Avoiding a Founder Black Eye: Ask “What’s Your Problem?” FirstI remember being a kid in school, having to stand up to a bully — more than once.The go-to line was always: “What’s your problem?!”And deep down, you kinda hoped they’d actually answer. Maybe you’d find some common ground, talk it out, and walk away without anyone getting a black eye.Funny enough, that same question might be the most important one founders don’t ask.Recently, my cofounder Mark van Ryswyk and I were invited to speak at the Founders Network Summit (Shout out to Kevin Holmes), and someone in the audience asked a great question:“As an early-stage, funded startup, why spend precious capital on focus groups?”Mark’s answer was spot on:“Because otherwise, we’d be solving for X… when the real problem was Y — essentially building something no one actually wants.”In fact, one problem we were certain we’d be solving for didn’t even crack the top five once we actually asked our ICPs.Here’s the thing:We meet with our ICPs every single week. And this isn’t some one-off “focus group” box-checking exercise. It’s ongoing, structured, and intentional. These conversations shape product, messaging, and priorities in real time.Early on, speed mattered. So we hired someone from within our own network to help facilitate the initial sessions — not just to run them, but to teach us how to do them right. That decision paid for itself many times over. Today, we run these sessions internally and weekly.As founders, it’s tempting to skip the uncomfortable part — truly asking and digging into “What’s your problem?” — and jump straight to building.Often we over index on: "If we build it, they will come."But spending investor dollars solving the wrong problem, only to realize it halfway through, is a far more expensive lesson than running a few interviews or focus groups.There are plenty of scrappy ways to do this — Google Forms, video calls, coffee chats. The format matters less than the commitment to listening.The point is simple: Go ask, “What’s your problem?”Go back to the playground. Ask the slightly uncomfortable question early.Otherwise, you might find yourself back on that same playground —only this time, it could be your investors handing out the black eye. 🤣🤣