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U.S. Market Is Overrated

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U.S. Market Is Overrated

#1
Why do so many founders build for the US or with the ambition to go sell in the US? I get the consumerist culture, higher willingness to pay, etc, but there are so many other markets where you can build and sell much simpler products and dominate.

Why compete in the biggest pool when you can dominate a smaller one?

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#2
There are certain businesses (social media) for which people believe scale is everything. If you believe that then the U.S., India and China are the markets that matter. (e.g. you don’t see a social media site from the Netherlands so Israel make it big globally)

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#3

There are certain businesses (social media) for which people believe scale is everything. If you believe that then the U.S., India and China are the markets that matter. (e.g. you don’t see a social media site from the Netherlands so Israel make it big globally)

Yeah but we don't need another social media site... Such a waste of time building more of those. I'm talking valuable businesses that add to society.

I think you can achieve "scale" in markets like Brazil which aren't as attractive but still have +200M people if you build the right thing.

And the right thing can be simple and something that has worked in markets like the US before.

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#4

There are certain businesses (social media) for which people believe scale is everything. If you believe that then the U.S., India and China are the markets that matter. (e.g. you don’t see a social media site from the Netherlands so Israel make it big globally)

Yeah but we don't need another social media site... Such a waste of time building more of those. I'm talking valuable businesses that add to society. I think you can achieve "scale" in markets like Brazil which aren't as attractive but still have +200M people if you build the right thing. And the right thing can be simple and something that has worked in markets like the US before.

Hard to say.

The natural lifecycle of online communication services is that they burn out and get replaced rather rapidly. It seems as soon as one gets enough users to reach critical mass it is very hard to peel people away but inevitably when that happens the service stops investing in reliability, never mind new features, so maybe 5-10 years or so later people are saying: “I know you’re skeptical about trying new apps but this one really works, it is like Skype was 10 years ago…”

To look at Twitter in particular there are a lot of people who can’t seem to quit using it even when they know better.

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but we don't need another social media site... Such a waste of time building more of those. I'm talking valuable businesses that add to society. I think you can achieve "scale" in markets like Brazil which aren't as attractive but still have +200M people if you build the right thing. And the right thing can be simple and something that has worked in markets like the US before.

Hard to say. The natural lifecycle of online communication services is that they burn out and get replaced rather rapidly. It seems as soon as one gets enough users to reach critical mass it is very hard to peel people away but inevitably when that happens the service stops investing in reliability, never mind new features, so maybe 5-10 years or so later people are saying: “I know you’re skeptical about trying new a…

I agree - I just think that there are far more enriching businesses to build than social media. Especially with the current business model. Not much good in that IMO

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#8
The infrastructure for setting up and running a business in the US is significantly easier than most places. Not all places, but the combination of a huge English-speaking market and the ease of doing business makes it more attractive than many of the other places mentioned.

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard to say. The natural lifecycle of online communication services is that they burn out and get replaced rather rapidly. It seems as soon as one gets enough users to reach critical mass it is very hard to peel people away but inevitably when that happens the service stops investing in reliability, never mind new features, so maybe 5-10 years or so later people are saying: “I know you’re skeptical about trying new a…

I agree - I just think that there are far more enriching businesses to build than social media. Especially with the current business model. Not much good in that IMO

What about https://mercadolibre.com/ ?

Re: U.S. Market Is Overrated

#10
“get the consumerist culture, higher willingness to pay, etc”

Who cares if you’re the king of some country in Africa. Manhattan has more money to slush around on apps than the entire continent combined and that’s literally just one area of one city in one state in the USA.

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