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I am looking for startup advice for founders that don't want to build a billion-dollar company or need VC funding. How to efficiently target a local market? Or

I am looking for startup advice for founders that don't want to build a billion-dollar company or need VC funding. How to efficiently target a local market? Or perhaps start a niche business that appeals to a small market. Every time I see a startup advice book, article, Stanford lectures, whatever it may be - it is always shooting for becoming the next Uber or Airbnb - including this article.

uncle_d 9y ago
Perhaps look at something B2B rather than consumer-facing, is the advice I have seen - along the lines of that advice in the YC piece that it's better to have 10 customers that love you (and are spending much more) than 1000 that are lukewarm and/or not spending much.
Mz 9y ago
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/business-bootstrappers https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/business-bootstrap... I mostly post links to seemingly pertinent things from HN, but the intent is along the lines of what you describe.
KZeillmann 9y ago
Check out the Indie Hackers podcast (and website). It's made for exactly what you're looking for. Courtland Allen interviews founders who are excited about making $20k a month in MRR, and they don't necessarily need to become a $1 billion company. Most of the people featured are bootstrapped or had only a little bit of funding.
- craigcannon 9y ago
  Yeah. Courtland was also on the YC podcast recently - http://blog.ycombinator.com/your-whole-goal-is-to-not-quit-courtland-allen-of-indie-hackers/ http://blog.ycombinator.com/your-whole-goal-is-to-not-quit-c...
lpolovets 9y ago
One of my friends runs a few small SaaS businesses in parallel. He really likes a conference called MicroConf (http://www.microconf.com/ http://www.microconf.com/) which focuses on bootstrapped businesses. That might be something to check out if you can make it. One book that's great, regardless of what scale of company you're trying to build, is Traction by Weinberg and Mares. It talks about how to pick marketing channels for getting traction + includes an introductory section on each of two dozen popular marketing channels. Very useful if you're trying to get traction for your product and not sure where to start. Finally, a lot of startup advice should apply to companies more broadly: focus on building something people want; it's better to have 100 customers that love you than to have 10k customers that like you; do things that don't scale at the beginning; etc.
- czbond 9y ago
  Second the "Traction" book. It is a great read, and introduces channels you might not otherwise consider.
- ismail 9y ago
  Any recommendations on books/reading around enterprise sales, specifically services?
  - lpolovets 9y ago
    I've heard great things about Predictable Revenue (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ERYEGU https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ERYEGU) and The Sales Acceleration Formula (https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Acceleration-Formula-Technology-Inbound-ebook/dp/B00T7Q9E2S https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Acceleration-Formula-Technology...) but haven't read either yet. I think they're focused more on selling products than services, but not 100% sure.
    - briandear 9y ago
      Predictable revenue is great; it’s focused on essentially selling SAAS.
vineet 9y ago
Check out http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ and pretty much anything that the two guys behind it do. Beyond the podcast Rob Walling and Mike Taber have books and host conferences on the topic.
sjg007 9y ago
I think the advice is the same except you just have smaller numbers of users. But you do want to see traction.
KGIII 9y ago
When I opened this thread, I expected to write a post that covered a few things. The first was to beware of survivorship bias. Some of us have had experiences that were very different from the reality that most people face. Second, I'd absolutely not listen to anyone who suggested you start a business you're passionate about, at least not as a general rule. If you're really passionate about it, your own biases are almost certainly going to prejudice your business in harmful ways. That doesn't mean not to be passionate about it, it just means don't make your passion your business. Third, don't do it with the goal of getting out, selling for millions of dollars, and being the next Musk. Those are unrealistic goals. Instead, do it to make enough money to comfortably provide for you and your family. That's a much more realistic goal. I think that third one applies to your comment, which is why I mention it here. Then again, go back to the first thing I listed. I'd not take advice from me. In my case, I saw a niche and it fit in with what my research was about. I left academia and was making a comfortable living. The offer to buy my business was unexpected and the price was surprising. Selling had never been my goal. It was just a fluke. I wasn't passionate about what I was doing, I became passionate about doing it well. I became passionate about working with brilliant people and exceeding goals. It was traffic modeling, that's really not a subject one becomes impassioned over. Sometimes, you just get lucky. Sometimes, you're in the right place at the right time. You can maximize your chances but, at the end of the day, it's 'good enough' to just be able to provide comfort and opportunity for you and your family. But, then again, remember the first point.
- jv22222 9y ago
  > If you're really passionate about it, your own biases are almost certainly going to prejudice your business in harmful ways. I'd really like to hear more about this, because from what I've seen it's really important to "give a shit" about what you're working on. Without a deep level of giving a shit you are quite likely to give up due to the waining of your interest level. I mean, I've seen loss of interest as a major killer of side projects countless times in Nugget and also from speaking to lots of other entrepreneurs over the past 10 years.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    There's a space between giving a shit and being passionate. I don't imagine one should be apathetic, but it probably shouldn't be your 'save the world, come hell or high water' project. People passionate about an idea can make great employees. Someone giving direction should be a bit more objective. If you can be both objective and impassioned, you're in a small minority. Lots of people seem to think they can, but wait until they fall head over heels in love and see how objective they really can be.
