People, Product and Process
I’ve been mulling over this line I came across:
All needs in life are solved by people, product, and process — in that order.
What it really highlights is that the best solution to any problem or need usually starts with people, not a product.
Take food, for example. Our first instinct is to hire a cook. If that’s not possible, we turn to Zomato (a product). And if that fails too, we look up a recipe and cook it ourselves (a process). Whether it's a basic human need or a business problem, the most natural, immediate solution tends to be a person. You open social media when there's no one around to talk to.
If a problem is being solved at the people level, there's very little reason to seek a product. People only switch to products when it's hard to find the right person, or when the product is significantly cheaper or more scalable.
In India especially, many problems are still solved at the people layer. That’s why it’s often hard to sell a digital product. Why use a recruitment tool when an agency (a person) can do it for you? Products scale because they’re not constrained by human bandwidth, but not every need scales that way. Some things can’t be replaced by a product or process. Think about companionship. It’s incredibly hard for a product to truly replace the feeling of human connection.
One common mistake I see is that people come across a "people" solution and immediately want to build a product or process around it. But not everything moves cleanly from people → product → process. You can’t replicate artists or genuine relationships that way.
There’s a reason why consulting is such a big market. It’s a people-first solution. Someone shows up, listens, understands your unique context, and builds something tailor-made. That depth is hard to compress into a generic product.