Make Something People Want
YC’s motto, misunderstood
In 2021, after leaving Bumble, I had a runway for a couple of years and decided to build my own thing. After launching the first version and getting initial traction, we applied to Y Combinator, the well-known startup accelerator. Thanks to that early traction, which all came from a single Hacker News post, we made it to the interview stage. And got rejected. In their feedback, they said that the market was already overcrowded and that we needed to show some growth first.
They were right. After making all sorts of strange decisions and pivots in our “go-to-market strategy,” in the end, we couldn’t grow it further.
One thing has stuck with me ever since. While preparing for the interview, you often see their motto – “Make something people want.” Back then, it sounded like just a nice phrase.
Nowadays, specializing in product growth, I realize the importance of every single word in that motto. And I often see how people confuse it for something else — just like I did back then.
Misunderstanding #1. Make something people need
This is the most common way people misread that motto.
The idea is simple – if you meet someone’s need, you will make money and grow your business. It’s the basis of all those “painkiller over vitamin” theories. Reality is not that simple. Otherwise, all casinos and games would go broke.
Needs are passive. I might have a need, but without the desire to buy something, I might spend another two years just living with that need. To help people make a decision, we must work with their emotions, not just convince them logically.
Misunderstanding #2. Make something people like
People in this group believe that if you make something people really like, they will pay for it – because it’s beautiful, useful, or cool. Unlike the previous approach, this one captures emotion. But it introduces another risk – we start over-emphasizing the product itself. We want to make it so good that people cannot say no.
In reality, our products are not that important in people’s lives – they are just a way to achieve something. I don’t want to like my mattress; I just want to sleep well. I don’t care about the mission of the company that makes my toothpaste; I just want to avoid cavities.
We generally don’t care much about the products we buy. We want the story to be about us, not about them. After all, we are the ones who pay.
As people working in growth, to make sales, we need to think deeply about our customers – their emotions, struggles, and desires. The product is only a tool; it should simply do what it promises.
Words matter. Changing a single word changes how we approach business entirely – what we put at the center of our attention.
Not to mention, many people change more than one word: make something my mom likes, make something to impress my friends, make something I like, and so on.
Make something people want.
To attract a cat, you need to know what she wants.