Must-Have vs Nice-to-Have: Is My Idea Worth It?

Many entrepreneurs invest significant time, money, and energy into startup ideas that initially seem promising, only to discover that customers or investors are not willing to pay for them. Often, a key difference between a viable business and a failed venture comes down to one critical distinction: are you building something people must have, or just something that would be nice to have?

Must-have solutions solve urgent, painful problems that customers will pay to eliminate. Nice-to-have products offer marginal improvements that people can easily live without. Understanding this difference before you commit resources can save years of effort and frustration.

Before you quit your day job, invest your savings, or seek funding from investors, carefully evaluate whether your idea crosses the must-have threshold. Here are 12 things rising founders should consider:

1. Does Your Solution Solve a Painful, Urgent Problem?

The Test: Would your target customer describe their problem as urgent, frequent, and painful?

Not all problems warrant a startup solution. Some are minor inconveniences, while others create significant business or personal costs. The most viable startup ideas address problems that hurt consistently and substantially.

Consider how often this problem occurs. Daily problems typically create more urgency than those that surface monthly or annually. Evaluate the impact: Is the problem causing financial loss, wasted time, missed opportunities, or significant frustration? Can customers reasonably ignore it, or does it demand immediate attention?

If the problem only surfaces occasionally or causes minimal disruption, you are likely building a nice-to-have product. Must-have solutions address pain that is too costly or too frustrating to ignore.

Warning sign: If potential customers respond with "that's interesting" rather than "I need that now," you may have a nice-to-have on your hands.

2. Are Customers Already Paying to Solve This Problem?

The Test: Is there existing spending on solutions, workarounds, or alternatives?

One of the strongest signals that you are solving a must-have problem is that people are already paying to address it, even if current solutions are inadequate.

Look for evidence of market demand. Are companies hiring people to handle this task manually? Are they using multiple tools together to achieve the outcome? Are they paying for expensive or outdated solutions? Are they accepting significant inefficiencies because nothing better exists?

Existing spending validates that the problem is real and worth solving. Your opportunity is to provide a better, faster, more affordable, or more effective solution, not to create demand from scratch.

Warning sign: If no one is currently spending money on this problem in any form, you will need to both create and capture demand, which is considerably more difficult.

3. Can You Clearly Articulate the Problem in One Sentence?

The Test: Can you describe the problem so clearly that your target customer immediately recognizes it?

If you struggle to articulate the problem concisely, you likely do not understand it well enough. More importantly, if your target customers cannot immediately relate to your problem statement, they will not see themselves as needing your solution.

Test this with potential customers. Describe the problem in one sentence and watch their reaction. Do they lean in with recognition? Do they start sharing their own experiences with the problem? Or do they look confused and need extensive explanation?

Must-have problems are obvious to those experiencing them. Nice-to-have problems require lengthy explanations and convincing.

4. Is the Problem Getting Worse or More Common?

The Test: Are more people experiencing this problem, or is it becoming more severe over time?Growing problems create better opportunities for startups. If your target problem is declining in frequency or severity, you are building on shrinking ground. If it is stable, you are competing for fixed market share. If it is growing, you can potentially capture new demand as it emerges.

Consider macro trends. Is regulation making this problem more pressing? Is technology creating new instances of this problem? Are demographic or economic shifts increasing the number of people affected? Are existing solutions becoming inadequate as the problem evolves?

Growing problems often indicate must-have opportunities. Static or declining problems may still be worth pursuing but face different market dynamics.

5. Do Customers Have Budget Allocated for Solutions?

The Test: Is there existing budget, or will you need to convince customers to create new budget?Companies and individuals have finite resources. Solutions that fit within existing budget categories are easier to sell than those requiring new budget allocation, which often involves lengthy approval processes and competing priorities.

If your solution replaces an existing expense, you have a clear path to justifying cost. If you reduce expenses elsewhere (like labor costs or inefficiency costs), you can demonstrate ROI. If you require entirely new spending, you face a higher barrier.

This does not mean you should only pursue ideas with existing budget, but you should understand which scenario applies to your business and plan your sales strategy accordingly.

6. What Happens If Customers Do Nothing?

The Test: What are the consequences of ignoring this problem?

Must-have solutions address problems where inaction has meaningful negative consequences. Nice-to-have solutions offer improvements where the status quo is tolerable.

Map out the costs of inaction. If customers do not adopt your solution, what do they lose? Money? Time? Competitive advantage? Compliance? Customer satisfaction? The more severe and tangible these consequences, the stronger your must-have case.If the honest answer is "not much happens," you are building a nice-to-have. Customers will always deprioritize nice-to-have purchases when budgets tighten or priorities shift.

7. Can You Identify Specific Customer Segments Feeling This Pain Acutely?

The Test: Can you name specific types of customers for whom this problem is critical?

Vague target markets like "small businesses" or "busy professionals" suggest you have not yet identified who really needs your solution. Must-have products have clear, specific customer segments for whom the problem is particularly acute.

Be specific about your ideal customer. What is their role? What is their company size? What industry are they in? What stage of growth or maturity? What specific circumstances make this problem critical for them?

The ability to narrowly define your target customer indicates you understand the problem deeply and can focus your resources on serving those who need you most.

8. Have You Talked to at Least 20 Potential Customers?

The Test: Have you validated the problem and your solution with substantive customer conversations?

Assumptions are dangerous in startups. What seems like a must-have problem in your mind may be a nice-to-have in reality. The only way to know is to talk to potential customers.

Conduct at least 20 substantial conversations with people in your target market. Ask about their current challenges, what solutions they use now, what they wish existed, and what they would pay for. Listen more than you talk. Look for patterns in their responses.

