The Challenge of Starting: Finding My Ikigai

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced—and still face—in starting my own thing is finding clarity about my offering.

What’s the value I’m offering? What’s the problem I want to solve that’s meaningful to others and aligns with my values, interests, and skills? My Ikigai.

This question has been on my mind for years, even before I quit my job the first time. Every time I thought about starting something, I felt stuck because I didn’t know what to offer. I kept looking for a single, specific problem to solve, ideally with a SaaS product—but none of the ideas I had felt like something I could commit to for years.

For a long time, I believed I needed to deeply care about the problem to build a successful business. While passion helps, I’ve come to realize it’s not mandatory—as long as you deliver meaningful value and have a clear goal. Sometimes, it can simply be a business—a way to do good work that matters.

One day, sitting on my couch and imagining my dream scenario five years down the road, I asked myself for the n-th time:

What would make me feel like this was the best professional journey I’ve ever had?

I knew I wanted to maximize my impact on making the world a better place. I also knew I wanted to do this by helping others realize their goals and become the best versions of themselves. For a while, I thought about helping coaches maximize their reach. I even briefly considered becoming a coach myself—not full-time, just part of my time—because I find it fulfilling to ask meaningful questions, challenge limiting beliefs, and listen deeply.

And then it hit me: The value I want to deliver is to help others build products that customers love.

This realization didn’t come out of nowhere. I am deeply grateful to Hanna Larsson and Justin Welsh, whose content inspired and influenced me to take this step and start building my own offering.

This has fascinated me since my time at ScoutRFP, where I saw product building at a whole new level. It’s what hooked me when Alex Yakubovich suggested Marty Cagan’s Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, which I eagerly listened to.

So here I am, building the “product of me” to help teams and founders:

• Shape ideas,
• Validate solutions,
• Build early web app versions quickly,
• And guide them toward product-market fit.

I’m approaching this venture as I would any other product: by iterating on assumptions, validating them, learning, and adjusting. I’ve embraced failures as opportunities to learn and given myself permission to be imperfect. This mindset, I believe, will enable me to experiment and grow quickly.