They say one of the biggest attributes any entrepreneur needs to have is the ability to problem solve. To be able to identify challenges large and small and effectively produce a solution for them. It seems simple, but it’s not. A vast number of start-ups fail, and the reason is although they identified and addressed an issue, it’s not the right issue. So how do you know when the problem your company is attempting to solve is the right one? Paul English, Founder and CTO of Moonbeam, has some noteworthy advice.

“My advice to other entrepreneurs, when they ask when they should go for it and when should they quit their day job to go work on their new idea is when you have an idea, a problem that you want to solve, and the problem is more important than the solution. Most tech companies don't fail because the programmers couldn't write good code. Most tech companies fail because they solved the problem that no one cares about. What's most important is solving a big problem.”

Paul has had a prolific career as a founder, with all the highs and lows you would expect. But for Paul, the thrill of the next big idea and the next adventure is what keeps him going, and his success has been rooted in his. ability to understand the big issues and develop and implement a plan to rectify them. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Paul goes into detail about that skill, and he explains why Moonbeam, his new company, is solving one of the biggest pain points in on-demand programming. Plus, Paul dives into his past experiences, details key pillars that make up a successful CTO, and predicts why Moonbeam is about to take-off.

Main Takeaways

• Hey Now, You’re a Problem Solver: For any entrepreneur that is starting out, you have to answer a few questions before you get started. What problems are you solving, and is the problem something that will resonate with consumers? It’s very easy to get locked in on ideas that are important to you. But if your problem is not something that the rest of the public cares about, your business will most likely fail
• Search and Engagement: The two most important factors of any social platform are the ability to identify relevant content, make it searchable, and then drive engagement for its active users.
• The Power of the Algorithm: When you are designing a machine learning strategy, it’s very important to make sure that your algorithm is not just feeding users the same content over and over again. Instead, make sure that your platform has some level of randomness to it, so the user is exposed to new forms of media. 

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This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.