To start a business and make products, you must do things that are beneficial to society

2021 is almost over, and a lot of things happened in the Internet circle this year.

The booming online education market collapsed in an instant.

Digital currencies have suffered heavy blows one after another.

The metaverse and digital humans are becoming popular.

. . .

If you think about it carefully, it seems that most of them are good things, including the collapse of the online education market.

What exactly do you need to do when starting a business or making products?

The view in The Wealth of Nations is that as long as personal interests are pursued, it will be beneficial to the entire society.

Nash's game theory overturned this view: the choice that is beneficial to oneself and others is the best choice.

I agree with this very much.

Regarding the online education and extracurricular training market, someone once said something like this: Because many students spend money on extracurricular training and make-up classes, they have already learned the subject when the class is taught in school. Therefore, in class, the teacher asks the students: Do you know the answer to this question? If you do, the teacher will not teach you. As a result, the few who have not learned the subject have no way to learn it, so they have to spend money on extracurricular training.

Online education for primary and secondary schools has made money for online education providers, increased the burden on parents and students, and wasted public education resources. In general, this kind of online education and training for primary and secondary schools has more disadvantages than advantages for the entire society. It can also be said that the better this kind of online education is, the greater the harm to society.

At the beginning of this year, I came into contact with several entrepreneurial teams and projects, one of which impressed me deeply.

They make an electronic cigarette, not the common pure electronic cigarette, but the electronic cigarette with the traditional cigarette as the core. To put it bluntly, it is a kind of thing that can filter out the harmful substances in cigarettes. So, smoking this electronic cigarette is actually smoking a traditional paper cigarette.

When I learned this, I applauded on the spot.

What's good about it?

For C, the health hazards of smoking have, at least, been greatly reduced.

For B, the new way of smoking means a potential, larger market and sales.

These are just the first level. More deeply, C has not changed his smoking habit, but he has a better health guarantee than before, which is a good thing for C's family. B (the large number of cigarette factories and the large and small channels for selling cigarettes) has a larger market and sales volume, and the workers, businessmen, and tobacco farmers behind B can live better.

Therefore, if this product is well made, it will bring more benefits than disadvantages to the entire society.

(Disclaimer: I don’t smoke and have quit smoking a long time ago. I am also against smoking.)

Whether you are starting a business or making a product, you should do things that are beneficial to yourself, your users, your colleagues and society.

Maybe you think this is a burden, but in fact, this is the easiest way to succeed.

After all, those who are righteous will have many supporters.