Fall in Love With the Problem, Not the Solution | Annie Cyr

Annie Cyr saw a gap in the textile industry, wrote the book she couldn't find, and years later built the technology she wished existed.

In this episode of The Parallel Entrepreneur, Annie joins Mark Cleveland to share the journey from writing The Guide to Textile Fibers to co-founding Tengiva, and what she's learned trying to modernize a complex global industry from the inside.

The conversation goes well beyond textiles. Annie shares why founders should "fall in love with the problem, not the solution," how she decides which opportunities are worth pursuing, why she tested existing technology before building her own, and what fundraising has taught her about choosing the right partners.

They also get into something every entrepreneur eventually has to confront: knowing your own limits. Annie shares an unexpected lesson from her time working in a hospital emergency department and how it shaped the way she approaches leadership, balance and building a company today.

For anyone turning deep industry experience into a business, there's plenty here to apply.

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲;

• Why Annie spent three years writing a textile reference book

• How industry experience led to the creation of Tengiva

• Why founders should fall in love with the problem, not the solution

• How to innovate without trying to replace everything that already works

• Why textile industry knowledge is so difficult to digitize

• How Tengiva prioritizes which customer problems to solve