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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?

#31

Post by bruce511 »

lulznews wrote: post #30
sirspacey wrote: post #29

I’ve launched startups since 1996, now advise & invest as well as run my own. I see products all the time that are compelling & do a better job solving a problem than any other problem in the space. Doesn’t matter. Sales & marketing is the hardest it has ever been. I’ve stopped looking for product opportunities. Now I look for distribution. Peter Thiel’s advice in “Zero to One” is avoid competition, find a monopoly b…

I totally agree but haven’t figured out how to crack this yet. >I’ve stopped looking for product opportunities. Now I look for distribution. Can you elaborate?

Not the op, but this gels with my story.

When I started out, computers were rare, and software was rare. We were in thd business of "computerizing" companies. We often supplied hardware with software. We found our space and grew as the space grew.

Contrast to 10 years ago where we saw a market with poor software, and entered that. Most businesses in the space had a product, albeit an inferior one. Progress capturing that market has been slow though, people don't like change.

If I was to do another product now, I'd focus a lot more on the willingness and ability, for the market to adopt new things. Being better (a fair bit better) is not enough. It's a lot harder now to get traction, to build trust, to convince people to change.

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

#32

Post by muzani »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #26

Ok let me tell you a secret here. A secret which books, youtube channels, startup accelerators won't tell you. The stories that you hear with hard work, finding a niche, product market fit, build a great product are all lies. The true secret is what I think of as "dirty business". Think: spam, sex, gambling, money making, scraping data, connections (which are not dirty per se but often not mentioned in stories). Exam…

I was reading racketeering on Wikipedia last night and one thing that surprised me was "illegal taxis". Okay, what's that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_taxi_operation

Oh there's Uber mentioned at the bottom there, with no clear definition why it's not racketeering.

Another interesting situation was when I was reading up on bank runs. Basically the default behavior of a bank is to have a bank run when people pull out of it. People will pull out when deposits are not insured by the gov or other third party entity. 2008 crash happened because entities that were not banks were behaving like banks (e.g. construction companies giving out loans) but they were not insured like banks. When banks are insured, they are very tightly regulated to the point they make little profit.

Most of the time, when someone makes a ton of money in finance, they're not playing by the tight rules of banks but act like banks. Basically all the fintech stuff you see today.

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

#33

Post by flowzai »

Starting a business in 2024 can be exciting! Using technology and working from anywhere makes it easier. But, there are challenges like many others trying too. Being different, making friends, and staying strong when things change are important. Success comes from new ideas, making connections, and being strong even when things are not easy.

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

#34

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

muzani wrote: post #32
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #26

Ok let me tell you a secret here. A secret which books, youtube channels, startup accelerators won't tell you. The stories that you hear with hard work, finding a niche, product market fit, build a great product are all lies. The true secret is what I think of as "dirty business". Think: spam, sex, gambling, money making, scraping data, connections (which are not dirty per se but often not mentioned in stories). Exam…

I was reading racketeering on Wikipedia last night and one thing that surprised me was "illegal taxis". Okay, what's that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_taxi_operation Oh there's Uber mentioned at the bottom there, with no clear definition why it's not racketeering. Another interesting situation was when I was reading up on bank runs. Basically the default behavior of a bank is to have a bank run when people…

Absolutely. I was talking to some more folks today. I just finished looking into this a few days back. I might write a book or something on this. It is crazy how much B.S. we are fed without talking about the spark. Building a good product and those things matter much later.

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

#36

Post by satvikpendem »

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…

No, even with all that you mention, it's still fairly difficult to make an actually good website, regardless of the amount of AI you throw at it. In contrast, the marketing side is still within how it was before, simply because devs know nothing about marketing, generally speaking.

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

#38

Post by sarimkhalid »

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…

100x this. Put very succinctly.

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

#39

Post by sarimkhalid »

Easy is some ways and really really hard in others. The stress will shave a few years off.

For a lot of people, a job in big tech is the way to go.

Whatever you decide to start, 80% of your time will be dedicated to sales, marketing, and biz dev, so make sure you like these activities.

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

#40

Post by ac2u »

ejb999 wrote: post #20
dukeyukey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think you're reading too much into that. A fact like that just makes folks curious as to how the procedures and end result is different enough to justify a 10x pricing difference rather than a reality check as to who or who isn't ready to start a business.
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