.

1. Why is it important to focus on problems, not solutions?
2. Why it's important to work on a good problem?
3. How to tell if a problem is a good problem?
4. Do you need to have the problem to solve it?
5. How do you look for good problems?

If you're thinking about starting a startup, this is where you should start.

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Brian Ma
Brian is a General Partner at Iterative. Prior to Iterative, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Divvy Homes (a16z, GIC). In 2014, he and Elpizo Choi started Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013. In 2005, he was one of the first PMs at Zillow before they launched. Brian has a BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.

Hsu Ken Ooi
Hsu Ken is a General Partner at Iterative. Prior to Iterative, he was the Chief Product Officer of Workmate, an on-demand blue-collar staffing platform in Southeast Asia. In 2014, he was VP of Product at Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com was an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013. Hsu Ken has a BS in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Washington.

Iterative
Iterative is a YC style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia by the founders of Divvy (a16z, GIC), Weave (YCS14), Decide (acquired by eBay) who have collectively raised $100M+ in VC. Iterative invests US $150K into early-stage startups twice a year then works with them intensely for 3 months culminating in a Demo Day.
https://iterative.vc

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:36 Why is it important to focus on problems, not solutions?
4:33 How Brian and Hsu Ken discovered Decide.com's problem
9:05 Focus on the problem for user discoverability and compounded learnings
12:05 The impact of a good problem
14:02 Characteristics of a "good" problem
18:40 Do founders need to experience the problem themselves?
22:35 How do you find a good problem?
32:06 The 2x2 framework to categorise problems
43:54 How Brian and Hsu Ken discovered Weave's problem
48:28 How Brian discovered Divvy's problem