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Hello, founder of a bootstrapped WordPress theme & plugin development business reporting in. Been running a profitable "startup" for 5-7 years (depending on whe
by apatters 10y ago
Hello, founder of a bootstrapped WordPress theme & plugin development business reporting in. Been running a profitable "startup" for 5-7 years (depending on whether you count my first two years as a solo freelancer).
Can confirm that not all startups are like this!
1) Meetings
We have one per week and sometimes cancel that because we feel it's overkill
2) Hiring tons of people
If anything we don't hire enough because we never spend money we haven't yet earned
3) Vanity benchmarks
One benchmark - cash in the bank (if it's too little, tighten the belt, if it's too much, spend it to grow)
4) Meetups
I'm terrible at networking and should do more of these!
5) Sponsoring conferences
HA!
6) Office, business cards and so on
Don't have either... 100% remote has worked since day one... OK, just got an office (sort of, it's shared) in Bangkok but no one works there!
7) Having more conversations with people outside of your market than people in it
I am totally guilty of that one!
Please don't take any of this as a claim that we are better... I can and have leveled a thousand criticisms at how I run things... just saying, "startups" that exist way, way outside of this mold are definitely out there :)
- zdkl 10y agoOn the other hand, what you describe doesn't sound like a start up from the high-growth/external investment required point of view. Sure startup is a sexier way to describe a young, small business but semantics aside, this feels like "traditional" business looking for glamour. Of which I am equally guilty, donnt take this as criticism.
- apatters 10y agoIf I was looking for glamour I would have raised money, started the type of business described in the blog post, and probably gone on to make many more of the mistakes it lists. I guess the point I'm trying to make is if you're an aspiring business owner you don't have to go for this high-growth/external investment model. It encourages lax fiscal discipline which is the cause of these mistakes. I sometimes feel people I know who have gone through this could have learned more and earned more by bootstrapping.
- jessedhillon 10y agoBut this is a conversation about startups.
- idlewords 10y agoNot everyone buys into the redefinition of a startup as a company pursuing massive growth. The word has a broader meaning that encompasses other kinds of strategies for becoming a viable business.
- chiefalchemist 10y agoStarting a business is not the same as a startup. Just like having your own business doesn't make you an entrepreneur. Finally, an idea can be great but that doesn't necessarily make it innovation. Where's the confusion?
- oblio 10y ago> Just like having your own business doesn't make you an entrepreneur. ... http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entrepreneur http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entrepreneur
- jessedhillon 10y ago> The word has a broader meaning that encompasses other kinds of strategies Does it really? I don't actually accept that, but around here at least, this is a common enough definition that you should call it out when you're going to deviate from it: A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." ~ http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
- idlewords 10y agoThe word is a regular English word that has a widely accepted meeting outside this message board, and had that meaning for decades before Paul Graham tried to redefine it. [https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/start-up https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/start-up] Litigating what the correct meaning of "startup" is on HN is not productive, but we should recognize that not everyone agrees with Graham's redefinition, and therefore arguments that cite his essay are begging the question.
- chiefalchemist 10y agoThe WordPress lexicon is fond of taking widely accepted terms and redefining them. This is no surprise.
- rfrey 10y agoEvery dictionary I just checked (Oxford, Mirriam-Webster, Cambridge) defines startup as "A newly established business". The redefinition (a useful one for many discussions) was by pg to clarify his points in several essays - not by the Wordpress community.
- pluma 10y agoYou'll find that outside HN and the Bay area the definition of "startup" tends to be broader than simply "high growth, high risk". It actually feels like there are two conflicting definitions. In tech you often hear people describe companies like AirBnB, Facebook and even Google described as "startups" although they're no longer "early stage" by any means and often have already peaked their growth and surpassed investment needs (though there may still be additional investments happening). Outside it often feels like the label applies to any small service or tech company that was recently founded, period. This is certainly what a lot of "startup" events cater to. And of course there are plenty of companies that would be "startups" in the Bay area sense but failed to find investors and instead ended up bootstrapping and becoming profitable.
- sdrothrock 10y ago> OK, just got an office (sort of, it's shared) in Bangkok but no one works there! I'm a little curious about this, what do you mean? It sounds like you run pretty lean; why get an office if nobody works there?
- apatters 10y agoThis was actually something we had to do to comply with Thai labor law. Feel free to contact me (website in profile) if you'd like the details.
- fatihdonmez 10y agoI'm interested actually as an engineer who do some side gigs and lives in Bangkok currently. Where is this shared office and how much do you pay for it?
- spraak 10y agoProbably iglu.net
- apatters 10y agoBingo
- onion2k 10y ago1) Meetings We have one per week and sometimes cancel that because we feel it's overkill Needing to have meetings isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you're making things that don't need many decisions to be made, and everyone agrees on the best approach, then meetings are completely pointless, but if everyone agrees then you're probably not pushing any limits. People have differing opinions at the edges, not about the boring well-trodden middle.
- std_throwaway 10y agoMeetings also serve the purpose of team building. Just seeing everybody casually in a room for a few minutes lowers the barriers of communication.
- Kiro 10y agoNo-one claims all startups are like this. That would be absurd.
- csomar 10y agoAre you confusing bootstrapped business with a startup? Would you call a bootstrapped fast food shop a startup since the owner dream of making it up to a McDonald like chain?
- intoverflow2 10y ago> Would you call a bootstrapped fast food shop a startup People literally do in SF/SV... Remember 'The Melt'
- muad 10y agoThats not a startup. It is a small business.
- metaphorm 10y agook, but the article was about signs that a startup is doing the wrong thing. it didn't for a minute claim that all startups are doing the wrong things. only that some of them are, and that these are typical warning signs.