5 seconds of a pitch are enough to know the bad entrepreneurs

The other night, I had dinner with a group of about 40 young entrepreneurs on my college campus. As expected, I spoke to many enthusiastic founders and heard many pitches about the projects they were working on. But there was one student, in particular, who stood out. He was clearly passionate about entrepreneurship and the startup he was building. He told me how he had spent the summer at a corporate internship that he didn’t enjoy, but as soon as his work day was over, he would meet up with his co-founders and they would work on their startup late into the night.

Eventually, I asked him to give me a quick pitch of his startup. He lit up with excitement and then began with: “We are building a…”

I didn’t hear the rest of his sentence because, honestly, I stopped paying attention. He could see where he was going, and it wasn’t a good destination.

I interrupted him mid-sentence. I’m sure it seemed a little rude, but I needed to use the moment for a valuable lesson. “I’m not trying to be an idiot.”I told him, “but the moment you started talking about what you’re building, you lost me.”

He seemed confused, and I could tell he wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong. After all, he had spent months building whatever it was, putting his heart and soul into it, and here I was telling him he was doing it wrong. I understand. But he was making one of the most common mistakes young entrepreneurs make, and the sooner they learn to avoid it, the better.

Here’s the hard truth: entrepreneurship is not about building products. It’s about solving problems.

In other words, the moment you start talking about what you’re building instead of the problem you’re solving, you lose sight of the purpose of the venture and the people you’re supposed to help.

I’ve seen this error more times than I can count. Founders become obsessed with the products they are building. They dive into the features, the technology, the design, every little detail. They will talk to you endlessly about the intricacies of their solutions, and in the process, forget that customers don’t want to hear about products. Customers want to know how you are going to help them solve their problems.

The importance of solving customer problems means that every time entrepreneurs start their pitches with “We are building a…” either “Our product does…”is usually a big warning sign that the entrepreneur is focused on the wrong things. Fortunately, it’s an easy problem to start solving by simply changing the way you frame the conversations you have about your startup. Instead of talking about what you’re building, start by talking about the people you’re helping and the impact you’ll have on their lives.

For example, instead of saying: ““We are building a platform that connects X to Y.”say: “Right now, people doing X are struggling with Y because of Z. It’s a big problem, and it’s costing them time and money.”.

Now, you’re starting the problem. You are talking about the pain that your potential clients feel. You’re making them the center of the story, not your product.

I suspect the reason so many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of talking about what they’re creating instead of what consumers need is because entrepreneurs are naturally builders. We get excited about creating things, and we spend so much time immersed in our products that they become our focal point. We started to think that if we just build something great, people will come.

But that’s not how entrepreneurship works. The most successful startups don’t start with a product. They start with a deep understanding of a problem. Then they dive into their customers’ lives, figure out what those customers need, and build a solution that fits.

And to be clear, this focus on problem-solving isn’t just pitching advice. It is fundamental to how every founder should approach entrepreneurship. The real job of an entrepreneur is not to build things; is identifying and solving problems. Success is not measured by how impressive your product is or how many features it has. It is measured by how well you can solve a problem for a group of people who are willing to pay for that solution.

When you start by understanding the problem, you can create a solution that genuinely meets your customers’ needs. As a result, you don’t just build for the sake of building; you are building something that has value. And that ability to create value is what makes the key difference between a startup that thrives and one that fails.

So, the next time you find yourself starting a pitch with “We’re building a…”, stop and ask yourself: Am I focused on the problem? Am I talking about the needs of the people I’m trying to help? If not, it’s time to reframe the conversation. Because the best entrepreneurs are not those who build the most products; They are the ones that solve the most problems.