Recently, I attended a hackathon for college students, where many young entrepreneurs had gathered. As expected, I spoke with numerous passionate founders and heard many project presentations they were working on. But one student stood out in particular. He was clearly passionate about entrepreneurship and his startup. He shared how he had spent the summer at a corporate internship he didn’t enjoy, but as soon as his workday ended, he would meet with his co-founders, and they would work on their startup late into the night.

Eventually, I asked him to briefly pitch his startup. His eyes lit up with excitement, and he began: ‘We’re building…’

I didn’t hear the rest of his sentence because, honestly, I stopped listening. I could guess where this was going, and it didn’t bode well.

I cut him off mid-sentence. I’m sure it seemed a bit rude, but I needed to seize the moment for a valuable lesson. ‘I’m not trying to be a downer,’ I told him, ‘but the moment you started talking about what you’re building, you lost me.’

He looked puzzled and seemed unsure of what he had done wrong. After all, he had spent months building what he was working on, pouring his heart and soul into it, and here I was telling him he was doing it wrong. I get it. But he was making one of the most common mistakes young entrepreneurs make, and the sooner they learn to avoid it, the better.

Entrepreneurship Isn’t About Building Things

Here’s the hard truth: Entrepreneurship isn’t about creating 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’ve missed the point of entrepreneurship and lost sight of the people you’re meant to help.

I’ve seen this mistake more times than I can count. Founders get fixated on the products they’re creating. They dive into features, tech stacks, design—every little detail. They can talk for hours 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’re going to help them solve their problems.

The importance of solving customer problems means that whenever entrepreneurs start their pitches with ‘We’re building…’ or ‘Our product does…,’ it’s usually a huge red flag that the entrepreneur is focused on the wrong thing. Fortunately, this problem is fairly easy to start fixing—just by changing how you frame conversations about your startup. Instead of discussing 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’re building a platform that connects X with Y,’ say, ‘Right now, people doing X struggle with Y because of Z. It’s a huge problem costing them time and money.’

Now, you’re starting with the problem. You’re talking about the pain your potential customers are experiencing. You’re making them the center of the story, not your product.

The Dangerous ‘We’re Building…’ Trap

I suspect the reason so many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of talking about what they’re building instead of what customers need is that entrepreneurs are, by nature, builders. We get excited about creating things and spend so much time immersed in our products that they become our focus. We start 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 begin with a product. They begin with a deep understanding of a problem. Then, they immerse themselves in 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 advice for pitches. It’s a fundamental approach every founder should take in entrepreneurship. The real work of an entrepreneur isn’t to build things; it’s to identify and solve problems. Success isn’t measured by how cool your product is or how many features it has. It’s measured by how well you can solve a problem for a group of people willing to pay for that solution.

When you start by understanding the problem, you’re able to build a solution that truly meets your customers’ needs. As a result, you’re not just building for the sake of building; you’re building something that has value. And it’s this ability to create value that makes the crucial difference between a startup that thrives and one that fails.

So the next time you catch yourself starting a pitch with ‘We’re building…,’ pause 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 aren’t the ones who build the most products; they’re the ones who solve the most problems.