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It seems like after the first startup, you realized that Lativa is not a good market for startups. And then you went and created 9 more in Lativa and learned the same lesson over and over.
By now, everyone is aware that cloud computing (among other recent developments) has drastically reduced the cost of starting a new business, both in time and money. What's not so well known is that this has changed not only how cheaply and quickly businesses can be started, but also how they're started. Rather than draw up an executive summary and business plan, talk to advisors and research the market, it seems lik…
Also to take an example from the article how would one accurately assess demand for a 10 language flash gaming site without building it?
all this work seems to span 7 years, and your only significant success was $250k (split ~7 ways) - ouch. definitely some interesting stories and some ballsy attempts - albeit that there was probably too much focus on opportunistic copy / pasta ideas and capitalising on Latvia's lack of search competition, rather than meaningful value creation.
It seems like after the first startup, you realized that Lativa is not a good market for startups. And then you went and created 9 more in Lativa and learned the same lesson over and over.
I sent this article to a few entrepreneurial-minded developer friends who tend to build first, research/think/plan/market later. And to be fair, that's how I used to be too. Startups need builders, but researchers/thinkers/planners/marketers are just as important, if not more so.
The main conclusion you can draw from this story is that you should read, learn, research and think more before doing something, not after.
Given your energy, I'm certain you will create something big someday.
Why are (were?) you so concentrated on Latvia? That's like starting an online business limited only to the inhabitants of a middle-sized city. Given your energy, I'm certain you will create something big someday.
Thanks for sharing! Can you tell us more about MaxTraffic.com?
The main conclusion you can draw from this story is that you should read, learn, research and think more before doing something, not after.
1) He is willing to share his experiences which I think is brave and should be applauded.
2) He is obviously learning hard won lessons which I think are the best kind. I certainly learnt more from my business failures than successes.
3) Based on his HN comments he seems to have had two successes out of 12 tries (assuming 10 failures mentioned in the blog plus the 2 other tries that are still alive). I think this isn't too bad.
4) He has a location disadvantage. Sure you can argue that the Internet levels the playing field but I don't quite buy it. I don't know for sure but I suspect that Latvia's tech start-up community is nascent compared to other geographic locations. I argue that start-up culture and knowledge are highly valuable and while the Internet can help to transmit this I believe that, "being there is everything".
If I would throw in my two cents in I would kindly suggest to this entrepreneur to:
1. Keep going and maintain momentum
2. Build up a network and start finding complementary team members, and
3. Focus on hard/valuable problems.