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Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#161

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

dahart wrote: post #160
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are an infinitesimal number of tech based startups that are “lifestyle companies” that were bootstrapped and use revenues to grow without taking investor money. There are even fewer that are “successful” - ie where everyone involved wouldn’t be better off just working as a LOB CRUD developer. The goal of the founders don’t matter even if they do “care” about the customer. The customer is at the whim of the stra…

> even if they do “care” about the customer You’re not debating me, you’re contradicting @latexr. > infinitesimal You invented a narrow niche to knock down there, but as I said, I actually looked it up and the majority of startup companies that form are seed or self funded, not VC funded. I was responding to @latexr’s claims that “most” founders don’t care about product at all, which I believe is just false. You’re a…

Where did you find this tidbit of information that most tech startups don’t take outside funding?

Every company “cares about their customers” to the point where that’s how they make their money.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#162

Post by wavemode »

Big companies are very bad at developing new software.

That's why it's so common for successful software startups to eventually get acquired. Big companies know that it's a lot more efficient for them to spend money simply buying someone who did the thing, than spending money and taking on a bunch of risk trying to do the thing themselves.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#164

Post by dahart »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #161
dahart wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even if they do “care” about the customer You’re not debating me, you’re contradicting @latexr. > infinitesimal You invented a narrow niche to knock down there, but as I said, I actually looked it up and the majority of startup companies that form are seed or self funded, not VC funded. I was responding to @latexr’s claims that “most” founders don’t care about product at all, which I believe is just false. You’re a…

Where did you find this tidbit of information that most tech startups don’t take outside funding? Every company “cares about their customers” to the point where that’s how they make their money.

> Where did you find this tidbit

Google it. There are pages and pages of sources. Here’s one: https://gregslist.com/

> Every company “cares about their customers” to the point where that’s how they make their money.

And if they don’t make money, they fail and lose the opportunity to care about customers. It’s a boring tautology to say that companies care about money. The point is that @latexr is wrong about assuming that caring about money means they don’t care about product or customers.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#165

Post by fathermarz »

You gotta find a niche these days and do it well. No longer can there be generalist software. Find underserved industries that aren’t “cool” per se, but still have problems.

Have heard from multiple investors that they think boring software is the next wave, rather than a new UI/UX/Productivity way of doing things.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#166

Post by dangus »

atonse wrote: post #117
Oras wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with sone of your points, there are many evidences that this happened in the past. One example is Microsoft creating teams to take on Slack.

Every single org I’ve seen using teams (sample size of 4-5 orgs) uses it because it came for free. And every one of them also got slack and paid for it. That says everything about how shitty Teams STILL is. MS still hasn’t improved it much from the steady state turd that it’s been a few years ago.

It’s so funny. My company is basically merger hell and we have both Teams and Slack for similar reasons.

One of the more important acquired companies with a cash cow product basically refused to move to Teams because they hate it and concocted a reason that we just had to keep it.

The reason was total BS but it was crafted to appeal to the higher-ups, and it worked, because nobody was really going to fight over less than ten bucks per person per month.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#167

Post by [deleted] »

ctkhn wrote: post #80
Oras wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with sone of your points, there are many evidences that this happened in the past. One example is Microsoft creating teams to take on Slack.

Teams is still nowhere near Slack's features and usefulness. I wouldn't say it's a direct competitor, it's like store brand vs a mid-luxury item

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#168

Post by [deleted] »

vlod wrote: post #157

Try and go for $100 MRR (pay for servers and some pizza). Big companies won't go for that. Try another idea (while still running the above). Go for $1000 MMR. Still too small. This is harder than you think and will teach you incredible skills. Next: keep going. :) DISCLAIMER: obviously don't quit your job/starve/become homeless etc to try this.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

#169

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

dahart wrote: post #164
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you find this tidbit of information that most tech startups don’t take outside funding? Every company “cares about their customers” to the point where that’s how they make their money.

> Where did you find this tidbit Google it. There are pages and pages of sources. Here’s one: https://gregslist.com/ > Every company “cares about their customers” to the point where that’s how they make their money. And if they don’t make money, they fail and lose the opportunity to care about customers. It’s a boring tautology to say that companies care about money. The point is that @latexr is wrong about assuming…

It’s not at all a tautology. A company that cares about its customers can balance its need to make money and leave money on the table because it’s not in the best interest of the customers.
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