A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn

Post by haileys » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 10:34 PM UTC

pembrook wrote: post #229

Bewelge wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the process is unnecessarily complex, but I also think hiring someone for that would be the wise choice in most places anyway. And even in Germany hiring someone for that would probably amount to paying 500-1000€ for the whole registration of the company instead of doing everything yourself and only paying the 100-200€ notary fees. It's not as bad as you might think. > I will never try it in my home coun…

> but I also think hiring someone for [government paperwork] would be the wise choice in most places anyway. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried founding a business or fundraising in any other non-Germany country, but this is an insane thing to say imo. Is this why Germany has no globally relevant software (or hardware tbh) companies founded in the last 40 years? Are we sure we want to be holding up this model as an ex…

Post by tptacek » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 11:07 PM UTC

shafyy wrote: post #292

tptacek wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can essentially create an LLC in Delaware (from anywhere in the country) as easily as you can create an Amazon account, so that's a big claim.

You still need to deal with business registration, taxes, accounting and so on. You can also create a GmbH in Germany by downloading a few free templates from the internet and making an appointment with a notary. It's a bit more expensive than creating an LLC, but not significantly (maybe a few hundred dollars). Especially since most of the cost come from running the business (tax filings, accountings, business regis…

Post by louthy » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 11:29 PM UTC

esafak wrote: post #98

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least some years ago, browsing HN's comment section felt like it was a different world, separated from reality. I think some people need this kind of grounding reminders every once in a while.

Russ (VC): Why would you go after revenue? Richard (CEO): Because... to make money? Russ: No. If you show revenue, people will ask how much, and it will never be enough. The company that was the hundred x-er, the thousand x-er, becomes the two x dog. But if you have no revenue, you can say you're pre-revenue ... you're a potential pure play. It's not about how much you earn, it's about what you're worth, and who's wo…

Post by jonas21 » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 11:56 PM UTC

mfld wrote: post #76

senko wrote: post #29

I do like the idea in general and feel there's a lot of room for improvement between the (VC / bootstrapping) extremes. However, the middle path from the article presumes the existence of VCs willing to join you on that path. The article waves this away with: > angel investors are generally more open to a 2-3x ROI For a $1M round you'd need to find 10-20 such angels (assuming $50k-$100k average check size) willing to…

That is what I was wondering as well. Where can I find investors willing to invest up to $1M with an expected 2-3x ROI on typical VC terms? In particular, for pre-revenue ventures. And how can you keep that 90%+ equity with 10 angel investors?

Post by ZeroTalent » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 12:18 AM UTC

margalabargala wrote: post #242

all2 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be curious to hear about how you are managing quality on LLM generated stuff.

They probably mostly don't need to be. Most SaaS companies are not doing anything particularly innovative or novel. Most of them provide value via putting in the work to glue together several other APIs, automating something that previously was harder to script/automate, or simply applying an idea that another company pioneered to another market segment: "It's like Theranos but for barbers!" These use cases are gener…