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I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

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Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#121

Post by jdsleppy »

synergy20 wrote: post #106
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

I have a half-baked product in the making for 4 years but never had enough time (and skill) to fully make it, every time I asked potential customers all of them wanted it right away except I could not finish it. Tried to apply for HN to no avail. I just need some investment(500K should do it in one year) to hire one or two developers to help to ship the product really, but I don't know how, which is why I'm back to w…

If you had contact information in your profile, someone might reach out.

But since you don't: what kind of help are you looking for? Web development?

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#122

Post by pydry »

There's surprisingly little money to be made in truthfully and honestly informing people even though it's clearly what they want.

If you can convince people to buy the higher margin drug? Yeah, there's lots of easy money to be made in that even though customers don't want that.

Google for "best X" and in a ton of markets all you will get is a bunch of skeevy affiliate sites promoting the best deals for them and a good look at who is willing to lay down the most $$$ on adwords.

Even for branded sites with a rep (e.g. like tomshardware) i have my suspicions that they weight their recommendations towards companies that buy advertising on their sites.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#123

Post by randomdata »

jasfi wrote: post #117
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

This is why MVP exists. However validation is often needed much earlier. I think a prototype that works visually only, then collecting pre-orders, is the way to go.

As the name implies, the Minimum Viable Product exists as a way to build the least amount necessary to start generating enough revenue to keep the business viable while you expand the scope of the product to realize your full vision. The MVP isn't for proving the market, but rather capturing a small segment of the market to fund expansion into the much larger market. The validation that there is a market should take place before creating the MVP, like you say.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#124

Post by simulate-me »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #58
elpakal wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure I agree with you about your extra > and will pay for. People want Reddit, people want FB and Insta. Do they pay for those? I’m not saying those are good or realistic models to follow but I think the scale of your product needs to be taken into account with your statement. ie landing millions of users can forgive the lack of a business plan _at that scale_ whereas a SAAS platform targeting B2B customers s…

Advertisers want eyeballs, and will pay for it on the spot. People aren't the customers of Reddit/Facebook, they're the product, that's why social media has such negative effect on mental health, the users aren't a concern beyond how many minutes they dump in for advertisers to pay for.

But would you come up with the idea for Reddit if you approached it from an advertisement perspective? Probably not.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#126

Post by JAlexoid »

fartcannon wrote: post #105
ilamont wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's right. A lot of founders don't make it to #3 in your list, or they only get the "make something people want" part. It's not enough. Build something people want and will pay for . Not just say they want. Not just say they'll pay for. Make something that they see and will immediately take out their cash/cc/paypal/venmo and pay for on the spot .

Then you'll just end up with samey expensive garbage. People don't know what they want until they're told what they want. It's important to create a society where ideas that have no current market can be developed. This is how the future is made. Not by making it aluminum and jacking up the price.

> People don't know what they want until they're told what they want.

That's not exactly true. This sentence only covers fro value generating products, not cost saving products.

It's easier to sell cost saving product, but the profit margins on those are much lower. As an example in the article - the product is a cost saving product, but the cost it saves is very small.(Finding the right headache medicine is once in a lifetime $1 investment for most, or even less)

When it comes to value generating products - that is where you need someone who can sell their own idea of value to the masses. That is where this sentence starts to make sense.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#127

Post by throwaway684936 »

I'm definitely in the minority here, but I'd probably have paid up to $15/month for access to this. I care very strongly about picking something that will be maximally effective when buying OTC or talking to doctors about trying specific medication.

Is there any chance of the remaining data and possibly code being released/sold?

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#129

Post by tsss »

RC_ITR wrote: post #116
throw10920 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not just say they want. Not just say they'll pay for. This is big - lots of people (on HN and other places) say that they'd pay "$x for y" but aren't actually willing to. I feel like I saw a post that had some pretty good evidence of the disconnect between those two things but I can't find it.

It's the same problem as advertising. Nobody thinks they're particularly susceptible to it, but everyone still somehow knows that Chipotle exists and serves burritos...

That's a good example actually. I've never seen a Chipotle restaurant in my life but still know about them.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#130

Post by JAlexoid »

chefandy wrote: post #104
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

Not an MBA or anything, but IMO startups glossing over their early business practices indicates luck rather than hiding good practices. That touches on another big, counterintuitive trap: listening to successful founder’s personal-myth-derived advice on generating success. Important skills attributed to founders— e.g. recognizing opportunity and talent, vision, etc.— are meaningless without simultaneously having the…

I think people forget how much luck has to do with all of it.

Location, timing, access and mistakes on the side of market players - are all a matter of luck.

Google could not have started in 1998 in Russia. Microsoft would not have been Microsoft, without landing the MSDOS from IBM. So on and so forth.

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