giarc 9y ago
Check out the SPI podcast (Smart Passive Income). Lot's of founders on there from companies you've never heard of. https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/ https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/
paulsutter 9y ago
The Silicon Valley definition of startup is "company designed to grow fast"[1]. It's perfectly OK to use a different definition, and it's perfectly admirable to start a company with a different goal. If so, you should ignore all the advice about raising VC money because you really don't want to do that if growth is not your central goal. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html "There's a distinct word, "startup," for companies designed to grow fast. If all companies were essentially similar, but some through luck or the efforts of their founders ended up growing very fast, we wouldn't need a separate word. We could just talk about super-successful companies and less successful ones. But in fact startups do have a different sort of DNA from other businesses. Google is not just a barbershop whose founders were unusually lucky and hard-working. Google was different from the beginning."
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > The Silicon Valley definition of startup is "company designed to grow fast"[1]. No, that's the Paul Graham definition.
  - SkyMarshal 9y ago
    It's also the Steve Blank definition. https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/ https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-prin...
    - wpietri 9y ago
      That is definitely not Steve Blank's definition. His is: "an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model." You can have a rapidly growing company with an old business model. Look at McDonald's, for example. The business model, selling hamburgers, wasn't particularly different. But they took great advantage of the rise of car culture and TV advertising. Or look at the Android phone market. Selling phones is a pretty well understood business model, but companies there have grown rapidly by continual incremental improvement.
pbreit 9y ago
I owned a pet store and would say most of this advice applies equally well to such a business. Go live, talk to customers and iterate. Make something people want.
- wslh 9y ago
  I don't think so. When you are not interesting in scaling to another galaxy it is ok to have relatively few customers and charge them really well.
  - alexandersingh 9y ago
    Yes but "talking to your customers" is universally applicable and valuable advice. One could argue that it's of even greater value if you're targeting a niche with only "a few customers" because you need to ensure you really deliver enough value to get them onside and paying a rate that ensures you generate a profit.
    - wslh 9y ago
      I think most small companies were talking with customers for long time. The challenging part of this advice is talking with your customers at scale and separating signal from noise.
  - pbreit 9y ago
    The article even specifically suggests having fewer, better customers.
mwseibel 9y ago
The reason why is those are the types of business that are able to raise money to pursue their goals.
soneca 9y ago
Here: http://www.microconf.com/ http://www.microconf.com/ (edit: not only the conferenece itself, but I mainly refer to the available videos of pasts editions: http://www.microconf.com/starter/past-videos/ http://www.microconf.com/starter/past-videos/ and http://www.microconf.com/growth/past-videos/ http://www.microconf.com/growth/past-videos/) http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ https://www.indiehackers.com/ https://www.indiehackers.com/
- jv22222 9y ago
  That video list is awesome, good find!
tlb 9y ago
I think all the same advice applies, except slow down when you get to the size of company you're happy with.
csomar 9y ago
You'd be better off looking for general business advice rather than a "start-up". The "start-ups" à la YC looks to raise money, several rounds, IPO, Exit, spend millions to acquire users, etc... It's much different than building a small business that scales to 10 employees in the next 10 years. The difference also starts from the foundation. For startups you are looking for Corp C. For your case you are looking for an LLC.
stevoski 9y ago
Here's a forum for people who are bootstrapping startups, typically with no intention of growing an enormous company: http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm
vram22 9y ago
Check out http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/ http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/ It is low volume, but has some good advice now and then, some of it from people already doing this stuff.
sarabande 9y ago
I would check out the writings of 37Signals (now Basecamp)/RoR founder David Heinemeier Hansson, who advocates bootstrapping for not-necessarily small markets. His talk "How to unlearn your MBA" in particular was fantastic in providing a counterpoint to Silicon-valley style Startups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlhAkNWC1qo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlhAkNWC1qo. He directly comments on the YCombinator model at 53'57" (https://youtu.be/MlhAkNWC1qo?t=53m57s https://youtu.be/MlhAkNWC1qo?t=53m57s), but the whole thing is worth watching.
majani 9y ago
There's a book called Start Small, Stay Small that is really good for the purpose of solopreneurship if that's your thing.
mindcrime 9y ago
I am looking for startup advice for founders that don't want to build a billion-dollar company or need VC funding. Check out barnacl.es, an HN like site dedicated exactly that. https://barnacl.es/ https://barnacl.es/
- npgatech 9y ago
  This is amazing, thank you!
jv22222 9y ago
