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Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

derrickreimer.com

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Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#21

Post by intheclouddan »

realty_geek wrote: post #12

Hi Derrick, looking at the criteria you listed I would say you probably could find some interesting ideas in the real estate sector. I created an open source real estate website builder and though that hasn't made me any money, it got me enough contacts and insights into the sector to make me realise how much potential there is there. I am happy to have a chat if you want to know more. My plan is to launch a product…

I'd be interested to chat as well. I've looked at phrets in passing and I like the industry overall.

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#22

Post by bdcravens »

mooreds wrote: post #16
realty_geek wrote: post #12

Hi Derrick, looking at the criteria you listed I would say you probably could find some interesting ideas in the real estate sector. I created an open source real estate website builder and though that hasn't made me any money, it got me enough contacts and insights into the sector to make me realise how much potential there is there. I am happy to have a chat if you want to know more. My plan is to launch a product…

I worked for a real estate company for a number of years and have watched the behavior of agents over a longer period of time. I'd advise anyone working in the software side of real estate to target anyone other than real estate agents (brokers, title, inspectors, etc) as customers. The churn is punishing, there's a lot of competition and many agents do a small number of deals/year.

I'd second this. I've seen several people get their agent license in recent years, and most of them have additional jobs. (meaning they're not generating as much income as an agent as they'd need to do it full time) It's a very flooded market.

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#23

Post by mrskitch »

Hey Derrick! I don't have much to say, except that I really enjoyed your site's design. Good luck!

EDIT: Now that I've read through your article: I'm the founder behind browserless.io. Your outline is great, and is the same rough rubric I've used before. If you ever want to chat about anything, let me know! You're totally right: this thing is hard, and having more successes/failures doesn't make it any easier sadly. Lot's of dice rolling and trying.

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#24

Post by listenandlearn »

Hey Derrick,

Thanks for the great posts and for responding to comments!

Would love some feedback on choosing to raise money or not. I read this post (and many others) about having those filters ready ahead of time. The filter on raising money unfortunately I don’t have, I keep going back and fourth on that.

I have been working on an app, cross platform iOS and Android, that lets people listen to articles from the web. It uses great sounding AI ML to convert the articles to audio you can listen to in seconds.

I have been working on it for a few months have some good traction and a few paid users, working on it part time as a side project. I can’t help but feel that raising money would allow me to go full time and really concentrate while still affording my bills. The issue is VC money comes with strings.

(Shameless plug for anyone interested, the product is here https://articulu.com )

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#25

Post by 20years »

mooreds wrote: post #16
realty_geek wrote: post #12

Hi Derrick, looking at the criteria you listed I would say you probably could find some interesting ideas in the real estate sector. I created an open source real estate website builder and though that hasn't made me any money, it got me enough contacts and insights into the sector to make me realise how much potential there is there. I am happy to have a chat if you want to know more. My plan is to launch a product…

I worked for a real estate company for a number of years and have watched the behavior of agents over a longer period of time. I'd advise anyone working in the software side of real estate to target anyone other than real estate agents (brokers, title, inspectors, etc) as customers. The churn is punishing, there's a lot of competition and many agents do a small number of deals/year.

This ^

I have a couple of real estate apps on the market one of which has been out there for over 10 years. They did really well before the bust and are still profitable but it is a really tough market. I have since moved to other sectors and am happy I did.

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#26

Post by joelhaus »

bdcravens wrote: post #22
mooreds wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a real estate company for a number of years and have watched the behavior of agents over a longer period of time. I'd advise anyone working in the software side of real estate to target anyone other than real estate agents (brokers, title, inspectors, etc) as customers. The churn is punishing, there's a lot of competition and many agents do a small number of deals/year.

I'd second this. I've seen several people get their agent license in recent years, and most of them have additional jobs. (meaning they're not generating as much income as an agent as they'd need to do it full time) It's a very flooded market.

Agreed. Just launched my company to help the types of agents you're talking about: GeneralReferral.com

Brings technology to an underinvested corner of the traditional brokerage.

Could use some marketing help...

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#27

Post by absk82 »

listenandlearn wrote: post #24

Hey Derrick, Thanks for the great posts and for responding to comments! Would love some feedback on choosing to raise money or not. I read this post (and many others) about having those filters ready ahead of time. The filter on raising money unfortunately I don’t have, I keep going back and fourth on that. I have been working on an app, cross platform iOS and Android, that lets people listen to articles from the web…

Your website looks great. I didn't try the product. Can I ask how you did the design and UI of your landing page? Did you do it yourself or contracted someone to do it?

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#28

Post by derrickreimer »

listenandlearn wrote: post #24

Hey Derrick, Thanks for the great posts and for responding to comments! Would love some feedback on choosing to raise money or not. I read this post (and many others) about having those filters ready ahead of time. The filter on raising money unfortunately I don’t have, I keep going back and fourth on that. I have been working on an app, cross platform iOS and Android, that lets people listen to articles from the web…

You're welcome! There are some alternative funding sources for bootstrappers that could be interesting for you:

- TinySeed (https://tinyseed.com/)

- Earnest Capital (https://earnestcapital.com/)

- Indie.vc (https://www.indie.vc/)

Each works a little differently. My friend Matt Wensing did a comparison of them: https://medium.com/swlh/alternative-funding-calculus-a-quant...

Hope this helps!

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#29

Post by derrickreimer »

hmhrex wrote: post #11
derrickreimer wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally! To clarify, by the "drop the ball" do you mean knowing when to call it quits if something is not working out? I recently wrote about my experience with that: https://www.derrickreimer.com/essays/2019/05/17/im-walking-a... My friend Justin Jackson also published a good article about this too: https://justinjackson.ca/giveup

Thanks to you, I finally read The Mom Test. It was extremely insightful alongside your written experience.

That's awesome!

Re: Finding My Next Bootstrapped Business Idea

#30

Post by derrickreimer »

mrskitch wrote: post #23

Hey Derrick! I don't have much to say, except that I really enjoyed your site's design. Good luck! EDIT: Now that I've read through your article: I'm the founder behind browserless.io. Your outline is great, and is the same rough rubric I've used before. If you ever want to chat about anything, let me know! You're totally right: this thing is hard, and having more successes/failures doesn't make it any easier sadly.…

Thank you!
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