Should You Follow Your Passion?

A founder describes building around hot technology, raising funding, then realizing the company had no clear problem to solve. Caldwell says this happens when teams start with a technology they like and look for customers afterward. He compares the pattern to pursuing school-style approval, such as investor interest or friends’ excitement, instead of forming a clear view of customers and the market.

Caldwell questions advice to follow a broad passion, such as the environment, without a specific customer problem in view. Seibel distinguishes problems people encounter in daily life from global issues they may struggle to measure or improve. He points to unreliable bank card transactions as a concrete problem YC-backed founders addressed in their country.

Caldwell describes early Microsoft and Apple founders as people drawn to microcomputers before they were an obvious market. He defines passion as caring about an activity even without money or approval from authority figures. Seibel adds that founding teams may have different motivations, and asks what can sustain them through years of work.

Seibel warns that familiar ideas, such as coordinating outings with friends, have often been tried before, and founders should research whether their idea is distinctive. Caldwell argues that users, revenue, and a working product can make founders care more deeply about a business. Seibel recalls Justin.tv and Twitch attracting substantial traffic, including about 30 million monthly visitors, which helped motivate the team despite the company’s struggles.

Caldwell says founders can draw motivation from working with co-founders, having autonomy, and taking on meaningful consequences. Seibel recommends making revenue a visible goal because tracking whether it rises can encourage continued effort. They contrast those intrinsic motivators with chasing funding, prestige, or other external approval, which may look rewarding early but may not sustain a startup.