Find Your Entrepreneur Sweet Spot

“You’ve got to find what you love. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
— Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

Every founder has heard this advice at some point. And for good reason.

Steve Jobs wasn’t talking about some abstract dream or poetic ideal. He was talking about the very real, sometimes frustrating, always important pursuit of alignment—between your work and your heart.

But here’s the thing they don’t always tell you:

Loving what you do is necessary—but it’s not enough.

You can love something deeply, but if you’re not great at it yet… it becomes a struggle. You can be incredibly talented at something, but if the market doesn’t value it… it’s a dead-end. You can chase market trends, but if you don’t care about the work… you’ll burn out or walk away.

That’s why I want to introduce you to a practical, clarity-giving tool every founder should use early in their journey:

The Entrepreneur Sweet Spot.

It helps you find the overlap between:

1. What you love
2. What you’re great at
3. What the market is willing to pay for

And in that intersection is the startup worth building. Not just because it can succeed—but because you’ll want to keep showing up for it.

This article isn’t about fluffy inspiration. It’s a strategic guide. A tool. A filter.

Whether you’re sitting on too many ideas, second-guessing your direction, or running low on founder fuel—this framework will help.

Let’s get into it.

What is the Entrepreneur Sweet Spot

The Entrepreneur Sweet Spot is the intersection of three forces:

1. What you love
2. What you’re great at
3. What the market is willing to pay for

Imagine these three as overlapping circles in a Venn diagram. That sliver in the middle—that’s your sweet spot. And if you’re a founder or creative entrepreneur, that’s exactly where your startup should begin.

Because when you find alignment between passion, skill, and market need, magic happens.

Why it matters for founders

Most startup struggles don’t come from lack of hustle. They come from lack of alignment.

— You can burn out doing what you love… if it doesn’t make money.

— You can fail building something profitable… if you don’t care about it.

— You can feel stuck doing what you’re good at… if the market doesn’t want it anymore.

The 'Entrepreneur Sweet Spot' helps you avoid the trap of building the wrong business really well.

It saves time, money, and mental energy by aligning your internal drivers with external demand. Think of it as your entrepreneurial compass—it doesn’t tell you every step, but it keeps you heading in the right direction.

What it helps you solve (for real)

Let’s break it down. Here are four common founder problems we have seen, and the 'Entrepreneur Sweet Spot' framework can solve them all:

1. Too many ideas, no direction

You’ve got startup ideas scribbled in 3 notebooks, 12 sticky notes, and a dozen half-finished Notion pages. But none of them feel quite right.

— The 'Entrepreneur Sweet Spot' filters them fast.

When you run your ideas through the three-circle filter—Do I love this? Am I great at it? Will people pay for it?—you instantly shrink your list to the ones worth exploring.

2. No clear value proposition

You’re struggling to explain what your business does or why someone should care.

The 'Entrepreneur Sweet Spot' gives you your why.

When your business grows from something you love, can do well, and the market needs, your messaging gets crisper. People can feel the authenticity. It’s no longer a sales pitch—it’s a story that resonates.

3. Founder burnout

You’re tired. Really tired. You’ve been pushing, posting, pitching—but it’s not lighting you up anymore.

The 'Entrepreneur Sweet Spot' protects your energy.

Alignment is renewable fuel. When you’re working in your zone of genius (with meaning and money), it gives more than it takes.

4. Building something nobody wants

You’ve built the website. Designed the product. Launched the service. And… crickets.

The Sweet Spot keeps you close to the customer.

By making market demand part of the equation, you stay grounded in reality. It’s not just about your dream—it’s about a dream that others want to buy into.

How to find your sweet spot

Let’s make this practical. Here’s a 3-step framework you can use today to find your own Entrepreneur Sweet Spot.

Step 1: Map the three circles

Take out a piece of paper (or open your favorite note app) and write these three headings:

• What I Love (Passion)
• What I’m Great At (Strength)
• What People Will Pay For (Demand)

Start listing answers under each.

