"What was the primary problem or market gap you aimed to address when starting your company, and why did you believe it was worth pursuing?"
Here is what 6 thought leaders had to say.
When I started Wholesale Janitorial Supply I was frustrated by how hard it was for small businesses to get decent prices on cleaning supplies without buying like a giant chain.
Everywhere I looked, it felt like you either had to buy 10,000 rolls of paper towels or pay retail. There was no middle ground—no one catering to the smaller operators who still needed bulk pricing but couldn’t store a pallet of bleach in their breakroom.
What made it worth pursuing? I kept thinking about the daycare down the street, the independent gym, the mom-and-pop restaurant—places doing good work, just trying to stay clean without blowing their budget. We built our store to serve them. No nonsense, no inflated markups, just reliable products in the quantities people actually need.
Elliott Greenberg, Founder, Wholesale Janitorial Supply
When I started MatchmakingServices.com, I wasn’t chasing the next tech trend—I was chasing something much older and more human: real connection. I saw a problem that most of the industry was ignoring. Dating apps were flooded with people, but loneliness was still rising. Swiping wasn’t solving anything. People were spending hours online and still ending up alone or burned out.
The gap was clear: people didn’t need more profiles to scroll through—they needed help finding someone truly compatible. Someone who shared their values, lifestyle, and goals. That kind of match doesn’t happen by accident, and it definitely doesn’t happen by algorithm.
I believed it was worth pursuing because love still matters. And in a world that’s getting noisier and more superficial, helping people cut through that noise to find something real felt like a mission worth showing up for every day.
Katrina Elbahey, Founder, MatchMaking Services
When I started Insuranks, the problem was obvious: trying to compare insurance felt like walking through a fog. Every site seemed designed to confuse, not help.
You’d search for real prices, and instead get vague promises. You’d want honest reviews, and get sales pitches. I remember thinking, Why is something so important made so impossible to understand?
That’s the gap I wanted to fix. I built Insuranks to be what I couldn’t find—a clear, honest place where people could compare real options, read what others experienced, and make smart decisions without pressure.
It felt worth pursuing because I knew I wasn’t the only one frustrated. If we could bring some clarity and fairness to this space, we’d be doing more than building a site—we’d be giving people back control.
Ofir Sahar, Founder, Insuranks
When I started Beyond Chutney, I wasn't trying to chase a trend—I was trying to answer a craving. Not just mine, but something I noticed in friends, readers, even people online: a hunger for recipes that felt bold and honest, without all the fluff. The kind of dishes that aren't afraid to bring heat, or a handful of cardamom, or just a story behind them.
But here's the gap I really saw: so much of the food content out there either overcomplicated things or watered down flavor to appeal to everyone, and ended up delighting no one. I believed it was worth pursuing because I knew there were people like me who wanted real, soulful cooking without being told to buy fourteen gadgets or cook like a professional chef.
It was less about filling a market gap and more about creating a space I wished already existed. One where flavor doesn't apologize, and where you cook with both hands and your whole heart.
Bernhard Schaus, Online Marketer, Beyond Chutney
When I started Merehead, the problem I kept running into was this constant frustration with unreliable developers. People were either over-promising and under-delivering, or just completely vanishing mid-project. I saw clients who had great ideas, solid goals, but kept getting burned by developers who didn't communicate, didn't plan properly, or worse, didn't care.
I remember helping a friend who had hired a team to build a basic fintech platform. Six months later, he had a half-finished product, a bunch of excuses, and no roadmap. That moment stuck with me. I thought: what if there was a dev team that actually listened, treated each project like it mattered, and didn't disappear when things got hard?
That's what I wanted to build with Merehead — not just another development shop, but a dependable partner. Something simple, really: do what you say you're going to do, and do it well. Turns out, that's still pretty rare.
Eugene Musienko, CEO, Merehead
When I launched All 4 Kids Online, I wasn’t chasing a trend—I was solving a problem I lived through daily. As a parent, I was tired of the endless scrolling, inconsistent quality, and disappointing purchases from sites that just didn’t understand what real families needed. There was no single place online that brought together affordable, reliable, and kid-approved products all under one roof.
That gap is what pushed me to build something better—an online shop where every item is thoughtfully selected by a fellow parent who gets it. I wanted to give families peace of mind and a smoother shopping experience.
The key takeaway is the best business ideas often come from the frustrations you face in your own life. Solve your own problem first—and you’ll likely be solving it for thousands of others.
Steve Shen, Founder, All4KidsOnline