Yeah, solving a personal problem is not the be all and end all. If you want success, you could always spend some time in an industry like farming. It'd take time, and probably would mean a year or 2 working in the industry to truly understand the problems that exist, but once you find a solution to a common problem that'd sure be one business where there is serious income potential. Of course not many hackers (if any) would take such a route...
A $99/month service is milk money to a farmer (not sure if pun is intended).
I do software development by day and have a cash crop farming operation on the side, so I have familiarity with both industries. I think an agricultural-based software startup would be mighty interesting.
However, the bulk of my problems on the farm are related to interfacing with third-party businesses. They have no incentive to improve their processes because the average farmer is 55 years old and would rather bang a hammer than bang a keyboard, and I cannot improve my processes without direct access to their data.
Your advice is sound, but personally I have found it to be not a very inspiring place for a startup yet. The low hanging fruit, at least as far as my operation is concerned, I find is already solved well enough. As some of the older farmers who fear computers move into retirement, however, I think the landscape will quickly change and some big opportunities will rapidly appear. I am looking forward to it.
A $99/month service is milk money to a farmer (not sure if pun is intended).