"What can I alone solve, and for whom?"
The moral
Producing has never been easier, so producing no longer sets anyone apart. What sets you apart is solving a problem few people see, for specific people, in a way that is hard to copy. The right question does not start from what you know how to do, but from what you alone can solve, and for whom.
Origin of this quote
My perspective on this quote
José DA COSTA
This question came out of a more famous one: make something people want. It is true, but incomplete for me. In the age of AI, that order becomes more demanding, not less. Since producing has become easier for everyone, the only ground where you can still open a gap is relevance: understanding a pain others have not seen, answering it before it becomes obvious, and making that answer hard to copy. The shortcut I create something, I just have to sell it takes the problem from the wrong end: it starts from the offer and only then looks for a demand. The right end starts the other way around. That is why I keep asking myself this question: what can I alone solve, and for whom? The alone forces me to look for my own edge, what my path, my mistakes and my obsessions let me see better than others. The for whom keeps me from drifting into the abstract and anchors me in real people, with a real need. As long as I have no clear answer to those two words, I know I am only stirring around. Once I have it, the rest, building and selling, becomes almost secondary.