If you cannot easily find 20 people willing to discuss this problem with you, that itself is a signal. Must-have problems typically generate enthusiastic conversation because people are actively seeking solutions.

9. Are Customers Willing to Pay Enough to Build a Business?

The Test: Is the value you create large enough to support viable pricing and business economics?

Some problems are real but not valuable enough to support a startup. If customers acknowledge the problem but are only willing to pay a few dollars per month to solve it, you may struggle to build a scalable business with acceptable unit economics.

Calculate the value you create for customers. If you save them 10 hours per month, what is that time worth? If you reduce their costs by a certain amount, what percentage of those savings can you reasonably capture? If you help them generate more revenue, what portion of that uplift merits your fee?

Must-have businesses typically capture meaningful value because they create meaningful value. Nice-to-have businesses struggle with pricing because the value created is marginal.

10. Can You Build a Minimum Viable Product Relatively Quickly?

The Test: Can you test your core hypothesis without years of development?

The longer it takes to get your product in front of customers, the higher your risk. Must-have ideas often lend themselves to faster validation because the core value proposition is clear and the minimum viable solution is straightforward.

If your idea requires years of development before anyone can use it, you are making substantial bets on assumptions that remain untested. Consider whether there is a simpler version that solves the core problem adequately, even if not perfectly, that you can build and test in months rather than years.

Quick iteration lets you learn whether you truly have a must-have before committing massive resources.

11. Do You Have Credible Expertise or Insight Into This Problem?

The Test: Why are you uniquely positioned to solve this problem?

Successful startups often come from founders who have deep experience with the problem they are solving. They have felt the pain personally, they understand the nuances, and they have insights that others lack.

This does not mean you must be a domain expert to start a company, but you should ask yourself: What gives you an advantage in solving this problem? Have you experienced it directly? Do you have technical skills that enable a novel solution? Do you have relationships or access that others do not?

Founders with relevant expertise are better positioned to distinguish must-have from nice-to-have because they deeply understand the problem context.

12. Are You Prepared to Commit Years to This Problem?

The Test: Is this problem important enough to you personally that you can sustain motivation through inevitable challenges?

Building a startup is difficult and typically takes longer than expected. You will face setbacks, pivots, rejection, and moments of doubt. Your conviction that you are solving a must-have problem will sustain you through these challenges.

Ask yourself honestly: Am I passionate about solving this problem? Do I care about the customers I am serving? Can I see myself working on this for the next five years? If the answer is lukewarm, you may struggle to maintain the persistence required.

The best startup ideas combine market must-have with founder must-do. The problem matters to customers and solving it matters deeply to you.

Making the Decision: A Framework

These 12 factors will help you determine whether your idea represents a must-have opportunity. If you're still unsure whether your idea is a must-have or nice-to-have, consider this framework:

Strong Must-Have Signals:

• Customers experience frequent, painful problems
• Existing spending on inadequate solutions
• Clear, immediate recognition when you describe the problem
• Tangible negative consequences of inaction
• Customers willing to pay prices that support viable economics
• Growing problem with expanding market
• Multiple customer segments expressing urgent need

Nice-to-Have Signals:

• Infrequent or minor inconveniences
• No current spending on solutions
• Customers need convincing that they have a problem
• Minimal consequences of doing nothing
• Resistance to meaningful pricing
• Stable or declining problem occurrence
• Difficulty finding customers who care deeply

What to Do With a Nice-to-Have: 

If you have a nice-to-have, try the following:

1. Reframe the problem. Perhaps you are solving the wrong problem for your target customer. Can you identify a more urgent pain point your solution also addresses?
2. Change your target customer. Perhaps your solution is nice-to-have for the audience you initially considered, but must-have for a different segment.
3. Pivot your approach. Can you evolve your solution to address a more critical need?
4. Pursue it as a side project. Not every good idea needs to be a venture-backed startup. Some are better suited to smaller, lifestyle businesses or side projects. Maybe start by acquiring customers and pivot your focus as the market demands; let the market determine the direction of your business.
5. Set it aside. Sometimes the best decision is to acknowledge that an idea is not startup-worthy and move on to something with stronger must-have characteristics.

Final Thoughts

The must-have versus nice-to-have distinction is not always black and white. Some ideas fall into a gray area, and market conditions can shift problems from one category to another. However, rising founders should be honest with themselves about where their idea falls on this spectrum. 

Pursuing a nice-to-have idea as if it were a must-have tends to lead to wasted resources, missed opportunities, and costly mistakes. Recognizing a must-have opportunity and executing well can lead to sustainable businesses that create real value.

Take the time to evaluate your idea against these criteria. Talk to industry experts. Talk to customers. Test your assumptions. And talk to your financial advisors (can you personally take on that level of risk). Be willing to hear difficult feedback. The clarity you gain will either strengthen your conviction or redirect you toward better opportunities.

Both outcomes are valuable. The worst outcome is spending years building something the market does not truly need.

But don't let it get you down if you have a nice-to-have: many times your first idea won't succeed, but maybe the next idea will, or the idea after that. Successful entrepreneurs often have tried many business ideas that fail before finding the one that makes them successful. Colonel Sanders didn't start with fried chicken, Steve Jobs didn't start with Apple, and Sam Altman didn't start with OpenAI and ChatGPT. 

And remember, as the saying goes: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Want to learn more? Our team of dedicated attorneys and consultants are here to work with you to make sure your business starts off on the right foot. Contact us to learn more and to see if we can help you with your business needs! 


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