Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
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Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
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Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#2Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I will push back on some of the popular mythology that everyone thought successful startups we're just toys or would fail in their early days. IMO that's mostly bullshit.
Amazon, Google, Uber, Facebook (despite some cherry picked article from the video about it never being able to hit profitability) were all hugely popular right off the bat, and indeed, many people saw them as being more worthy successors to what were already huge businesses (e.g. the pre-Google search engines, MySpace).
In a similar vein, you often here how pg and other top VCs thought AirBnB was a horrible idea early on. Well, that's just their own individual myopic vision IMO. Couchsurfing was already very popular, as were other vacation rental platforms like VRBO - it's not hard to see how AirBnB could grow into that space.
If anything, what I see as the common thread is that the most successful startups executed extraordinarily well at just exactly the right time (e.g. there were other video sites before YouTube, but you didn't really have enough broadband adoption until the late 00s the make it viable).
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#3Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I will push back on some of the popular mythology that everyone thought successful startups we're just toys or would fail in their early days. IMO that's mostly bullshit. Amazon, Google, Uber, Facebook (despite some cherry picked article from the video about it never being able to hit profitability) were all hugely popular right off the bat, and indeed, many people saw them as…
Exactly!! I always wondered why it took so many years for someone to figure out a revenue model for couchsurfing ('couchsurfing' website started in 2003 and AirBnB in 2008). AirBnB is just that (atleast at start)
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#4Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I will push back on some of the popular mythology that everyone thought successful startups we're just toys or would fail in their early days. IMO that's mostly bullshit. Amazon, Google, Uber, Facebook (despite some cherry picked article from the video about it never being able to hit profitability) were all hugely popular right off the bat, and indeed, many people saw them as…
All this hoo haa about startup ideas - Just make products that excel at every aspect of what it does and make sure there is a demand for such a product. I see people making a better soap dispenser, the hardware equivalent of what most SaaS startups are working on. You need to invent a new kind of soap that is better than anything else out there. It should take the grime off of everything from kitchen to bathroom scum. It replaces IPA, Acetone, LimeOff, EasyOff, Ivory bar, Dawn soap, and Gojo. You've got an explosive popularity just around the corner. Popularity isn't luck. It germinates from knocking people's socks off when they use your product.
I equate startup advice to those "Teach you how to become a millionaire" books you find at grocery stores. If these people really were good at making soap, they wouldn't be around giving advice. That includes my own advice in this comment ;-).
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#5https://youtu.be/3YKNr-LiblI?t=212
i guess he never heard of ebay.
patreon is just paypal donation button but they take a bigger cut and have developed a habit of terminating creators from the service for vague TOS violations
When he says that a company is worth 1 billon or 3 billon etc. , this is based on the last funding round in a very illiquid market. The collapse of wework shows that these purportedly large numbers are less impressive than they seem
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#6Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I will push back on some of the popular mythology that everyone thought successful startups we're just toys or would fail in their early days. IMO that's mostly bullshit. Amazon, Google, Uber, Facebook (despite some cherry picked article from the video about it never being able to hit profitability) were all hugely popular right off the bat, and indeed, many people saw them as…
All this hoo haa about startup ideas - Just make products that excel at every aspect of what it does and make sure there is a demand for such a product. I see people making a better soap dispenser, the hardware equivalent of what most SaaS startups are working on. You need to invent a new kind of soap that is better than anything else out there. It should take the grime off of everything from kitchen to bathroom scum…
Just because there is demand for something does not mean it is a viable business idea. There is tons of demand for food yet the margins selling food are tiny and it is very competitive. There is tons of demand for listening to music online, yet it was never profitable until Spotify came along. There is huge demand for watching videos online yet YouTube ran at a loss forever. Everyone thinks that their product is great and will stand out among the competitors.
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#7Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I will push back on some of the popular mythology that everyone thought successful startups we're just toys or would fail in their early days. IMO that's mostly bullshit. Amazon, Google, Uber, Facebook (despite some cherry picked article from the video about it never being able to hit profitability) were all hugely popular right off the bat, and indeed, many people saw them as…
Exactly!! I always wondered why it took so many years for someone to figure out a revenue model for couchsurfing ('couchsurfing' website started in 2003 and AirBnB in 2008). AirBnB is just that (atleast at start)
Actually there is no fundamental difference between VRBO.com and Airbnb.com, with VRBO predating Airbnb by a lot, except for a more slick execution.
Edit: Per Wikipedia VRBO was launched in 1995.
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly!! I always wondered why it took so many years for someone to figure out a revenue model for couchsurfing ('couchsurfing' website started in 2003 and AirBnB in 2008). AirBnB is just that (atleast at start)
Actually there is no fundamental difference between VRBO.com and Airbnb.com, with VRBO predating Airbnb by a lot, except for a more slick execution. Edit: Per Wikipedia VRBO was launched in 1995.
The folks at the famous ad firm Widen and Kennedy like to say "the best story wins." AirBnB did have one thing different in it's story vs VRBO, which was that it was initially pitched at people's spare bedrooms, not owners of vacation properties. It's a small difference, but meaningful in how the marketing message spread imo, even if AirBnB did come to be dominated by "professional" hosts.
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#9[deleted]
Re: Billion Dollar Startup Ideas [video]
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually there is no fundamental difference between VRBO.com and Airbnb.com, with VRBO predating Airbnb by a lot, except for a more slick execution. Edit: Per Wikipedia VRBO was launched in 1995.
The folks at the famous ad firm Widen and Kennedy like to say "the best story wins." AirBnB did have one thing different in it's story vs VRBO, which was that it was initially pitched at people's spare bedrooms, not owners of vacation properties. It's a small difference, but meaningful in how the marketing message spread imo, even if AirBnB did come to be dominated by "professional" hosts.
Yes, I agree. So in a way it was a cross between VRBO and couchsurfing - which as you say made a much better story.