Domain expertise

2 kinds of domain expertise + a vaccine for expiring expertise

Reading Paul Graham’s and Jessica Livingston’s essays, one of their recommendations for founders is to have domain expertise.
What kind of domain expertise? is there only one kind of domain expertise? Which domain are they referring to?

2 kinds of domain expertise

Your users.

• Are you an expert on your user’s problems?
  Paul: “The way to succeed in a startup is not to be an expert on startups, but to be an expert on your users and the problem you're solving for them.”
  Before the startup

• Are you the user?
  Jessica: “A good way to ensure that you make something people want is to make something you yourself want. …But remember that making something for yourself is just a heuristic to guide you in finding an idea. In the actual execution, you need to focus on users.” Startups, the very beginning

The technology.

• Paul: “Get to the leading edge of a rapidly changing field” and learn to build in that field.
  “Learn a lot about things that matter” Before the startup
  Some examples: many types of programming, microcontrollers, biotech, carbon removal, rockets, batteries

• Jessica: “The second thing you need in the founding team is domain expertise. At least one of the founders should be an expert in what you're working on. Which means if you're starting a software startup, at least one of the founders should be a programmer. You can get away with hiring programmers, but you're more likely to succeed if the founders themselves at least know how to program, even if they're not great at it.”
  Startups, the very beginning

You probably want both kinds of domain expertise for a product/service to be successful. You want to be an expert on your users, their problems and the technology to solve their problems.

A vaccine for expiring expertise.

You might also want to consider if your expertise has expired or is about to, and how to renew it.

Paul:

• “Have an explicit belief in change.”

• “Be aggressively open-minded.”

• “Be sensitive to the winds of change.”

• “Try to solve problems and don’t discount weird hunches.”

• “Bet on people over ideas.”

How to be an expert in a changing world