The Physics of Startups
00:06:39 · Rob Snyder, S0
[00:06:39] S1: Yeah. And I think and I think the thing that I will call out too is if you're listening to this and you're like, I don't think these are actually two distinct categories. I think there's one way to describe both of them. Please reach out because I don't like having two different categories of things here. I don't I don't I I think there is a kind of like simpler version of this, and I think going to the most simple thing possible is is ideal. Um and so what like maybe maybe let's talk about teleportation because it's just like this this really, really good example of this, which is that um uh uh look it would be cool, right? Like it so if if if it were possible, you and I'd be hanging out right now in the same room, right? We would let's like obviously we would. But we cannot. [00:07:28] S0: I just have the thought I would have to put on pants if that were if that were like me too, or maybe neither of us would, who knows?
00:07:28 · S0, Rob Snyder
[00:07:28] S0: I just have the thought I would have to put on pants if that were if that were like me too, or maybe neither of us would, who knows? [00:07:36] S1: Um but but but we would, but like, and so like that's a thing that you and I both know, and and the same is true of like, okay, cool, I would I would have dinner with my parents, but they're in Ohio and I'm in New Hampshire. And so like how and and then I'd be back at home if right if only I could. Yeah. Um and so these are all things that like are up, they're just like obviously I would do this, yeah, but I can't right now. And if you look at me, if you ask me these these things, um, or if you watch me, you're not gonna see me trying to travel to Mexico right now, or trying to meet somewhere, or trying to travel to Ohio. I'm not doing that. And if you ask me as well, like, are you happy where you are right now? Like, are you unhappy where you are right now? No, I'm perfectly fine. But I would basically go there in an if if this were an option, I would go there instantly. Yeah. And that's this weird thing of it's not, it's like it's just would do right now if only there was a way. Is this kind of thing that is that I think the teleportation example explains like super, super clearly.
00:07:36 · Rob Snyder, S0
[00:07:36] S1: Um but but but we would, but like, and so like that's a thing that you and I both know, and and the same is true of like, okay, cool, I would I would have dinner with my parents, but they're in Ohio and I'm in New Hampshire. And so like how and and then I'd be back at home if right if only I could. Yeah. Um and so these are all things that like are up, they're just like obviously I would do this, yeah, but I can't right now. And if you look at me, if you ask me these these things, um, or if you watch me, you're not gonna see me trying to travel to Mexico right now, or trying to meet somewhere, or trying to travel to Ohio. I'm not doing that. And if you ask me as well, like, are you happy where you are right now? Like, are you unhappy where you are right now? No, I'm perfectly fine. But I would basically go there in an if if this were an option, I would go there instantly. Yeah. And that's this weird thing of it's not, it's like it's just would do right now if only there was a way. Is this kind of thing that is that I think the teleportation example explains like super, super clearly. [00:08:58] S0: Yeah. And it's like the um there's a lack of like conscious awareness of it. It's uh I don't know what the phenomenon that like is is going on, but it's like uh what what you're what is maybe let's let's get into leaning against the constraint. How can you bring that to life with the teleportation example? Like what is the leaning against there?
00:09:26 · Rob Snyder
[00:09:26] S1: Yeah, so so um let me contrast this with um okay, so teleportation is one example of a technology that um there is currently a constraint against my ability to easily travel to where you are or wherever I want to be. And and um I am like I if that constraint were removed, I would instantly take action on it. Another example, though, is like the printer. If you made a printer that was a hundred X better or a thousand X faster than my current printer that I have at home, I wouldn't do anything about it because I don't care. Like there's there's no there's no I print one thing a year, and so nobody cares. Like if you if I print it a thousand X faster, cool. But it's and it's not like, oh, I would print more things if only there was a way. The other another example of this is like Uber versus taxis, right? The taxis were imposing constraints on would-be taxi riders, would-be travelers, variety of constraints we could talk about. That meant that when Uber showed up, the market revealed itself to be much larger because there were a bunch of people who were sitting at home, and if you ask them, they're totally fine sitting at home. Or getting there, however, like they're asking a friend for a ride, or whatever it is, who would have taken a transport if such a thing were um available to them. And so there's it's this, it's this um when I talk about leaning against the constraint, that's it's a weird, it's a weird thing. I in the case of um uh the printer, I'm not leaning against the fact that my printer is slow. It's there's nothing of like, if it were faster, I would do something different.
00:11:28 · S0
[00:11:28] S0: Yeah. Some of the other other ways that you've talked about this in the past, like people in a state of disequilibrium, um, where it's like there's, you know, uh you're at no disequilibrium with your with your printer. Like it does, you know, you're like it, it's fine. Um, if we take junk for an example, and there's a couple others, you you write about levity, you write about segments, we'll get into a couple others, but folks are are probably familiar with junk because we use it often. Uh there was disequilibrium because there was something that was frustrating that they had to do, which was manually wrong, you know, take take and record notes um after calls with uh as a financial advisor with with their customers um uh or with clients, right? I don't know how they how they refer to them. Um there there was a, you know, they what they were leaning against was I would rather be doing something else right now. And so when you say like, okay, I you can go do something else right now, you don't have to do this anymore, it resolved that like tension, the the disequilibrium that was there. Um maybe, Rob, can you give us to to broaden the spectrum of examples um real quick? And then I actually I think I suspect this is something that people kind of intuit, even if we don't have the exact language around some of it. So I want to get pretty quick into what do you do with this? Like, how do you find latent demand? But can you it uh would levity or segment either of those be worth uh taking a moment to discuss? Like what was the the leaning against or what was late in demand for them?
00:12:59 · Rob Snyder
[00:12:59] S1: Um honestly probably not because the the stories there are that they just stumbled into they they they found something that they just like stumbled into demand. And so and so the the points of of those is the like the the point is that there is so if if you kind of like do a little me search, uh and I think I think this is like a very important thing, if when I when I talk about teleportation, right, and and you imagine being unblocked in in that regard, you the listener, you RC, um uh you instantly imagine being somewhere. Like you're like, oh, I would be somewhere else right now. I would totally be somewhere, and you know that, you feel that. That is what we are that like that's the thing. And so this requ it, but it's not obvious from the outside. And that's that's the weird thing about latent demand. And I think that's actually true of all demand, is it's not necessarily visible from the outside, it's like only knowable from the inside. And so I think there's this element that we're gonna you're gonna start seeing more of this as I start exploring this further. I've been reading a little too much Hayek on it. And and so um there's this there's this element of like it you couldn't tell this from the outside. You can only see this from the inside, or you get lucky. And that's how you find, I think, latent demand and and demand generally is, and I've started practicing this myself, is you have to start, first of all, feeling it in yourself for all the things you would do if right now, if only there was a way. And then you have to learn to feel that on behalf of your like feel what your potential customers are feeling too. And it's very much feeling, like that feeling of where you would be right now if only there was a way. The kind of like certainty you have about that is what you are looking for applied to things other than teleportation. I'd find teleportation is the easiest example of it because you everybody knows exactly what the answer to that is.