The same thing can happen with any startup. You don't necessarily have to identify an unsolved problem -- you just have to solve the problem better than anyone else.

Ideas evolve over time as the problem and the need becomes clearer, feedback is provided, and these startups just get better at what they're doing. Let's cut these guys a break, give them a little support for putting themselves out there, and provide some constructive feedback.

That's true, but I think one big advantage of google was that for anyone used to the existing search engines it would only take like 3 seconds to notice google was better. It wouldnt be the same thing today for, say, a better flickr.

Yeah, that is one thing that will always keep YCombinator companies from taking on the huge problems first. As talented as some of the founders seem to be, there is only so much three people can do in 3 months. A pitch has to be a very consise idea that can be executed quickly.

Count me in. :)

> Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for.

Not really... It is not so hard to setup SVN, Apache, WebDAV, and NetDrive, and you got your own Dropbox...

It's even a hard problem for me, not because I can't set up svn/apache/webdav and whatever, but because I need to actively avoid doing this kind of things and focus on higher order issues.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. The dominant player for an industry isn't always who gets the first implementation (though that's sometimes the case, like eBay), it's often who does it for the masses. Digital music players were common before the iPod, but the iPod made it easy. That's why Rios don't even exist anymore and iPods consistently outsell the bible. Dropbox is easy like the iPod is easy. My mom sees its value.