# The Fallacy of Vitamins vs. Painkillers in Product

Source: https://rahulrumalla.substack.com/p/the-fallacy-of-vitamins-vs-painkillers
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/The-Fallacy-of-Vitamins-vs-Painkillers-in-Product?index=0x6798cc9153b8e7f9379a785bb19bf8ead7010986ae28007e09cb207dc9ef0423036736c9
Submitted by rsquare.eth on 2025-01-28 UTC, 4 upvotes, 2 comments

## Summary

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.

## Article

When I was building my last startup Otterspace, I pitched to hundreds of investors during fundraising. One of the most recurring questions I heard was, “Is your product a vitamin or a painkiller?” I quickly realized that most investors seem to crave clear-cut painkillers—products that solve urgent, must-fix issues—while often dismissing products viewed as mere “vitamins,” which improve but don’t necessarily fix a pressing pain. As a founder, I found this analogy limiting and short-sighted, prompting me to share my observations here.

Having also worked at SoundCloud and now in the Crypto space (Safe), I’ve seen firsthand how different products blend painkiller and vitamin elements.

In this article, I’ll share why the vitamins vs. painkillers analogy can be misleading, how Nir Eyal’s Hooked helps us understand habit formation beyond this dichotomy, and a simple matrix you can use to evaluate where your product or features may lie on the spectrum.

• Vitamins: Products or features that enhance a user’s life in a gradual or aspirational way. They’re seen as “nice-to-haves” that deliver long-term value, but they don’t always solve an immediate, pressing pain point.

• Painkillers: Products or features that solve a critical or urgent user problem—users will adopt them quickly because they feel an immediate need or “pain” that must be addressed.

This framework is popular because it’s simple. It helps product managers and entrepreneurs think about which user problems to address first. Investors often latch onto painkillers, believing they have a clearer path to product-market fit. But reality is often more complex.

It Over-Simplifies Real User Needs

Users have a range of problems and motivations, some urgent, others aspirational. A product might start as a painkiller (solving a single acute problem) but evolve into a platform offering broader “vitamin-like” improvements. Conversely, a product seen as a vitamin might become indispensable if market conditions or user priorities shift.

It Neglects Emotional & Psychological Factors

Beyond functional pain points, many users make decisions based on deeper emotional or social triggers—such as identity, status, or community. Labelling something as “just a vitamin” can miss the fact that it fullfills intangible needs that drive habit formation. Think of social media: it may not solve an immediate “pain,” but it addresses our need for connection and validation.

It Encourages Short-Term vs. Long-Term Tension

By focusing solely on urgent pains, you can secure early traction but risk overlooking ongoing engagement. Pure “painkiller” products often see users churn out once the main issue is resolved. Meanwhile, purely “vitamin” products can struggle to win immediate adoption if they don’t also address a more pressing need that hooks users initially.

It Ignores Complex Multi-Use Cases

Many products solve multiple problems with varying degrees of urgency. A project management tool can fix a day-to-day pain (aligning tasks, deadlines, and communication) while also offering long-term enhancements like analytics and performance insights. Classifying it strictly as one or the other loses important nuance.

I recently read Nir Eyal’s Hooked which explores how products create habit loops by linking user triggers to actions, variable rewards, and user investments. While some triggers are driven by pain (e.g., loneliness, frustration, or disorganization), others stem from aspirational needs (e.g., self-improvement, curiosity, or the desire for community). Eyal’s framework shows us that:

• Painkillers can provide the immediate or negative (boredom, fear, anxiety, loneliness, or frustration) trigger relief that compels a user to form an initial habit.

• Vitamins can tap into positive or aspirational triggers that maintain user engagement over the long run (think consistent self-improvement or social bonding).

By blending both immediate relief and ongoing enrichment, you can design products that not only attract users in moments of urgency but keep them coming back for deeper value.

Use the matrix below to determine whether your product or a specific feature leans more toward a painkiller or a vitamin. Good products often blend elements of both.

For Painkillers: Track activation rate, short-term retention, and time-to-first-value.

For Vitamins: Track long-term retention, engagement depth, and user satisfaction (NPS, CSAT) to see if users are deriving ongoing benefits.

The most resilient products often combine elements of both. They hook users by alleviating a clear, urgent issue—then foster ongoing engagement by offering deeper, long-term value. Drawing on two examples from my career, SoundCloud and Safe Wallet, here’s how these dual approaches can play out:

• SoundCloud initially addressed a painkiller need by giving creators an easy, free way to upload, host, and share their music—solving the immediate pain of distribution and discovery in a crowded market. Over time, it evolved to include more vitamin-like features, such as advanced analytics, community tools, and promotional capabilities. These incremental enhancements helped artists grow their audience, engage with fans, and refine their creative process, making SoundCloud an enduring platform rather than just a quick fix.

• Safe Wallet tackles a pressing problem for crypto users by providing a secure, multi-signature wallet that alleviates the fear of losing funds through a single compromised key. This addresses the urgent “painkiller” concern of protecting digital assets. Over time, Safe has incorporated vitamin-style benefits, such as modular extensions, advanced transaction features, and an evolving governance model that offers deeper involvement in on-chain asset management. These additions encourage users to remain active in the ecosystem, well beyond simply securing their funds.

This dual strategy satisfies immediate user pain while also fostering a habit-forming relationship built on ongoing improvements. By addressing urgent problems up front and layering in aspirational features over time, you can create products and platforms that endure well beyond their initial hook.

While it’s tempting to classify every product or feature as a vitamin or a painkiller, real-world user needs—and behaviours—are rarely so clear-cut. As my fundraising experience with Otterspace highlighted, investors may fixate on painkillers, but they can overlook the long-term potential of products that also serve as vitamins. Successful products often blend both approaches, addressing immediate pain points to secure early adoption while simultaneously offering long-term, enriching features that foster sustained engagement and loyalty. Nir Eyal’s Hooked underscores the importance of creating habit loops that integrate both urgent needs and aspirational desires, enabling products to resonate deeply with users.

By applying the evaluation matrix to assess urgency, willingness to pay, and retention patterns, product teams can gain a more balanced view of their offerings’ positioning and strategically develop features that cater to both short-term relief and long-term value. Embracing a blended approach ensures that products not only solve pressing problems but also continuously enhance users’ lives, paving the way for enduring success and user loyalty.

## Comments

**macbudkowski.eth**: Re: Safe tackling a pressing problem:

I once spoke with Stefan about Safe's origin story. 

They basically built it for themselves because they wanted a way to keep the ICO money.

But the problem of ICO rugpulls was so pressing back then than when they deployed the contract, people started using it without even waiting for some audit. So Stefan got a call from a friend who said "Look there was a 400k ETH ICO by Golem, and they just used your contract".

Felt this is a good example of a painkiller :)

**rsquare.eth**: I had no idea! Thanks for sharing that and 100% agree with you there :D