Paul GrahamVerified account

I appreciate the “what makes this possible now” way of asking the question. It gets the same result for the investor and most times someone else has tried whatever problem you’re trying to solve and keeps the entrepreneur from having to guess why someone else’s attempt failed.

@AleksanderKijek

What would be the appropriate answer for that in regards to zoom raising their seed? That “ease of use among current major players is poor”? Would that be enough to motivate an investor?

yes, but the question asker should also be prepared to have an answer like "I dont know why now, and I dont know why it has never been done, I can give you theories, but we are still trying to figure all of it out now while we are growing like crazy"

I’ve always thought of Jobs’ “Hey Jony, here’s a dopey idea...” as almost a primer that idea will be bad but it’s fragile because most ideas, spoken, seem kind of silly. I like your version of the question because it’s in pursuit to strengthen the idea vs a trite dismissal.