Concept · Silicon Valley / Startup Dogma
Make Something People Want
Origin: YC motto
Biological Parallel
Fig wasps and fig trees coevolved over 80 million years into obligate mutualism—each species exists only because it solves a critical problem for the other. The wasp needs breeding sites; the tree needs pollination. 'People want' isn't a survey question, it's revealed preference: do they die without it? Product-market fit in biology is literal mutual survival. Anything less is just commerce.