Perry Chen, co-founder of Kickstarter, speaks on a founder panel at the How I Built This Summit about the advantage of building products to scratch one's own itch.
0:00 / 0:08exact quote · 8.2s
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“You're so much more likely to be successful if you're solving a problem that you have, so you know when you're really solving it. You don't have to focus group it.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading:
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More from Perry Chen
Opinion
Chen: Pure shareholder profit maximization is unfit for humans
“If underneath the mandate is, at the end of the day, make the most money for shareholders, it's a really, it's not really a good fit for humans, and I don't think it's, It portends very well for society if this is what we accept as the only way to do it.”
Perry ChenDec 31, 2018▶ 34:09Kickstarter: Perry Chen (2018)
Insight
Perry Chen: Many founders work years in misery just to avoid failing
“I think so many entrepreneurs just drive themselves to not fail their employees, not fail their investors, not fail, you know, success, and will add years and years and years onto businesses that they're running, 70, eighties hours a week that they really wish…”
Perry ChenJun 12, 2025▶ 43:54Advice Line with Perry Chen of Kickstarter
Insight
Chen: Early-stage founders must be deluded and ignore the odds
“I think it's just that you do have to be deluded when you're in those stages. You have to not think about the odds. You know, you have to have just incredible belief that it is worth it.”
Perry ChenJul 22, 2021▶ 13:23Live From HIBT Summit: Payal Kadakia, Tristan Walker, and Perry Chen on Innovation
PredictionNot checkable as stated
Chen predicts corporate governance will become the primary differentiator for companies
“I mean, at the organizational governance level, the corporate governance level, I think that's a big thing that people are going to start paying more and more attention to. We've been running so much on this kind of totally profit-centric system in the U.S., a…”
Perry ChenJul 22, 2021▶ 38:52Live From HIBT Summit: Payal Kadakia, Tristan Walker, and Perry Chen on Innovation
Disclosure
Kickstarter's founders told early investors they would never sell or IPO
“Going into it, we knew that we weren't building this to sell this, and we weren't trying to create a public company. And when we went out for investment, this was, you know, one of the first things we discussed with people.”
Perry ChenJul 31, 2017▶ 24:53Kickstarter: Perry Chen
Insight
Perry Chen: Maximizing shareholder profit is a poor fit for human society
“But really, if underneath the mandate is, at the end of the day, make the most money for shareholders, it's a really, it's not really a good fit for humans. And I don't think it's, It portends very well for society if this is what we accept as the only way to …”
Perry ChenJul 31, 2017▶ 33:47Kickstarter: Perry Chen
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