[deleted]
Not raising funds to stay small and happy
31–40 of 62 posts
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#32Rarely comment, but definitely identify with this. Given HN's general focus on growth and funding, I think it's great/important for an article/concept like this to be given some reach. I find that there isn't enough critical thought given to why one ought to pursue an aggressive growth strategy. And that generally, staying small is seen as a failure to grow, rather than a conscious effort to grow in line with ones ow…
This reminds me of the story of the fisherman and businessman, https://www.becomingminimalist.com/recognizing-happiness/
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#33Rarely comment, but definitely identify with this. Given HN's general focus on growth and funding, I think it's great/important for an article/concept like this to be given some reach. I find that there isn't enough critical thought given to why one ought to pursue an aggressive growth strategy. And that generally, staying small is seen as a failure to grow, rather than a conscious effort to grow in line with ones ow…
Startup is aimed at growth, to become next unicorn. If your business is not aimed at growth, then it is just regular business. YCombinator is incubator for startups, hence their HN site is aimed at startups too.
I first registered on HN many years ago because reddit had started to become more “mainstream”, so to speak, i.e. the programming-related posts had become the exception rather than the rule. As such I was never interested in start-ups, no matter how the HN founders relate to the start-up world. I think I’m not the only one in this boat. I’m also not obsessing that much over money, other than having enough funds for decent rent, a low-middle-class vacation per year and for gas and insurance for my small 1.4l hatchback. Paying (sometimes) too much money for books is my only guilty pleasure, but you don’t need to own a business in order to do that.
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#34> Not raising funds to stay small and happy But in this winner-takes-all reality, is that possible? If your business concept becomes successful, what prevents a bigger player to copy it, improve upon it, and steal away your customers?
> But in this winner-takes-all reality, is that possible?
This is an assumption, and I would say, an invalid one. The reality is actually that there are many successful businesses in any given industry. This is thanks to the fact that one-size does not fit all. Niching down is a good way to build a small, profitable business, because you can address the needs of the niche better than those bigger players that have to try to solve the problems of many different customers using the same systems.
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#35> Not raising funds to stay small and happy But in this winner-takes-all reality, is that possible? If your business concept becomes successful, what prevents a bigger player to copy it, improve upon it, and steal away your customers?
Because, realistically, those big companies aren't interested in competing for your little $10k/month niche. Even a million dollar a year revenue stream would be seen as a failure for them.
The bigger player may consider the idea more valuable in their hands.
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#36It depends what you want and what is your market size. Due to liquidation preference, it makes sense for investors to invest in any good companies they can no matter their size.
Now that SaaS is maturing and opportunities are smaller microSaaS will become more commonplace.
I built one 10 years ago and I remember people thought I was crazy at that time...
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#37What’s the ultimate value of growth anyway? If a startup is VC backed, then growth is the pathway for investors to get rich. If growth is a way to have a sustainable competive advantage of that’s a value too. However there are also enough small companies with a sustainable competitive advantage. Depends very much on your positioning etc
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Startup is aimed at growth, to become next unicorn. If your business is not aimed at growth, then it is just regular business. YCombinator is incubator for startups, hence their HN site is aimed at startups too.
Exactly. Startup = Growth http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
I mean, Steve Blank's definition is equally valid.
https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-prin...
"A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model."
Maybe you see "scalable" and think "to a billion users". I see "scalable" and think "sustainable over the long term".
I think a small business is when you know the business model can work and have moved on to long-term execution. Until then you are a startup.
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If your direct competitors have a much better product then you (because they have more dev/product/ux resources than you), a professional sales org, marketing machine, etc. then it's very hard to compete. Your acquisition costs and churn will be high which will severely hurt your ability to grow to a sustainable level. I would disagree. If the customers are comfortable with your product, and they don't feel a big r…
Even a couple of percentage points of churn is a big deal in the long term as you have to keep replacing those customers just to stand still. If you're in a moribund space you can get away with a MVP product for a long time, but if you're in a highly competitive space where your competitors have a significantly better product and a better sales team it has a real impact. The other major factor driving churn in bootst…
Being bootstrapped doesn't mean you can fall asleep. You still have to fight for your customers, however VC investment is usually not what will help you in the fight. It is even common for startups to fail because of the funding, when they try to reach the goals which are not realistic, just to provide returns for the investors.
Re: Not raising funds to stay small and happy
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because, realistically, those big companies aren't interested in competing for your little $10k/month niche. Even a million dollar a year revenue stream would be seen as a failure for them.
The bigger player may consider the idea more valuable in their hands.
Your $10k MRR niche won't be "app that lets people hail taxis, and network of contract drivers." It'll be "reception table plan designer for wedding coordinators".
Google is not now, nor will they ever be having a meeting where they decide to allocate a few hundred engineers and marketers to crush that space.
There are tens of thousands of niches like this that will pay for teams of 1-3 people to live on the beach after a few years of work.