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Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

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Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#11

Post by gizmo »

The big trend of the last 20 years has been the leveling of the playing field. Everybody has access to all the same information about what (not) to do. On how to raise money. On how to build products. That’s not to say that everybody has equal chances, it still matters where you’re born for instance, but it’s more equal than it has ever been.

This is good for most of us because the leveling works in our favor. But entrepreneurship being easier and more people doing tech startups also raises the bar for everybody. More competitive markets favor people who are better and work harder.

People demand meritocracy but don’t like what it implies: having to compete with the rest of the planet.

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#12

Post by toomuchtodo »

codegeek wrote: post #9

Easy and Entrepreneurship don't go together. Serious comment. But let's bite. - Easy to "register" a business at least in USA ? Very easy. Could be done in 30 mins depending on the state you register in. - Easy to "build" a product or service ? May be. If you have tons of experience in that product/service already. Usually not. In software world, I will concede that it is relatively easier to build things these days…

Entrepreneurship is for people who perceive and experience stress and chaos in a very particular way.

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#13

Post by throwaway743 »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #7

In some ways it's easier than ever before, and in others it's much harder than it was 10 or 15 years ago, depending on your industry. For software, the barriers to entry have been decimated. Modern frameworks, libraries, PAAS, and now generative AI etc massively boost dev productivity. It's viable to build an MVP as a solo dev in weeks or months that used to take years. However, it's easier for everyone else too, and…

As someone about to release a product in this space, could you give some personal insights into the marketing aspects/targeting/audience?

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#14

Post by pyrrhotech »

throwaway743 wrote: post #13
pyrrhotech wrote: post #7

In some ways it's easier than ever before, and in others it's much harder than it was 10 or 15 years ago, depending on your industry. For software, the barriers to entry have been decimated. Modern frameworks, libraries, PAAS, and now generative AI etc massively boost dev productivity. It's viable to build an MVP as a solo dev in weeks or months that used to take years. However, it's easier for everyone else too, and…

As someone about to release a product in this space, could you give some personal insights into the marketing aspects/targeting/audience?

Frankly, I'm still very much trying to figure out viable and efficient marketing strategies myself. A large portion of my current users have come from somewhat viral posts/comments on HN, reddit and other investing forums. I also have social media accounts with automated model performance updates and free signals, but I don't have a ton of followers.

I've tried blogging and that's hit some decent results, particularly some of my technical blogs directly related to building algorithmic trading systems, but blogging is very time consuming, so I'm unsure the $/hour really pays off in such a niche space. I even wrote a book on the topic, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SB2LDG, but also that was a lot of work that I'm not sure was worth it.

So, best of luck! Marketing a very niche product/service is way harder than I originally anticipated. I'm now brainstorming how to pivot marketing towards a more mainstream audience. Really the market for investing with alpha and generating higher long term returns than the market should appeal to just about anyone with a disposable income, but building a level of trust and understanding is key.

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#16

Post by lulznews »

Both easier and harder than ever. Building has become extremely easy, almost trivial. But obtaining an audience to validate and sell has become extremely difficult due to channel saturation and competition. You either need to be an expert at audience acquisition or have a large amount of funding.

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#18

Post by markoman »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #14
throwaway743 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone about to release a product in this space, could you give some personal insights into the marketing aspects/targeting/audience?

Frankly, I'm still very much trying to figure out viable and efficient marketing strategies myself. A large portion of my current users have come from somewhat viral posts/comments on HN, reddit and other investing forums. I also have social media accounts with automated model performance updates and free signals, but I don't have a ton of followers. I've tried blogging and that's hit some decent results, particularl…

I feel like your grizzlybulls.com site is quite nice & loads very quickly for being under the load of HN visitors. The idea of democratizing algo trading for the masses is appealing, but there is that trust factor even for mere trading signals, let alone automated trading. You may have to provide more rationale on your site for what (and which) algos can do for the everyday trader.

I think I'd give consideration to changing the name since I'm not sure the name speaks directly enough to the idea of algo trading. I'd work on finding a better one.

Your book looks interesting & I'll have to consider buying it. Good luck to you.

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#19

Post by telesilla »

codegeek wrote: post #9

Easy and Entrepreneurship don't go together. Serious comment. But let's bite. - Easy to "register" a business at least in USA ? Very easy. Could be done in 30 mins depending on the state you register in. - Easy to "build" a product or service ? May be. If you have tons of experience in that product/service already. Usually not. In software world, I will concede that it is relatively easier to build things these days…

>Easy to "register" a business

Importantly it depends on the country. Some are very easy and small business-friendly. Some are complicated and costly: high compliance fees, small business taxes and strict regulations. Hopefully OP lives in one of the former. Maybe someone here knows a nice list of business-friendly countries, I found -

https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-most-business-...

Why does this matter? Anecdotally, I started out in a very friendly country and later moved to one with more restrictions. I'm not sure I would have had the courage to have made it work if I didn't have the earlier positive experience that have me confidence to work through it (and the cashflow to afford the right legal advice), and I've got friends in that more difficult country who decided it was too hard and went to work for someone else or left for an easier country.

Re: Ask HN: How easy is it to become an entrepreneur in 2024?

#20

Post by ejb999 »

dukeyukey wrote: post #8
jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

It is incredibly easy to start a business in the USA. In most areas, you can form an LLC for $200 or less. If your product is a service or delivery based (not a physical storefront with local customer traffic), you may be able to legally operate from a home office without a business license. Getting started is easy, succeeding is a little more difficult. The single biggest hurdle most technical people face is probabl…

> In most areas, you can form an LLC for $200 Fuck me, it costs less than $20 in the UK to form a limited company.

If you need to even consider the difference between a one-time $200 cost to setup an LLC vs a $20 cost to setup an LLC, then you are going to have a really hard time being an entrepreneur and starting a business.
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