@npgatech Here ya go: - http://justinvincent.com/page/960/how-to-start-a-sucessful-bootstrapped-web-app-business http://justinvincent.com/page/960/how-to-start-a-sucessful-b... - http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com - https://www.indiehackers.com https://www.indiehackers.com - http://www.startupbook.net http://www.startupbook.net - Start Small, Stay Small - https://blog.nugget.one/upstart/ https://blog.nugget.one/upstart/ This is just a quick list to get you started I'm sure there are better lists if you google. Disclaimer: The Nugget blog and TechZing are some things that I have been involved in putting together. Edit: On this subject, this podcast here should be essential listening for all entrepreneurs: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/005-bryce-roberts-of-indie-vc https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/005-bryce-roberts-of-in...
hyperpallium 9y ago
That's a "lifestyle" business, and it's very appealing. I don't want billions, I just want to work for someone else. One curious thing is it's more selfish than a startup - after all, you're doing it for you, not for the business. You want it to be sustainable, so the ugliness of competition is relevant sooner. One pg essay likens a startup to a charity, and some, like Craigslist retain some of that quality, helping a lot of people without making as much money as they could. Note: I'm not criticizing you for wanting this. I'd like it too, I just haven't found a way of doing it that doesn't become nasty. YMMV.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- icebraining 9y ago
  One curious thing is it's more selfish than a startup - after all, you're doing it for you, not for the business. A business is not a real person; you're not doing things "for it" anymore than I'm being charitable by gifting my car new tires.
- sp527 9y ago
  Craigslist is a great example of exercising exactly the right amount of restraint in the cost-benefit equation. Most SV startups are subsidized (with attendant inflated expectations) to the point that they can't possibly live up to their valuations.
- Mz 9y ago
  "I Love Lucy" was created so Lucille Ball and her husband could have a family. So, it was a "lifestyle business."* It also was the Star Wars of its era in terms of being technically cutting edge and changing an industry. IIRC, Plenty of Fish never took VC money. There are other examples out there. You have to research it if you want it, but it does happen. * http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/03/i-love-lucy-lifestyle-business-that.html http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/03/i-love-lucy-...
- GCA10 9y ago
  Could we stop using the term "lifestyle" to describe young companies that aren't chasing the unicorn dream? A lot of them are run by very driven founders who work long hours to build world-class products for smallish niches. They don't have vacation homes in Tahoe; they don't shut down for a week to go to Burning Man. Instead, they are obsessed with a definition of business success that doesn't involve ten-digit numbers. There is one "lifestyle" business that's rampant throughout Silicon Valley, in spite of its efforts to deny it. This would be the bottom quartile of the venture business. It's all about picking up management fees, taking long weekends, and living large.
fizx 9y ago
Use subscription billing, have patience, find upsells, read patio11. Source: Bootstrapped a company to substantial profitability.
gdilla 9y ago
That's because the 'other people' in other people's money want billion dollar exits. you can pretty much use all this advice for a local niche market, just use your own money or friends or family's.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
wpietri 9y ago
What do you mean by "startup"? The one I normally use is Steve Blank's, "an organization in search of a repeatable business model". If that's what you're talking about, then a lot of this advice still applies. Looking at the "Pocket Guide" section, for example, I think that all still applies for a niche startup. If, on the other hand, you're just talking about a new company, one where you're applying a well-understood business model to, say, a new location, then yes, you need different advice. But I think that advice differs a lot based on what kind of new business. The advice for a first-time Subway franchisee should be pretty different than somebody who wants to launch their own consulting company. There, it seems like people form up into specific communities around the kind of business.
rgrieselhuber 9y ago
One of the best things I ever heard and I wish this was taught everywhere, is: understand what kind of business you want to build and what the right stage in your life to build it is. In startup terms, there are cashflow businesses and disruptor businesses (credit to Mike Dillard). Cashflow businesses are generally sneered at in Silicon Valley ("lifestyle businesses") but in many cases, they are a great place for entrepreneurs to start. Cashflow businesses can provide you with a level of financial independence on your own terms. Then, if you want more, either start more cashflow businesses or then focus on your disruptor business (Silicon Valley style startup). But if you do you cashflow business first, you are far less at the mercy of fickle VCs, etc. The other useful thing to come out of this classification is it almost certainly informs your funding strategy. If you're building a cashflow business, don't ever raise money. If you're building a disruptor business, definitely raise money, as much of it as fast as you can. If you've done your cashflow business beforehand, you'll already be quite well off and can think much more strategically in your disruptor business.
speby 9y ago
There are tons of literature, books, articles, and more already out there, written over decades, that talk through starting a new business. Even material specific to starting a software-based business if that is what you are after. The chances of hearing some "new" advice about doing this that isn't just already out there is not terribly high.
hashkb 9y ago
You're looking for regular business advice, not "startup advice" from YC. They advise particular classes of businesses extremely effectively.

