The Fallacy of Vitamins vs. Painkillers in Product

The author argues that the "vitamin vs. painkiller" framing for products is misleading, and that the strongest products blend both. The author, who pitched the startup Otterspace to investors, says the framework oversimplifies user needs, ignores emotional triggers, and loses nuance for products with multiple use cases. Using Nir Eyal's Hooked, the article suggests painkillers can create initial habits while vitamins sustain engagement. It cites SoundCloud, which began by solving music distribution and later added analytics and community tools, and Safe Wallet, which began with multi-signature security and later added modular extensions and governance features.