7 ms·

I've called these the 10% startups. They typically only serve people in the top ~10% of earners in the US.

by lowglow 11y ago

AndrewKemendo 11y ago
So basically any startup with an iOS only product (disclaimer our's is iOS only).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- mineshaftgap 11y ago
  There are very good reasons besides demographics to start with iOS. Stability, consistency, lack of piracy etc.
- zepto 11y ago
  Given that iOS has a 40%+ market share in the US, no.
  - georgemcbay 11y ago
    The market for smartphones is only about mid-60% of all Americans, though, from what I've read. So still not 10%, but more like 25%-ish.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - jacalata 11y ago
      Well, the original comment was "10% of earners" and I'd bet that smartphone penetration is higher among earners (eg 20% of Americans are under 14, 0% of them are earners and ??~10% of them have a smartphone). So you could perhaps push it up to more like 1/3 earners use iOS, which is starting to be a healthy potential market share.
      - lmm 11y ago
        > 20% of Americans are under 14, 0% of them are earners and ??~10% of them have a smartphone OT but 10%? I'd've guessed at least twice that.
        jacalata 11y ago
        I just made it up, I don't even know anyone under 14.
frankthedog 11y ago
This shouldn't be taken as a negative per se. If that is your target market and your business can become sustainable only serving this tranche of consumers, good on you. There is a lot of money to be made serving the top decile of earners.
guessbest 11y ago
It is like fishing. When you are fishing for smaller fish, people wonder if they have a shoe on the end of the line. Nobody ever questions the whale.
rokhayakebe 11y ago
Most lawyers serve the top 10%, yet they are here in good and bad times.
- josephcooney 11y ago
  I misread this as 'lawmakers', but your sentence still seemed correct either way.
jpatokal 11y ago
Which is not a bad market to serve when that 10% owns 75% of all wealth in the US. Source: Credit Suisse: https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fileID=60931FDE-A2D2-F568-B041B58C5EA591A4 https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fi...
adventured 11y ago
Almost everything, service or product, begins by first appealing to the top 10%. It moves down the line from there. It holds true to a nearly universal point. AWS, for example, was so expensive initially as to be ridiculous for most purposes unless you had a lot of money to waste. It was a 10% service. Now it's a 50% service. Tomorrow it'll be a 75-90% service. The examples that don't follow this pattern, are usually riding on previous examples of the pattern that already became cheaper (such as mobile phones -> smart phones).

I've called these the 10% startups. They typically only serve people in the top ~10% of earners in the US.

by lowglow 11y ago

I've called these the 10% startups. They typically only serve people in the top ~10% of earners in the US.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago

So basically any startup with an iOS only product (disclaimer our's is iOS only).

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
mineshaftgap 11y ago
There are very good reasons besides demographics to start with iOS. Stability, consistency, lack of piracy etc.
zepto 11y ago
Given that iOS has a 40%+ market share in the US, no.
- georgemcbay 11y ago
  The market for smartphones is only about mid-60% of all Americans, though, from what I've read. So still not 10%, but more like 25%-ish.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - jacalata 11y ago
    Well, the original comment was "10% of earners" and I'd bet that smartphone penetration is higher among earners (eg 20% of Americans are under 14, 0% of them are earners and ??~10% of them have a smartphone). So you could perhaps push it up to more like 1/3 earners use iOS, which is starting to be a healthy potential market share.
    - lmm 11y ago
      > 20% of Americans are under 14, 0% of them are earners and ??~10% of them have a smartphone OT but 10%? I'd've guessed at least twice that.
      - jacalata 11y ago
        I just made it up, I don't even know anyone under 14.

frankthedog 11y ago

This shouldn't be taken as a negative per se. If that is your target market and your business can become sustainable only serving this tranche of consumers, good on you. There is a lot of money to be made serving the top decile of earners.

guessbest 11y ago

It is like fishing. When you are fishing for smaller fish, people wonder if they have a shoe on the end of the line. Nobody ever questions the whale.

rokhayakebe 11y ago

Most lawyers serve the top 10%, yet they are here in good and bad times.

josephcooney 11y ago
I misread this as 'lawmakers', but your sentence still seemed correct either way.

jpatokal 11y ago

Which is not a bad market to serve when that 10% owns 75% of all wealth in the US. Source: Credit Suisse: https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fileID=60931FDE-A2D2-F568-B041B58C5EA591A4 https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fi...

adventured 11y ago

Almost everything, service or product, begins by first appealing to the top 10%. It moves down the line from there. It holds true to a nearly universal point. AWS, for example, was so expensive initially as to be ridiculous for most purposes unless you had a lot of money to waste. It was a 10% service. Now it's a 50% service. Tomorrow it'll be a 75-90% service. The examples that don't follow this pattern, are usually riding on previous examples of the pattern that already became cheaper (such as mobile phones -> smart phones).