The Entrepreneurial Nature of Friction
In the shadow of corporate titans, true innovation often flourishes not by competing with their strength, but by healing their neglect. The most valuable business opportunities exist not where technology is absent, but where it is present yet painful.
Digital friction—those small, persistent frustrations that accumulate in our daily workflows—represents more than mere inconvenience. It is the unmistakable signal of human needs unmet by systems designed to serve institutional priorities rather than individual experiences.
The entrepreneur's gift lies not in creating new desires, but in recognising existing desperation. When users describe software with words like "dread," "depression," and "repressed memories," they aren't merely complaining—they're articulating market gaps waiting to be filled.
This reveals a profound truth about our technological age: we suffer not from a lack of capabilities, but from the burden of capabilities poorly implemented. The most successful innovations don't ask users to adopt entirely new behaviours, but rather remove the pain from behaviours they're already forced to perform.
True progress, then, comes not from grand reinvention, but from attentive refinement—turning daily splinters into smooth surfaces, one friction point at a time.