uncle_d 9y ago

Perhaps look at something B2B rather than consumer-facing, is the advice I have seen - along the lines of that advice in the YC piece that it's better to have 10 customers that love you (and are spending much more) than 1000 that are lukewarm and/or not spending much.

Mz 9y ago

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/business-bootstrappers https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/business-bootstrap... I mostly post links to seemingly pertinent things from HN, but the intent is along the lines of what you describe.

KZeillmann 9y ago

Check out the Indie Hackers podcast (and website). It's made for exactly what you're looking for. Courtland Allen interviews founders who are excited about making $20k a month in MRR, and they don't necessarily need to become a $1 billion company. Most of the people featured are bootstrapped or had only a little bit of funding.

craigcannon 9y ago
Yeah. Courtland was also on the YC podcast recently - http://blog.ycombinator.com/your-whole-goal-is-to-not-quit-courtland-allen-of-indie-hackers/ http://blog.ycombinator.com/your-whole-goal-is-to-not-quit-c...

lpolovets 9y ago

One of my friends runs a few small SaaS businesses in parallel. He really likes a conference called MicroConf (http://www.microconf.com/ http://www.microconf.com/) which focuses on bootstrapped businesses. That might be something to check out if you can make it. One book that's great, regardless of what scale of company you're trying to build, is Traction by Weinberg and Mares. It talks about how to pick marketing channels for getting traction + includes an introductory section on each of two dozen popular marketing channels. Very useful if you're trying to get traction for your product and not sure where to start. Finally, a lot of startup advice should apply to companies more broadly: focus on building something people want; it's better to have 100 customers that love you than to have 10k customers that like you; do things that don't scale at the beginning; etc.

czbond 9y ago
Second the "Traction" book. It is a great read, and introduces channels you might not otherwise consider.
ismail 9y ago
Any recommendations on books/reading around enterprise sales, specifically services?
- lpolovets 9y ago
  I've heard great things about Predictable Revenue (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ERYEGU https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ERYEGU) and The Sales Acceleration Formula (https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Acceleration-Formula-Technology-Inbound-ebook/dp/B00T7Q9E2S https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Acceleration-Formula-Technology...) but haven't read either yet. I think they're focused more on selling products than services, but not 100% sure.
  - briandear 9y ago
    Predictable revenue is great; it’s focused on essentially selling SAAS.

vineet 9y ago

Check out http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ and pretty much anything that the two guys behind it do. Beyond the podcast Rob Walling and Mike Taber have books and host conferences on the topic.

sjg007 9y ago

I think the advice is the same except you just have smaller numbers of users. But you do want to see traction.

KGIII 9y ago

When I opened this thread, I expected to write a post that covered a few things. The first was to beware of survivorship bias. Some of us have had experiences that were very different from the reality that most people face. Second, I'd absolutely not listen to anyone who suggested you start a business you're passionate about, at least not as a general rule. If you're really passionate about it, your own biases are almost certainly going to prejudice your business in harmful ways. That doesn't mean not to be passionate about it, it just means don't make your passion your business. Third, don't do it with the goal of getting out, selling for millions of dollars, and being the next Musk. Those are unrealistic goals. Instead, do it to make enough money to comfortably provide for you and your family. That's a much more realistic goal. I think that third one applies to your comment, which is why I mention it here. Then again, go back to the first thing I listed. I'd not take advice from me. In my case, I saw a niche and it fit in with what my research was about. I left academia and was making a comfortable living. The offer to buy my business was unexpected and the price was surprising. Selling had never been my goal. It was just a fluke. I wasn't passionate about what I was doing, I became passionate about doing it well. I became passionate about working with brilliant people and exceeding goals. It was traffic modeling, that's really not a subject one becomes impassioned over. Sometimes, you just get lucky. Sometimes, you're in the right place at the right time. You can maximize your chances but, at the end of the day, it's 'good enough' to just be able to provide comfort and opportunity for you and your family. But, then again, remember the first point.

