Check out Lazada. It's pretty popular in that region
I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
31–40 of 81 posts
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
So any successful aggregators out there? I think the closest one seemed to be pinterest
There are lots of successful aggregators: NerdWallet and Credit Karma for credit cards and financial products, all the different car shopping sites, also Trulia/Zillow for real estate. All of those companies have a clear value proposition for buyers (one place where you can get information instead of lots of scattered websites that might or might not be helpful). They also tend to have strategically strong customer a…
Interesting analysis, how about news aggregation :)
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#33> This just sounds so wrong to me. If you have a good product and it brings value, then others should be able to value it by paying you back for your product or services. Period. I completely understand this philosophy, but an attempt at building a two-sided market place is very likely going to require outside investors. This opinion that you need to be profitable from day one has been proven wrong repeatedly and whi…
We did raise funding it was around $100k-$500k (not going to disclose the real amount). We realized that we needed some boost to test the market overall, but after 1.5 year of using that money and got to 30-40k UV per day, the path of profitability from that point seems far away, numbers just don't add up. It gets worse as I stated in the article that new startups in the same area are raising behemoth amount of fundi…
I sense a lot of naive optimism in your approach.
You understand the goal of any business, especially an internet business, is to become a monopoly right?
Look at Amazon, Google, FB, etc. They only became profitable once they became monopolies, and thus could set their own prices based on whatever metrics they chose.
The reason startups take outside funding is so that they can become a monopoly in a given market, and then charge customers whatever they want.
Don't fall for the marketing hype. Startups don't save the world. Scientists, doctors and inventors do. Startups just make a few people very, very rich at the expense of their customers by selling them mostly crap they don't need or want, using psychological manipulation (i.e. marketing).
Once you understand that this isn't some noble quest, you can finally begin to understand how to play the game (of thrones).
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#34Thanks for sharing your experience.
It sounds like you were facing a really tough competitive landscape. Throwing in the towel sounds like a wise thing to have done.
One thing I didn't totally get from the post is what exactly you were trying to improve about the shopping experience? It seems like there is a lot of room for improvement for both buyers and sellers. Could you have vetted sellers and/or tried to answer inane questions from buyers yourselves (acting like a web cache for popular requests), saving both parties the pain of waiting for a response? What if you offered some kind of reputation service? I'm sure you thought about this stuff, and I'm not saying any of this is easy. I just would be curious to hear more about how you thought through finding real, sticky product-market fit.
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
> any product based primarily on aggregating products that others sell is a failed model What about eBay?
eBay is not forwarding you to third-party websites in order to purchase products. They are listing products directly. The company the author was creating forwarded you to someone else. In return the store paid a monthly fee. Essentially this company was targeted lead-gen, and stores paid a fee for them to do the work and drive traffic.
My bad, I didn't realize the OP's company was forwarding traffic to a 3rd party. That's indeed a bad idea.
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
We did raise funding it was around $100k-$500k (not going to disclose the real amount). We realized that we needed some boost to test the market overall, but after 1.5 year of using that money and got to 30-40k UV per day, the path of profitability from that point seems far away, numbers just don't add up. It gets worse as I stated in the article that new startups in the same area are raising behemoth amount of fundi…
I sense a lot of naive optimism in your approach. You understand the goal of any business, especially an internet business, is to become a monopoly right? Look at Amazon, Google, FB, etc. They only became profitable once they became monopolies, and thus could set their own prices based on whatever metrics they chose. The reason startups take outside funding is so that they can become a monopoly in a given market, and…
Posts like this are much needed in HN
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
The hard part in building a two-sided market is getting users AND buyers on your platform. This generally means epic shit-tons of brand marketing to end users, which is where a lot of those millions of VC dollars go. There's really no way to get brand recognition otherwise -- you have to spend some ad dollars to inform users of your product. Ad spend is a zero-sum game from a competitive lens, so if your competitors…
Yes, so what you're saying is college student who sells aren't qualify as a part of my market since they can't fix this supply chain issue. Which I also mentioned the way to solve it is to cut down the market size, so that only first hand suppliers are the ones majority selling
Or you need to fix the supply chain issue yourself by holding inventory. This solves a problem that your producers have and provides better service to your customers. This is what Amazon does.
The real problem is when you have a bunch of producers trying to sell direct to customers and drop ship is that it's a very inconsistent consumer experience. If your selling point is a compelling customer experience, you need consistency in how packages are shipped and changes communicated. All of that leads to inventory, shipping, logistics, and something that looks much more like a traditional e-commerce store.
Once you lose control of the customer experience in this way, it can no longer be your competitive advantage. So you either need another competitive advantage, or you need to fold up shop.
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#38I couldn't imagine doing something like this in the Philippines, which I'm guessing is much like Indonesia. Nobody has credit cards to buy anything online. Credit card alternatives haven't gained traction. People use cheap alternatives to Western Union to send money. Nobody surfs the web except at internet cafes. And at internet cafes it's either FB or homework. Nobody aimlessly browses when they are dishing out mone…
That's fascinating. Thanks for sharing. FB and Microsoft's excitement about chatbots makes a lot more sense now.
Taking this further. If you do own a smart phone, FB is the one connection you can get free over the mobile networks.
When I walk into a bar here, I pay 45 pesos (approx $1 USD) and the waitress who hands me my beer might make 140 pesos for a 12 hour work day. She should make more in tips, but not always. Down the road, the major grocery store also pays its workers about the same. Minimum wage is supposed to be something like 350 pesos per day depending on industry (domestic helpers may not even make the 140 pesos because they are live-in and get food. But they work like slaves). Businesses get around minimum wage by employing for six month contracts, which is a probationary period.
Internet cafes charge around 15 - 20 pesos per hour. An all day mobile data connection (700MB cap) costs 50 pesos. The locals will get an SMS promo for around 20 pesos per day. Getting to work and back in my city costs 20 pesos minimum. We haven't got to rent and food yet. The math is grim.
You carry a cell phone as a shiny object to show off. You dress remarkably well with this small budget (probably a good reason to sell cheap but fashionable clothing). Somehow you may even be able to buy a scooter.
That's it. That's the economy.
NOTE: The big exception is the occasional splurge for those lucky enough to have relatives sending remittances.
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#39Well done. It is better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.
If you want to have better odds next time, I'd advise you to read Zero to One. Think about what your secret is. What are you trying to do, what do you know about, that no one else knows? Then do that.
When you see lots of competitors, it's a pretty good bet you haven't found a secret.
Re: I returned home from Silicon Valley and built a failed startup
#40I couldn't imagine doing something like this in the Philippines, which I'm guessing is much like Indonesia. Nobody has credit cards to buy anything online. Credit card alternatives haven't gained traction. People use cheap alternatives to Western Union to send money. Nobody surfs the web except at internet cafes. And at internet cafes it's either FB or homework. Nobody aimlessly browses when they are dishing out mone…
Just curious, what is consider a high-end monthly salary (in pesos or USD) in the Philippines?