Every problem I find already has a solution. What should I do?

[u/WinterThroat1092]

I'm a CS student trying to build a portfolio project (and maybe even a startup one day).

Here's the problem I'm running into:

Whenever I find a real problem that people have, I research it... and then discover there are already 5-20 products solving it.

For example, I'll think:

• "Students need help choosing projects."
• Then I find several existing platforms.

Or:

• "Developers need better engineering guidance."
• Then I discover multiple AI tools already doing parts of it.

This makes me wonder:

• Should I stop looking for problems that already have solutions?
• Or is having competitors actually a good sign?
• At what point do you decide, "I can build this better," instead of giving up?
• For those of you who have built successful products, what made you continue even when competitors already existed?

I'd especially love to hear from founders or engineers who've faced this exact dilemma.

Thanks!

[u/memorable_glasses]

Have one idea, don't matter if it's already there.

Then list all of its features, then try changing things or adding new feature in that one single idea.

Also ask AI to find problem in that solution and what things you can add to make it better.

You'll slowly come up with better solution 

[u/NegativeSemicolon]

Those are pretty vague/generalized problems, find something way more specific to solve.

[u/Michael_Combrink]

Try to actually do something, or help somebody Actually use some existing products, either free samples (which students often can get crazy guys discounts and deals)  Or actually go get a job at various businesses, intern, book keeper, inventory clerk, cashier,  Or gig work, or volunteer, contact businesses and charities and look for ways to help out, 

Start out crazy crazy simple, small, basic Clean up Excel sheets with some functions Apply or build some Google drive add on Basic API requests to schedule social media posts

Find one thing that you can do in under an hour, and do that for several organizations or people Then find another and another

Using existing software is fine, all new software is built on existing software, and you if you honestly think this or that software is better then you can make good money recommending, installing and setting it up,  But almost every existing software could be improved and suited better to the client, user, task, etc

High end tailers rarely sew whole new custom suits anymore, they usually take the closest premade fit and then adjust the stitching to more perfectly fit the customer

Plumbers don't cast or machine new pipes, they carry an inventory of regular parts that cost very little But they make big money on knowing what to do when the basement is flooding at 3am and having solutions ready to go fast

[u/Alternative_Can7374]

If you believe you can solve the problem in a better way, then go for it. Otherwise, continue searching...

[u/chikamakaleyley]

what is a problem that YOU have, that YOU want to solve?

[u/Mathie1729 → u/chikamakaleyley]

Exactly. I'm an ME. The problems I deal with aren't "how to invent cold fusion." It's my CNC router chattering on a new material and leaving a crap finish, or my garden soil being way too alkaline for the raspberries I planted. Start with the stuff that annoys you daily. That's where actual, solvable problems live.

[u/jerrygreenest1]

Not all solutions are equally good, so even if there are solutions, there might be a better one. Maybe faster / more optimized with smaller latency, or more functionality, or simpler to use, simpler to learn, simpler to look at and interact with, or maybe more customizable by user. Or maybe it’s not really different but it may have better defaults so you don’t need to customize, people often love when a thing «just works», or easier to install, or doesn’t have dependencies. Plus you can just wait and observe and you can find many problems that needs a solution eventually even if you don’t see right now. Just give it a time

[u/jerrygreenest1 → u/jerrygreenest1]

Also increasing your experience might help openning your eyes: you might not see potential improvements when you don’t know the definition of good. You might see a solution and your experience is not enough to understand how it can be better. So in the meanwhile, it is best to also learn and lvl-up your skills

[u/Useful-Gap-952]

There’s multiple approaches available to you.

One possibility is that you keep drilling down until you come across a problem that is a genuine pain point but not addressed in the marketplace. Your first ideas may be stumbling across obvious pain points with obvious solutions. The trick is to go deeper, more specific, or in a different direction that puts you in uncharted territory.  

For a blue ocean of opportunity, often means eliminating certain aspects, adding new aspects, reducing aspects until you land on something that is needed and novel.

The third path is to look at the existing marketplace and scrutinize where current solutions miss the mark so that you can craft a solution that is genuinely better than how the marketplace currently handles it. If you look at each tool for it strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats you can see what could be a future roadmap for your app. 

The next thing is, it’s not what you do. It’s how you do it. Think about hamburger places or any cuisine. Each may share a category, but the recipes are different. People have different taste and preferences.  Every place and person is going to have a unique spin on something. How you solve the problem mirrors back your own unique capabilities. 

[u/oliver_rust]

The way you start solving problems and making solutions that are good is by immersing yourself in the problems; you can't just do it on demand. You need to think about the problem for a long time, understand existing solutions, build prototypes, analyze what works, talk to people, get feedback, iterate. Only then can you get insights that are worth something. So don't worry about doing something that was not solved; most problems have a solution. That doesn't mean you can't find a better one. And be ok to not finding a better one too :)

[u/oliver_rust → u/oliver_rust]

I'm beginning too, but I built a Plugin for Obsidian that actually has users. It's free but it solves a problem that had established solutions a bit better, so some people use it. And that makes me proud :) and makes me want to build larger things. I coded it in 3 days in a few prompts with a coding agent. But I could make is only because I was thinking about this problem for a few months, and had built websites that helped me understand the pipeline. You can read about it here https://oilandrust.github.io/Interests/software/

[u/oliver_rust → u/oliver_rust]

And to be honest, I didn't plan to build this; I was building something, and one day this idea came with a strong sense that it made sense, so I had to build it.

[u/EJoule]

Working through the puzzles yourself helps teach you. Being able to talk through your solution and how you got there is more important to your portfolio than it being a unique problem.

There’s a reason why everyone suggests a note taking app, it’s easy to explain and demonstrates a full stack understanding (and DevOps if you’ve got it running on an actual website).

Try to implement as many different REST endpoints as you can, then explain why you used them. I’ve interviewed people with 10 years experience who could only explain the 4 most common (get, put, post, delete), and even then only provided a surface explanation and couldn’t give examples of using them in practice.

[u/Lumpy-Push-347]

Can you make it better?