What if your next business opportunity isn't something you invent—but something you experience yourself?
For Eric Kurbanov, that opportunity began with a simple problem: water.
Today, Eric is the CEO of RKIN Water Systems, a company focused on residential and business water systems, including drinking-water systems, whole-home water treatment, countertop systems designed for renters, and air purification. But the company didn't begin with a massive business plan or a sophisticated product-development department. It started with Eric recognizing a problem, finding a solution for himself, and then noticing that other people wanted the same solution.
His journey offers a valuable lesson for entrepreneurs: sometimes the best business ideas are hiding inside the problems you already understand.
From Limited Water Access to an Entrepreneurial Opportunity
Eric's connection to water goes back to his childhood in Uzbekistan.
Growing up in a small town in the former Soviet Union, Eric experienced unreliable water infrastructure firsthand. His family might have access to water only once or twice a day for short periods, and the quality wasn't always good. Drinking water directly from the tap wasn't an option. His family would boil the water, allow it to settle, and then use the clearer portion.
Years later, after moving to the United States, Eric experienced the opposite situation. Water was readily available, and he quickly became accustomed to that convenience.
Then he bought a home with a drinking-water system under the kitchen sink.
He didn't think much about it until he moved again.
At his next home, he found himself buying bottled water and wondered why. He remembered the system from his previous house and began researching what it was. That's when he discovered reverse osmosis.
The problem was that finding and installing one wasn't particularly easy at the time. Eventually, he found a system at Costco, installed it, and immediately saw the value.
Then something unexpected happened.
His coworkers wanted one too.
The First Customers Were Already Around Him
Eric worked for a local mining company when he installed the water system in his home. His coworkers began purchasing systems from him—not necessarily because they couldn't buy the products themselves, but because they wanted Eric to handle the research, installation, and process for them.
That moment contained an important entrepreneurial signal.
Eric hadn't set out to build a water company.
He had solved a problem for himself.
Then other people saw the solution and asked him to solve the same problem for them.
This is one of the most practical ways entrepreneurs can identify opportunities: pay attention to what people repeatedly ask you to help them do.
The business opportunity wasn't created in a conference room. It emerged naturally from customer demand.
Customer Problems Became the Product Development Strategy
As RKIN developed, Eric continued listening to customers.
One of the clearest examples involved renters.
Customers wanted RKIN's water systems but couldn't install traditional systems because they were renting their homes. Eric and his team initially developed a countertop system that could connect to a faucet.
But customers had another problem.
Some faucets didn't work with the adapters. Others found the tubing inconvenient when they were using the sink.
Instead of telling customers to live with the inconvenience, Eric asked a different question:
How can we eliminate the problem entirely?
The answer was a standalone countertop system that didn't require plumbing or a permanent faucet connection. Eric describes it as being similar to a coffee maker in concept—something that could sit on the counter and operate independently.
That is a powerful example of customer-driven innovation.
The original product solved one problem.
Customer feedback revealed another.
The company listened again.
And the product evolved.
Innovation Isn't Always About Creating Something New
Entrepreneurs often think innovation means inventing something nobody has ever seen before.
Eric's story suggests another interpretation.
Innovation can also mean taking an existing solution and making it dramatically easier for a specific customer to use.
The renter-focused system wasn't simply about water purification. It addressed the larger customer experience:
No permanent installation
No complicated plumbing
Fewer compatibility problems
Greater flexibility
A product designed around the realities of renting
The same philosophy appears in RKIN's air purifier.
Eric personally struggled with allergies and found existing air purifiers frustrating to maintain. He had difficulty finding the correct replacement filters and found the scheduling process unnecessarily complicated.
So the company designed an air purifier around those frustrations.
The result was a system with one filter, an app that makes the replacement filter easier to locate, and simpler scheduling.
Eric describes the goal of a good product this way: once customers start using it, they should eventually forget it's there because it simply does its job.
That's a useful product-development principle far beyond water or air purification:
The best customer experience often removes friction rather than adding features.
Understanding the Difference Between Filtration and Purification
A significant portion of Eric's conversation focuses on water technology, particularly reverse osmosis.
According to Eric, traditional filtration methods can work differently depending on the technology being used. He explains that carbon filtration uses carbon media to capture contaminants until the media reaches its capacity, while reverse osmosis uses a membrane that separates water from substances that don't pass through it.
He also discusses why reverse osmosis systems produce a reject-water stream and how the technology differs from older approaches such as distillation.
For consumers, the broader lesson is less about memorizing water-treatment technology and more about understanding the importance of matching a solution to the actual problem.
Eric doesn't suggest that every household necessarily needs the most elaborate system available.
In fact, when discussing whole-home systems, he makes an important distinction.
Don't Sell Customers More Than They Need
One of the more interesting moments in the conversation comes when Eric discusses what happens when a homeowner asks whether a whole-home water system eliminates the need for a drinking-water system.
The easy sales answer would be to recommend the more expensive system.
Eric takes a different approach.
He explains that most household water isn't actually consumed. Water is used for showers, toilets, laundry, dishes, and other purposes. That means the requirements for whole-home treatment aren't necessarily identical to the requirements for drinking water.
His recommendation is to prioritize drinking water first and then consider whole-home filtration based on the household's needs.
That's more than a product recommendation.