jv22222 9y ago
> If you're really passionate about it, your own biases are almost certainly going to prejudice your business in harmful ways. I'd really like to hear more about this, because from what I've seen it's really important to "give a shit" about what you're working on. Without a deep level of giving a shit you are quite likely to give up due to the waining of your interest level. I mean, I've seen loss of interest as a major killer of side projects countless times in Nugget and also from speaking to lots of other entrepreneurs over the past 10 years.
- KGIII 9y ago
  There's a space between giving a shit and being passionate. I don't imagine one should be apathetic, but it probably shouldn't be your 'save the world, come hell or high water' project. People passionate about an idea can make great employees. Someone giving direction should be a bit more objective. If you can be both objective and impassioned, you're in a small minority. Lots of people seem to think they can, but wait until they fall head over heels in love and see how objective they really can be.

giarc 9y ago

Check out the SPI podcast (Smart Passive Income). Lot's of founders on there from companies you've never heard of. https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/ https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/

paulsutter 9y ago

The Silicon Valley definition of startup is "company designed to grow fast"[1]. It's perfectly OK to use a different definition, and it's perfectly admirable to start a company with a different goal. If so, you should ignore all the advice about raising VC money because you really don't want to do that if growth is not your central goal. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html "There's a distinct word, "startup," for companies designed to grow fast. If all companies were essentially similar, but some through luck or the efforts of their founders ended up growing very fast, we wouldn't need a separate word. We could just talk about super-successful companies and less successful ones. But in fact startups do have a different sort of DNA from other businesses. Google is not just a barbershop whose founders were unusually lucky and hard-working. Google was different from the beginning."

jacquesm 9y ago
> The Silicon Valley definition of startup is "company designed to grow fast"[1]. No, that's the Paul Graham definition.
- SkyMarshal 9y ago
  It's also the Steve Blank definition. https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/ https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-prin...
  - wpietri 9y ago
    That is definitely not Steve Blank's definition. His is: "an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model." You can have a rapidly growing company with an old business model. Look at McDonald's, for example. The business model, selling hamburgers, wasn't particularly different. But they took great advantage of the rise of car culture and TV advertising. Or look at the Android phone market. Selling phones is a pretty well understood business model, but companies there have grown rapidly by continual incremental improvement.

pbreit 9y ago

I owned a pet store and would say most of this advice applies equally well to such a business. Go live, talk to customers and iterate. Make something people want.

wslh 9y ago
I don't think so. When you are not interesting in scaling to another galaxy it is ok to have relatively few customers and charge them really well.
- alexandersingh 9y ago
  Yes but "talking to your customers" is universally applicable and valuable advice. One could argue that it's of even greater value if you're targeting a niche with only "a few customers" because you need to ensure you really deliver enough value to get them onside and paying a rate that ensures you generate a profit.
  - wslh 9y ago
    I think most small companies were talking with customers for long time. The challenging part of this advice is talking with your customers at scale and separating signal from noise.
- pbreit 9y ago
  The article even specifically suggests having fewer, better customers.

mwseibel 9y ago

The reason why is those are the types of business that are able to raise money to pursue their goals.

soneca 9y ago

Here: http://www.microconf.com/ http://www.microconf.com/ (edit: not only the conferenece itself, but I mainly refer to the available videos of pasts editions: http://www.microconf.com/starter/past-videos/ http://www.microconf.com/starter/past-videos/ and http://www.microconf.com/growth/past-videos/ http://www.microconf.com/growth/past-videos/) http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ https://www.indiehackers.com/ https://www.indiehackers.com/

jv22222 9y ago
That video list is awesome, good find!

tlb 9y ago

I think all the same advice applies, except slow down when you get to the size of company you're happy with.

