Vitamin vs. Painkiller

An important concept product builder must know

Hey, here's a vitamin.

You probably don't really care about it.

Vitamin is nice to have.

When I give you a painkiller when you feel the pain, you'll more likely to take it.

The same thing in the product world. The best products are painkillers, not vitamins. Vitamins are not essential. If you skip it, you'll be fine.

iPod was a painkiller. Before iPod, people listen to a CD—only 15 songs per CD. But you can listen to 1000 songs on your iPod. Not only that, iPod is so small that you can bring it with you. It was a painkiller.

Quibi was a vitamin. No one care about Quibi. As a result, they close down after 6 months. People already get entertainment from other platforms.

Is your product solve an acute problem users have?