But I'm wondering, have great businesses and products started from this? There's plenty of downsides that have been discussed, but I'd like a different perspective too.
One could argue that anything that began organically as some techie's for-fun side project might fall under this category.
I'd even argue that something like ChatGPT, created by a (formerly) non-profit org, might qualify as a powerful example. I mean, a computer program that just talks back to you and answers generic questions? Sounds like a cool tech project, or 'solution' on the surface, without a specific problem in mind. Of course, now we see it has a transformative technology that at least has a monthly subscription business model that many people are willing to pay.
How about the VR headsets? I doubt the inventor(s) sat down with the explicit goal of solving a problem after extensive market research and customer interviews.
My initial take: on the surface I think this is a "high risk, high reward" approach to technology entrepreneurship. If you take the opposite approach, problem-focused, iteration-driven, lean startup, etc, you're far more likely to end up with something like payroll or accounting software. Not that there's anything wrong with stuff like that, it's very important in its own right to solve more mundane problems well.
Curious to hear your thoughts.