5 ms·

Interesting how Moskovitz just glosses over a "lifestyle" business. I started a business 2 years ago, am the sole employee, and it'll make $400-500k in revenue

Interesting how Moskovitz just glosses over a "lifestyle" business. I started a business 2 years ago, am the sole employee, and it'll make $400-500k in revenue in 2017 with 20-40% net profits. I don't think I recreated the wheel here. I'm making a software product that businesses want to buy.

BukhariH 10y ago
If you don't mind me asking. What's your business?
- nhorob67 10y ago
  Farm accounting software. Boring to most, exciting to me! Just maybe that's a key
  - Baeocystin 10y ago
    Now if you could expand that to John Deere hacking software...
  - deskamess 10y ago
    I enjoy developing new stuff, especially if it involves new learning, but I find I am also happy working with the mundane with incremental changes. Toggling between the two is kinda perfect for me. I just have not found a mundane niche that I could monetize - any tips on how to look for what others would consider boring?
    - nhorob67 10y ago
      Try to simply keep your eye open for problems people are having. Ideally, one that is in a B2B space. Wish I had more insight for you.
  - jps359 10y ago
    How were you able to identify that there is/was a need for farm accounting software?
    - nhorob67 10y ago
      My family farms in W ND. I worked in private equity for a few years in Minneapolis. Saw my friends and family turn down crazy good risk-free profit opportunities during the AG commodity bull market of 2008. "It's going higher!" So I quit private equity and started consulting for family farms in the Upper Midwest. That led me to build a software package that I wanted my clients to use and started selling it to others.
  - giarc 10y ago
    I think you are right. Everyone wants to build the next Facebook/IG/Uber. A software company that appeals to the masses and will be front page news. There's likely a lot of opportunity in the fringe area's that aren't mainstream.
dawie 10y ago
I am a big fan of "lifestyle" businesses. Why are your margins so low, if you are the only employee?
- nhorob67 10y ago
  I've had a consultancy do all the development so far. They are good, but not cheap. Hoping to bring that in-house later this year.
  - mattfrommars 10y ago
    Want to build an outsource agency?
    - anthonys 10y ago
      That's what I am working on this very minute!
scobar 10y ago
I think he glossed over that type of business because it's not a startup. It is a perfectly reasonable style for many who wish to start a new business, but the course is focused on startups.
- nhorob67 10y ago
  I don't think a startup is defined as a company aiming to be a unicorn. I simply consider it a new, for-profit business
  - swampthing 10y ago
    There isn't really a standard definition of the word "startup". But many in Silicon Valley think of it as how PG defined it: http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html > 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." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
    - nhorob67 10y ago
      Fair enough. Forgot about that essay. I'm more of a linear growth type of person but that's likely a product of my end market.
  - neuromancer2701 10y ago
    startup = high/exponential growth
  - jaredklewis 10y ago
    Sure, it's not a well defined term with a universally agreed upon definition, but now we're just arguing semantics. You like to define it as a new, for-profit business. Seems reasonable. However, I found that many others use the term to specifically refer to the kind of high risk, high growth company that meet the investment profile of typical venture capitalists. It seems obvious that the good people of startup school are using the word startup in the latter sense. And honestly that sense of the word seems more common. Most people refer to what you do as bootstrapping, not a startup. But is it really that interesting to have an argument over the definition of startup? I don't think anyone at startup school is against bootstrapping. They're probably not against enterprises either. The event just has a focus.
giarc 10y ago
Have you considered sharing with Indie Hackers (https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses)?
inputcoffee 10y ago
You should read startup=growth. I am not saying you are wrong to be proud of your achievement, but as a practical matter, YC doesn't think of startups as new companies. It thinks of startups as a specific kind of new company that is trying to grow very large, very quickly. Edit: Just realized someone else brought up this point and linked to the essay downstream. I guess I'm leaving this point here because it is closer to the question.

BukhariH 10y ago

If you don't mind me asking. What's your business?

nhorob67 10y ago
Farm accounting software. Boring to most, exciting to me! Just maybe that's a key
- Baeocystin 10y ago
  Now if you could expand that to John Deere hacking software...
- deskamess 10y ago
  I enjoy developing new stuff, especially if it involves new learning, but I find I am also happy working with the mundane with incremental changes. Toggling between the two is kinda perfect for me. I just have not found a mundane niche that I could monetize - any tips on how to look for what others would consider boring?
  - nhorob67 10y ago
    Try to simply keep your eye open for problems people are having. Ideally, one that is in a B2B space. Wish I had more insight for you.
- jps359 10y ago
  How were you able to identify that there is/was a need for farm accounting software?
  - nhorob67 10y ago
    My family farms in W ND. I worked in private equity for a few years in Minneapolis. Saw my friends and family turn down crazy good risk-free profit opportunities during the AG commodity bull market of 2008. "It's going higher!" So I quit private equity and started consulting for family farms in the Upper Midwest. That led me to build a software package that I wanted my clients to use and started selling it to others.
- giarc 10y ago
  I think you are right. Everyone wants to build the next Facebook/IG/Uber. A software company that appeals to the masses and will be front page news. There's likely a lot of opportunity in the fringe area's that aren't mainstream.

dawie 10y ago

I am a big fan of "lifestyle" businesses. Why are your margins so low, if you are the only employee?

nhorob67 10y ago
I've had a consultancy do all the development so far. They are good, but not cheap. Hoping to bring that in-house later this year.
- mattfrommars 10y ago
  Want to build an outsource agency?
  - anthonys 10y ago
    That's what I am working on this very minute!

scobar 10y ago

I think he glossed over that type of business because it's not a startup. It is a perfectly reasonable style for many who wish to start a new business, but the course is focused on startups.

nhorob67 10y ago
I don't think a startup is defined as a company aiming to be a unicorn. I simply consider it a new, for-profit business
- swampthing 10y ago
  There isn't really a standard definition of the word "startup". But many in Silicon Valley think of it as how PG defined it: http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html > 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." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
  - nhorob67 10y ago
    Fair enough. Forgot about that essay. I'm more of a linear growth type of person but that's likely a product of my end market.
- neuromancer2701 10y ago
  startup = high/exponential growth
- jaredklewis 10y ago
  Sure, it's not a well defined term with a universally agreed upon definition, but now we're just arguing semantics. You like to define it as a new, for-profit business. Seems reasonable. However, I found that many others use the term to specifically refer to the kind of high risk, high growth company that meet the investment profile of typical venture capitalists. It seems obvious that the good people of startup school are using the word startup in the latter sense. And honestly that sense of the word seems more common. Most people refer to what you do as bootstrapping, not a startup. But is it really that interesting to have an argument over the definition of startup? I don't think anyone at startup school is against bootstrapping. They're probably not against enterprises either. The event just has a focus.

giarc 10y ago

Have you considered sharing with Indie Hackers (https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses)?

inputcoffee 10y ago

You should read startup=growth. I am not saying you are wrong to be proud of your achievement, but as a practical matter, YC doesn't think of startups as new companies. It thinks of startups as a specific kind of new company that is trying to grow very large, very quickly. Edit: Just realized someone else brought up this point and linked to the essay downstream. I guess I'm leaving this point here because it is closer to the question.