Vitamin or Painkiller?

We’re now seeing more than 400 startups a month—roughly 5,000 a year—and investing in 10. The challenge isn’t finding interesting ideas. It’s identifying businesses that can grow to become indispensable.

Our litmus test: Is the startup building a vitamin or a painkiller?

It’s a useful metaphor for the type of customer pain that you’re solving for, and equally importantly, the customer’s need, willingness to pay, and reaction if you threatened to take the product away.

Threaten to take away a person’s iPhone, their access to TikTok, Amazon or Netflix, and see how they react.

Vitamins are nice-to-haves. Painkillers address problems that demand attention.

VCs love to invest in painkillers. They could care less about vitamin pills.

If you’re an entrepreneur, give some thought to just how painful a problem you’re solving, and once the customer tries your product, whether they’re ever likely to cancel.