It's a lesson in trust.
When businesses focus on what customers actually need instead of automatically pushing the most expensive option, they create the opportunity for a much stronger relationship.
Smart Products Should Respond to Real Usage
Eric also explains how RKIN approaches water softening through what he calls smart or metered systems.
Traditional timer-based systems can regenerate on a predetermined schedule regardless of whether the household actually needs it. Eric contrasts that with systems that respond to water usage and adjust regeneration accordingly.
Consider a family that leaves town for a week.
A timer-based system may continue its scheduled regeneration even though nobody is using water.
A usage-based system can recognize that demand has dropped.
The reverse can also happen. If additional people arrive and water consumption increases, a smart system can respond to that increased demand.
The entrepreneurial lesson is broader than water softeners:
Products become more valuable when they adapt to the customer's real behavior.
The Customer Story That Stayed With Eric
One of the most memorable moments of the episode involves an 80-year-old customer.
The customer told Eric that he wanted to enjoy his remaining years and particularly wanted to be able to take better baths because of the poor water quality in his area.
RKIN helped determine what system he needed, and the system was installed.
Later, the customer called Eric.
He told him that, for the first time in his life, he had taken what he considered the best bath he had ever experienced.
It might sound like a small customer story.
But that's exactly why it matters.
Entrepreneurs can become obsessed with revenue, market share, product launches, and growth metrics. Those numbers matter. But behind every transaction is a person trying to improve some part of their life.
For Eric, that customer's story reinforced why the business mattered.
The product wasn't ultimately about membranes, filters, plumbing, or technology.
It was about helping someone enjoy something as simple as a bath.
Building a Business Around Problems You Personally Understand
Eric's story reveals a recurring pattern.
His water business grew out of problems he personally experienced.
His air-purification product emerged from frustrations he personally experienced.
And many of his product improvements came from problems customers personally experienced.
That combination—personal experience plus customer feedback—can be incredibly powerful.
Your own frustrations can help you recognize opportunities that others overlook.
But personal experience alone isn't enough.
The next step is listening.
If other people have the same problem, and they're willing to spend money to solve it, you've discovered something potentially valuable.
Why Entrepreneurs Need to Believe Before the Market Does
Near the end of the conversation, Eric shares what he wants entrepreneurs to remember most.
His message is simple:
Believe in yourself.
He acknowledges that there will be moments when the evidence in the marketplace seems to say otherwise. Friends and family may support you, but ultimately the entrepreneur has to keep moving when the outcome isn't yet obvious.
Eric describes this as being willing to be "a little bit delusional."
His point isn't that entrepreneurs should ignore reality.
Quite the opposite.
He talks about believing in yourself while also making a plan, doing the homework, executing, and continuing forward.
That distinction matters.
Entrepreneurial belief isn't a substitute for evidence, research, or execution.
It's what can keep you moving long enough to discover whether your idea can actually work.
The Entrepreneurial Advantage of Listening
There is a common misconception that successful entrepreneurs always know exactly what they're doing from the beginning.
Eric's story paints a different picture.
He didn't begin with RKIN as the fully developed company it is today.
He discovered a product.
People around him wanted it.
He listened.
Customers encountered new problems.
He listened again.
Renters needed a different solution.
He developed one.
Customers struggled with product usability.
He improved it.
He personally experienced another problem.
He explored another product category.
The process was iterative.
That is often what entrepreneurship actually looks like: observe, solve, listen, improve, repeat.
Turning Personal Experience Into Business Growth
Eric Kurbanov's journey with RKIN offers an important reminder for anyone thinking about starting a business.
You don't necessarily need to begin with a revolutionary invention.
You may begin with a problem you understand unusually well.
You may discover that other people have the same problem.
You may solve it for them.
Then you listen carefully enough to discover what isn't working yet.
That's where the next opportunity can appear.
For entrepreneurs looking to grow, this mindset can be just as important as strategy, marketing, or financing. The ability to recognize problems, understand customers, and continuously improve the solution can become a competitive advantage in almost any industry.
At Glovisor, the focus is similarly centered on helping entrepreneurs and business owners identify opportunities, improve the way they operate, and build businesses that support the life they want to create.
The Bigger Lesson From Eric Kurbanov
Eric's story began with water, but the entrepreneurial lesson reaches much further.
A business opportunity can emerge from a personal frustration.
A first customer can come from your existing network.
A product can improve because customers tell you what's wrong.
Innovation can mean eliminating friction instead of adding complexity.
And sometimes, when the market hasn't yet validated your vision, you need enough belief in yourself to keep executing.
But perhaps the most important lesson is this:
Pay attention to the problems people are already asking you to solve.
Eric didn't set out to build RKIN simply because he wanted to own a water company.
He experienced a problem, found a solution, helped others with it, listened to those customers, and continued improving.
That's how a simple solution can become a business.
And sometimes, the opportunity hiding in plain sight is the one you already know how to solve.
About the GLOVISOR Podcast
The GLOVISOR Podcast features conversations with entrepreneurs, business leaders, speakers, and experts exploring business growth, communication, personal development, leadership, and the experiences that shape how people build their businesses and lives.
Listen to the full episode with Eric Kurbanov, CEO of RKIN Water Systems, and discover how a personal experience with water quality became the foundation for a growing business.