为什么无趣的商业能够超越人工智能的炒作周期
如今，人人都在建立人工智能公司。每个创业计划书都以“人工智能驱动”开头，每个初创企业都声称自己是下一个“针对X的ChatGPT”，风险投资家们也不停谈论人工智能革命。
但他们忽视了一个事实：当大家都涌入同一个被过度炒作的领域时，真正的利润却是在那些解决平凡问题的无趣业务中产生的。
**政府表格的金矿**
让我告诉你一个完美诠释这一原则的公司。当成千上万的企业家在构建GPT应用和人工智能聊天机器人时，一个小团队注意到其他人忽视的事情：申请政府援助的人被繁琐的文书工作淹没了。
这个过程就像是官僚主义的地狱——复杂的表格、不明确的要求，以及与政府办公室之间无休止的来回沟通。大多数科技企业家对此问题不会多看一眼。它不够吸引眼球，不会登上《科技Crunch》的头条，也不涉及机器学习或神经网络。
但你猜怎么着？这款“无趣”的表格填写软件现在每年创造3000万美元的收入。
这就是“在鱼聚集的地方捕鱼，而不是在渔民聚集的地方”的本质。当其他人都在争夺同样拥挤的市场时，聪明的企业家会找到未被开发的问题，并拥有真正愿意付费的客户。
**为什么无趣的业务通常胜过热门的**
人工智能的淘金热让我想起了其他技术泡沫。还记得当一切都被称为“区块链驱动”或“移动优先”或“社交启用”时吗？在那些炒作周期中存活下来的公司并不是追逐潮流的，而是那些解决实际问题并恰好使用了这些技术的公司。
今天的人工智能公司面临三个根本性问题：
1. **商品陷阱**：随着人工智能能力变得更加可及，竞争壁垒消失。你的律师用人工智能聊天机器人与其他人的看起来几乎一模一样。
2. **炒作后遗症**：当人工智能泡沫破裂（这一定会发生）时，投资者将要求实际利润，而不仅仅是令人印象深刻的演示。许多现有的人工智能公司没有明确的盈利路径。
3. **依赖风险**：将整个业务建立在快速发展的人工智能模型上意味着你距离过时只差一个API的变化。
**如何找到你的无趣金矿**
发现这些被忽视的机会并不是运气，而是一种系统化的问题识别方法：
1. **从自己的痛点开始**
最好的商业创意往往隐藏在你日常的挫折中。哪些流程让你想尖叫？哪些任务无缘无故占用了你几个小时的时间？如果这让你烦恼，可能也会让成千上万的人烦恼。
2. **挖掘你的网络**
你的朋友、家人和同事是商业创意的金矿。问问他们：“你工作中最令人沮丧的部分是什么？”“哪些事情花费的时间远超预期？”“什么能让你每周节省几个小时？”倾听他们的回答，如果多个人提到相似的问题，你就找到了值得探索的方向。
3. **质疑一切的手动流程**
如果到2025年，还有人使用电子表格来跟踪重要的商业流程，那肯定存在机会。如果人们在打印表格、手动填写并传真回去，那绝对是一个机会。寻找那些似乎停留在1995年的工作流程。
4. **关注投诉**
Reddit、Twitter和行业论坛上充满了人们对破碎流程的抱怨。这些投诉线程基本上是免费的市场调研。
当那些引人注目的初创企业争夺注意力时，无趣的业务享有几个不公平的优势：
- **竞争较少**：大多数企业家追逐闪亮的目标，留下了未解决的平凡问题。
- **客户粘性**：解决运营难题的企业创造了深度的整合点，难以被替代。
- **可预测的收入**：无趣的问题往往是持续存在的问题，导致订阅收入而非一次性购买。
- **较低的客户获取成本**：当你解决了一个被忽视市场中的真实痛点时，客户会通过口碑找到你。
查看原文
Everyones building an AI company these days Every pitch deck leads with AIpowered every startup claims to be the next ChatGPT for X and venture capitalists cant stop talking about the artificial intelligence revolution
But heres what theyre missing while everyone crowds into the same overhyped pond the real money is being made in boring businesses that solve unglamorous problems
The Government Forms Gold Mine
Let me tell you about a company that perfectly illustrates this principle While thousands of entrepreneurs were building GPT wrappers and AI chatbots a small team noticed something everyone else ignored people applying for government assistance were drowning in paperwork
The process was bureaucratic hell—confusing forms, unclear requirements, and endless back-and-forth with government offices. Most tech entrepreneurs wouldn't give this problem a second glance. It's not sexy. It won't make TechCrunch headlines. It doesn't involve machine learning or neural networks.
But guess what? That "boring" form-filling software is now generating $30 million in annual revenue.
This is the essence of "fishing where the fish are, not where the fishermen are." While everyone else battles over the same crowded markets, smart entrepreneurs find untapped problems with real paying customers.
Why Boring Usually Beats Buzzy
The AI gold rush reminds me of every other tech bubble. Remember when everything was "blockchain-powered" or "mobile-first" or "social-enabled"? The companies that survived those hype cycles weren't the ones chasing trends—they were the ones solving real problems that happened to use the technology.
Today's AI companies face three fundamental problems:
The Commodity Trap: As AI capabilities become more accessible, competitive moats disappear. Your AI chatbot for lawyers looks remarkably similar to everyone else's AI chatbot for lawyers.
The Hype Hangover: When the AI bubble deflates (and it will), investors will demand actual profits, not just impressive demos. Many current AI companies have no clear path to profitability.
The Dependency Risk: Building your entire business on rapidly evolving AI models means you're one API change away from obsolescence.
How to Find Your Boring Gold Mine
Finding these overlooked opportunities isn't luck—it's a systematic approach to problem identification:
Start With Your Own Pain Points
The best business ideas often hide in your daily frustrations. What processes make you want to scream? What tasks eat up hours of your time for no good reason? If it annoys you, it probably annoys thousands of other people too.
Mine Your Network
Your friends, family, and colleagues are goldmines of business ideas. Ask them: "What's the most frustrating part of your job?" "What takes way longer than it should?" "What would save you hours every week?" Listen for patterns—if multiple people mention similar problems, you've found something worth exploring.
Question Everything Manual
In 2025, if someone's still using spreadsheets to track important business processes, there's probably an opportunity. If people are printing forms, filling them out by hand, and faxing them back, there's definitely an opportunity. Look for workflows that seem stuck in 1995.
Follow the Complaints
Reddit, Twitter, and industry forums are filled with people complaining about broken processes. These complaint threads are basically free market research.
While flashy startups fight for attention, boring businesses enjoy several unfair advantages:
Less Competition: Most entrepreneurs chase shiny objects, leaving mundane problems undersolved.
Sticky Customers: Businesses that solve operational headaches create deep integration points that are hard to replace
Predictable Revenue: Boring problems tend to be ongoing problems, leading to subscription revenue rather than one-time purchases
Lower Customer Acquisition Costs When you solve a real pain point in an underserved market customers find you through word-of-mouth