The content of #17 doesn't really match the title in my opinion. I read the content more like "Solve a Problem You Have or Have Observed Yourself".
So many people want to start a company, any company, that they end up cloning someone else's solution with the idea that because they're so smart they can do it better. Sometimes this works, but it's a huge gamble because your product starts out 95% similar to someone else's and they're already way ahead of you.
Flixster is attacking an old tired monopoly (IMDB) that stopped innovating 10 years ago. Killing dinosaurs seems a pretty successful strategy -- worked for Google. Just don't try killing Flickr by cloning it and adding some oddball feature only techies care about.
All the rest are about good companies, whereas 17 is about good products. That's why it doesn't fit the pattern.
We could make a whole separate list of schemas for creating good products too. But, as the grandparent observed, what's important isn't just knowing what the schema is but also knowing when it does and does not apply.
So many people want to start a company, any company, that they end up cloning someone else's solution with the idea that because they're so smart they can do it better. Sometimes this works, but it's a huge gamble because your product starts out 95% similar to someone else's and they're already way ahead of you.
Flixster is attacking an old tired monopoly (IMDB) that stopped innovating 10 years ago. Killing dinosaurs seems a pretty successful strategy -- worked for Google. Just don't try killing Flickr by cloning it and adding some oddball feature only techies care about.