Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook cannot make products, its that simple.
Oculus?
Did they make though or did they buy? What did they actually buy that wasn't already done at Valve?
Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
91–100 of 239 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#92Yes! Coding is just one of the tasks you've got to do when building a software business. You also have to find a good value preposition, identify a good channel to your customers, manage your resources etc. Channels are becoming even more important as software has become easy to copy. But copycats always existed. When it wasn't created by AI, it was created in low wage countries.
I’ve recently realized that behind each copycat, there is an entrepreneur. It’s not a big factory with written “Leading #1 in piracy” at the front. It’s someone with almost as many skills as the original entrepreneurs, trying to copy a few of them to see where there is traction, with hopes and dreams similar to the original, but too far away from the world’s center of activity to propose something relevant. Some of them probably do it with the “I can do it better than them” mindset.
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#93> Big companies can copy your product in no time Your advantage in this case, now or 10 years ago, is that this is simply not true. If your business is "a flashlight app", yeah, eventually they'll copy it (as it happened). However they'll take an unusual long time to do that simple thing (as it also happened). Why? Because everything at big companies is a political game, full of internal conflicts, multiple prioritie…
Don’t worry big companies still can’t copy anything quickly, even with AI. Why? Because before they can ship a single feature, they’ll need to schedule 42 alignment meetings, debate AI-generated slide decks, and log their “strategic pivots” into an AI-curated Jira board. The real moat isn’t just code it’s speed, focus, user trust, and the ability to actually ship. Those are things bloated orgs struggle with, with or…
In a previous big-tech job, we called this the "Release Prevention Team".
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#94> Considering there is very little moat left in software and big companies can copy your product in no time?
Your task in a software startup (or any startup) is to produce the moat. If you can create something with little effort in a few weeks or months then so can anyone else.
If your product does something hard or useful that you know how to do because you understand the audience or business, or includes data or knowledge that others may not know about or have, or just you can put the effort in to great service to build a large customer base it becomes harder to be copied.
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#95> Big companies can copy your product in no time Your advantage in this case, now or 10 years ago, is that this is simply not true. If your business is "a flashlight app", yeah, eventually they'll copy it (as it happened). However they'll take an unusual long time to do that simple thing (as it also happened). Why? Because everything at big companies is a political game, full of internal conflicts, multiple prioritie…
I couldn’t agree more. In fact I think the exact opposite of the original statement might be true: Find a product made by a big corporation that is a great concept but has clearly suffered from an internal shitshow of a team for some time, and copy it. If other corporations are sloppily copying it - even better. That just means the product has actual market fit.
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, Opus 4.5 is not business as normal. If you haven't tried it, you really need to, to update your opinion.
I am talking about opus 4.5. It made a complete mess out of my project.
That's what it does. Switch to Codex (not someone else's harness) with 5.2 Codex XHigh
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#97The opposite is increasingly true…
I spent the past 6 months rebuilding a medium-size company’s CRM.
They were on Salesforce for a decade, and now they’ll own their data based on the work of a single engineer.
For Salesforce, the moat is increasingly the inertia that comes from big-company contracts and the perceived safety of buying Salesforce.
Society is experiencing the first wave of the true Cambrian explosion of software and there’s never been a better time to be an indie maker. Never. This is like the iOS App Store moment, but multiplied by 100 and expected to last 10x longer.
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#98A software startup has always, always been a longshot. This is still true. Also, vanishingly few companies of any kind, including software, ever get a "moat". Small companies survive, when they do, by being fast moving enough to keep making new things.
You certainly should not start a software startup to get rich, as that was never the most likely outcome. You should start one if you have an idea for software that isn't out there, which you think people would find useful, and you want to see what it's like to do a startup (enough to give it several years of your life).
I have, btw, never founded a software startup, though I have worked at some. I got paid in salary, not equity. It is now, always was, and probably always will be a longshot.
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#99I would strongly recommend staying away from software startups unless: - The CEO of some major corporation or a big VC is a close friend or friend of your family. - You are rich and have a lot of friends who will buy your product. - You already finished the MVP; which you started building 12 years ago... Might as well try to complete. - You're a criminal. The market is insanely saturated and people already have more…
You’re talking about VC startups.
I disagree with the sour mindset, as I don’t feel those games were necessary for my startup, although I admit mine was bootstrapped (0$), and didn’t grow as far as the others, it still made me millionaire, has paid my employees a high-than-average salary and has the potential of adding them a few hundred thousands each.
I admit the old market (do web apps to manage records! or notes!) is saturated but the IA market is brand new and fresh open.
Re: Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
“The”, not “a”. There is a chasm of difference between “I care about this problem and want to solve it, but I also need to think how to make it sustainable” and “I don’t really care what I’m tackling, as long as I make bank”. Both exist. The second one is ever more the norm.
Why is this a problem? As long as the problem gets solved.
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