Market timing is one of the most important success factor for a startup. That’s why the BLAC framework is so useful. It can help you time your market entry and the efficient deployment of your resources to find product market fit.
Where should YOU start?
It might therefore seem obvious to after Blatant Critical problems that you can so easily target to address clearly identifiable customer needs. But is that really the best place to start?
Latent Aspirational needs that are poised to become blatant and critical can be a great place for startups to target.
Development time
Why? Because it may take time for you to develop your solution and in that time the need could evolve to being blatant and critical at the right time for you to intercept it.
Competition
Whereas a need that is already Blatant and Critical is probably one that others have seen and begun addressing, making them competitors with a head start on you.
Vision
So if you can identify a latent need before anyone else does and have the vision to see why changes in the market will make it blatant and critical you can steal a lead in the market.
Execution
Again this is not a guarantee you’ll be able to sustain that market leadership unless you execute well to stay in tune with and deliver on the customer’s needs as they evolve.
Pioneering is not always a good thing
If you fall behind an emerging competitor’s ability to execute, you could become the pioneer with arrows in your back as others learn from what you’ve done and benefit from your education of the customer and opening of the market opportunity.
Defensibility
That is also why it is so important to think about how you are building Defensibility into your product and business model from day one.
All of this speaks to the systemic nature of how to think about building your venture. No one thing alone sets you up for success. Systemic vector thinking is essential to build ventures.
Conclusion
There is no right answer and it is one of the great skills good entrepreneurs develop when there are so many factors invovled, including things like and what is involved in developing the right solution at the right time. Consider how you might before building it.