All posts by Paras Chopra

Many people say they want to quit smoking or reduce their alcohol intake.

Yet days later they find themselves smoking or drinking again. How many times your friends have told you that they want to get fitter, only to later discover them ordering a large, cheesy pizza? We, humans, are notorious for saying something but doing something else. This tendency is troublesome for entrepreneurs because when people express their desire for something, it’s a mistake to take that on its face value.

(As an aside, if you’re interested in knowing how to form good habits that you can keep for long, read my essay on habit formation).  ...  Read the entire post →

Human desires have been shaped by millions of years of evolutionary programming and therefore haven’t changed much during the course of history. In fact, the most fundamental desires of food, sex, health and security have remained the same as they were for our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Sure, as culture evolves, new derivative desires emerge to help fulfil our basic desires in a better way. For example, the desire for transportation is derived from the desire for doing business with far flung areas which in turn is derived from the desire for profit which itself is derived from our desire to feel safe by hoarding resources for the rainy days. ...  Read the entire post →

You create value when you fulfill the unmet desires of people better than the alternatives they have (from competitors). 

The idea that capitalism rewards things that are rare and valuable was proposed by Scott Adams in his essay on career advice where he recommended readers to master various skills until no one else has the mix that you have. That’s great advice.

The same applies to startups too as the only way you succeed in the market if you provide something that’s rare and valuable to customers. For example, Facebook succeeded because it fulfilled the desire of college students to know who from their class they could date (the valuable part). Before Facebook, social networks weren’t limited to a particular college and hence it was difficult to find people who are in the same class and are also looking for a relationship. By limiting signups initially to Harvard University, Facebook created a destination for dating. No other social network did this at that point in time (the rare part). Notice that had Facebook done only the valuable part or only the rare part, it would have not succeeded. ...  Read the entire post →