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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?

#21

Post by dimgl »

koakuma-chan wrote: post #15
bpodgursky wrote: post #3

You're gonna get a lot of positive responses here, but frankly only do it if you think you can make meaningful money within a month or two. Everything is going off the rails this year. You only have to use Claude Code for 10 minutes to realize every job involving a computer is going to get flipped upside down within a year.

Claude Code is useless for anything that requires advanced knowledge.

+1. Claude is actually really good at all kinds of development but Claude will still make plenty of mistakes and occasionally go so far in the wrong direction that it still needs someone with experience to steer it.

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

#22

Post by nradov »

bpodgursky wrote: post #3

You're gonna get a lot of positive responses here, but frankly only do it if you think you can make meaningful money within a month or two. Everything is going off the rails this year. You only have to use Claude Code for 10 minutes to realize every job involving a computer is going to get flipped upside down within a year.

Lol that's what they told us last year. And they'll say the same thing next year. It's obviously useful for certain tasks but the number of errors and hallucinations are still quite bad for anything large or complex or really novel. That part is improving very slowly and some fundamental theoretical breakthroughs will be needed.

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

#23

Post by Herring »

BoiledCabbage wrote: post #17

The fact that people look to start a business based on searching foe a moat shows they don't believe in free markets. As well as shows what's wrong with Silicon Valley.

Yeah, and a moat can just be a solid trusted brand. Claude Code can't take that away.

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

#25

Post by tharkun__ »

rishabhpoddar wrote: post #11

It is. Big companies (or really anyone) usually don't have the time to copy an idea unless it becomes too big already. And if your idea becomes too big, it was worth pursuing it.

Or worth buying up. Which in many cases was the "purpose" of doing the startup in the first place.

Sure, we'd all like to think that the goal was an idealistic "startup does things for bettering humankind".

But let's face it: A large amount of startups are literally founded as an "easier" alternative of building a "more agile" sub-organization within an established and more process driven org and then just get bought out by some of those larger orgs.

Whether or not those large orgs are then actually successful in integration and actually properly leveraging what they bought vs. just "crushing competition", is not necessarily the concern of the founders, depending on how ruthless vs. idealistic they are.

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

#27

Post by lettergram »

There's still plenty of moats frankly, same moats as before. What isn't the moat is the software development time.

In our case, we're building a tool that has a moat from: integrations, multiple parties connecting, and others

It's very sticky once we get in, and has nothing to do with the software so much as legal, company policy and inter party communication

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

#28

Post by fredthomsen »

dimgl wrote: post #19
acrooks wrote: post #4

In my experience (enterprise software), customers buy our products not because we have a moat or some hard-to-achieve technical advantage but because they can speak to us in their words, they know we care, and we try solve their problems quickly. Just yesterday I was speaking with the COO of a $200M/yr revenue company in the supply chain space. He'd learned Claude Code and built a couple apps to solve internal proble…

One of the better, more levelheaded responses here.

A PM I've worked with many times always used to say, "They want an easy button! It's that simple!."

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

#29

Post by bpodgursky »

nradov wrote: post #22
bpodgursky wrote: post #3

You're gonna get a lot of positive responses here, but frankly only do it if you think you can make meaningful money within a month or two. Everything is going off the rails this year. You only have to use Claude Code for 10 minutes to realize every job involving a computer is going to get flipped upside down within a year.

Lol that's what they told us last year. And they'll say the same thing next year. It's obviously useful for certain tasks but the number of errors and hallucinations are still quite bad for anything large or complex or really novel. That part is improving very slowly and some fundamental theoretical breakthroughs will be needed.

I don't care what they told you last year, I didn't say jack shit. I'm saying it now.

Cope or pretend it's not happening, I don't care, this is the year.

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