We spent months writing code for a beautiful platform that nobody wanted to pay for. It is a mistake I have made more times than I care to admit.

Now, when a customer complains about a massive pain point in their business, I do not start sketching out a solution. I ask one question instead:

"What have you tried to do to solve it?"

If the answer is nothing - if they have not even done a simple Google search to find a workaround - the problem is not actually a problem.

It is just noise. People love to complain about friction, but they only open their wallets for the friction that is actively costing them money or time. Real pain leaves a paper trail of half-baked solutions, manual spreadsheets, or abandoned software trials.

Of course, the danger here is that you might miss a truly latent need - a problem so fundamental that the customer does not even realize a solution is possible. But those are the exceptions.

For 95% of features and products, the rule holds: if they haven't searched for a cure, they aren't sick enough to buy your medicine.