Yesterday I bought a beer at a movie theatre. The bottom of the cup is smaller than the cup holder on the theatre seats, and the cup turns sideways and spills if you try to use the holder.
When a UPS driver couldn’t find my father-in-law’s house, I was prompted to change the address of my delivery and forced to ‘update’ a correct address because the driver was lost. My delivery date went from 1 day to 2 weeks, and I had to spend an hour on the phone to sort it out.
A new printer installed seamlessly for a new Mac. But for an old PC, the only solution is to upgrade the entire operating system, even though HP forces you to install all of their proprietary software.
My pre-booked, 25km Uber ride cost me $57 – the driver got $21. You can tell me about willingness-to-pay and value, and then I’ll tell you that I was served ads the entire time using the app.
It’s not easy to stay passionate about cup holders, shipping and printers, but that’s not the point. Passion can be found in elegantly solving problems that would otherwise create friction in the lives of your customers.
If you need a business idea, companies show their hands everyday; just go about your life and wait until you have to talk to customer service for a large brand or buy a product off the shelf that disappoints you. The friction is where the opportunity is.