What you love: What gets you excited to get up in the morning? What topics do you geek out over? What do you do even when no one’s paying?

What you’re great at: Where do you consistently deliver results? What do people compliment you on? What do you find easy that others find hard?

What the market pays for: What are people already paying for in your industry? What trends are emerging? Where do people have urgent problems they’re willing to solve?

Step 2: Find the overlaps

Look for entries that show up in two or more categories.

Let’s say you wrote:

• Love: Helping people grow, storytelling, solving complex problems
• Great At: Branding, strategy, explaining ideas clearly
• Market Will Pay: Brand strategy, messaging, startup marketing

Now you’re getting warm. You’re not just a brand strategist. You’re someone who can position growing companies with stories that stick. That’s a niche. That’s a voice. That’s a sweet spot.

Step 3: Stress-test it

Before you start building a business around your sweet spot, ask:

• Would I still do this if I had to do it for the next 5 years?
• Can I learn or outsource the parts I’m not great at?
• Is the market hungry for it—or just mildly curious?

If you say yes to at least 2 of the 3, you’re ready to test it in the real world.

Sara Blakely

The Spanks sweet spot

You’ve probably heard of Spanx, the billion-dollar shapewear company. But what’s more impressive than its success is how it started—with one woman, a pair of scissors, and a personal frustration.

Sara Blakely wasn’t a fashion designer. She didn’t have funding. She didn’t even have experience in the industry. But she had something more powerful: a Sweet Spot.

Let’s break it down:

What she loved:

Solving problems for women like her. She wanted to feel confident in her clothes—and knew other women did too.

What she was great at:

She had grit, storytelling chops, and real sales ability from years of door-to-door fax machine pitching. She knew how to sell a solution and win people over.

What people were willing to pay for:

‍Undergarments that were functional, flattering, and invisible under clothes. Women were improvising with pantyhose because nothing on the shelves worked.

One night, before a party, Sara cut the feet off her tights to wear under her white pants. That small personal hack sparked a big idea—and a business. She realized her experience, her frustration, and her skill set aligned perfectly with a massive unmet need.

She wasn’t just solving a problem. She was building a brand from her Entrepreneur Sweet Spot.

And what started as a side hustle with $5,000 turned into a global brand—because she aligned what she loved, what she was good at, and what others needed.

That’s the power of this framework. It’s not abstract. It’s not theoretical. It’s practical, proven, and deeply personal.

It's not a destination

Here’s something important: your Entrepreneur Sweet Spot isn’t static.

It evolves with:

• — Your skills
• — Your interests
• — The market

And that’s okay.

Revisit the framework every year. Even every 6 months. It’s not a one-time tool—it’s a compass you keep in your pocket.

Avoiding the most common mistake

The most common trap is starting from what you think will make money, and trying to backfill meaning or passion.

That’s a recipe for a business you want to exit the moment you enter.

The second most common mistake? Building something you love and are good at, but that nobody wants to buy. That’s not a business. It’s a hobby.

You need all three.

Bonus:
Use It as a Hiring or Branding Tool

The Sweet Spot isn’t just for solopreneurs.

You can use it to:

• — Hire aligned team members
• — Define your brand essence
• — Create aligned content and offers

For example, your brand voice should live in the sweet spot too: between what your team believes, what you’re great at delivering, and what your audience needs to hear.

Build something worth sticking with

Startups are hard. They’ll test your patience, your identity, and your bank balance. That’s why you need a foundation that’s worth fighting for.

The Entrepreneur Sweet Spot helps you start smarter. It helps you choose the right thing to build—not just the next thing. Because when you build from your sweet spot, you’re not just launching a business. You’re creating a legacy.

Curious where your sweet spot lies? Try mapping your three circles today. And if you need a visual tool or worksheet, We’ve got one right here:
Download the Framework here.