csomar 9y ago

You'd be better off looking for general business advice rather than a "start-up". The "start-ups" à la YC looks to raise money, several rounds, IPO, Exit, spend millions to acquire users, etc... It's much different than building a small business that scales to 10 employees in the next 10 years. The difference also starts from the foundation. For startups you are looking for Corp C. For your case you are looking for an LLC.

stevoski 9y ago

Here's a forum for people who are bootstrapping startups, typically with no intention of growing an enormous company: http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm

vram22 9y ago

Check out http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/ http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/ It is low volume, but has some good advice now and then, some of it from people already doing this stuff.

sarabande 9y ago

I would check out the writings of 37Signals (now Basecamp)/RoR founder David Heinemeier Hansson, who advocates bootstrapping for not-necessarily small markets. His talk "How to unlearn your MBA" in particular was fantastic in providing a counterpoint to Silicon-valley style Startups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlhAkNWC1qo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlhAkNWC1qo. He directly comments on the YCombinator model at 53'57" (https://youtu.be/MlhAkNWC1qo?t=53m57s https://youtu.be/MlhAkNWC1qo?t=53m57s), but the whole thing is worth watching.

majani 9y ago

There's a book called Start Small, Stay Small that is really good for the purpose of solopreneurship if that's your thing.

mindcrime 9y ago

I am looking for startup advice for founders that don't want to build a billion-dollar company or need VC funding. Check out barnacl.es, an HN like site dedicated exactly that. https://barnacl.es/ https://barnacl.es/

npgatech 9y ago
This is amazing, thank you!

jv22222 9y ago

@npgatech Here ya go: - http://justinvincent.com/page/960/how-to-start-a-sucessful-bootstrapped-web-app-business http://justinvincent.com/page/960/how-to-start-a-sucessful-b... - http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com - https://www.indiehackers.com https://www.indiehackers.com - http://www.startupbook.net http://www.startupbook.net - Start Small, Stay Small - https://blog.nugget.one/upstart/ https://blog.nugget.one/upstart/ This is just a quick list to get you started I'm sure there are better lists if you google. Disclaimer: The Nugget blog and TechZing are some things that I have been involved in putting together. Edit: On this subject, this podcast here should be essential listening for all entrepreneurs: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/005-bryce-roberts-of-indie-vc https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/005-bryce-roberts-of-in...

hyperpallium 9y ago

That's a "lifestyle" business, and it's very appealing. I don't want billions, I just want to work for someone else. One curious thing is it's more selfish than a startup - after all, you're doing it for you, not for the business. You want it to be sustainable, so the ugliness of competition is relevant sooner. One pg essay likens a startup to a charity, and some, like Craigslist retain some of that quality, helping a lot of people without making as much money as they could. Note: I'm not criticizing you for wanting this. I'd like it too, I just haven't found a way of doing it that doesn't become nasty. YMMV.

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icebraining 9y ago
One curious thing is it's more selfish than a startup - after all, you're doing it for you, not for the business. A business is not a real person; you're not doing things "for it" anymore than I'm being charitable by gifting my car new tires.
sp527 9y ago
Craigslist is a great example of exercising exactly the right amount of restraint in the cost-benefit equation. Most SV startups are subsidized (with attendant inflated expectations) to the point that they can't possibly live up to their valuations.
Mz 9y ago
"I Love Lucy" was created so Lucille Ball and her husband could have a family. So, it was a "lifestyle business."* It also was the Star Wars of its era in terms of being technically cutting edge and changing an industry. IIRC, Plenty of Fish never took VC money. There are other examples out there. You have to research it if you want it, but it does happen. * http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/03/i-love-lucy-lifestyle-business-that.html http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/03/i-love-lucy-...
GCA10 9y ago
Could we stop using the term "lifestyle" to describe young companies that aren't chasing the unicorn dream? A lot of them are run by very driven founders who work long hours to build world-class products for smallish niches. They don't have vacation homes in Tahoe; they don't shut down for a week to go to Burning Man. Instead, they are obsessed with a definition of business success that doesn't involve ten-digit numbers. There is one "lifestyle" business that's rampant throughout Silicon Valley, in spite of its efforts to deny it. This would be the bottom quartile of the venture business. It's all about picking up management fees, taking long weekends, and living large.

fizx 9y ago

Use subscription billing, have patience, find upsells, read patio11. Source: Bootstrapped a company to substantial profitability.

gdilla 9y ago

That's because the 'other people' in other people's money want billion dollar exits. you can pretty much use all this advice for a local niche market, just use your own money or friends or family's.

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wpietri 9y ago

What do you mean by "startup"? The one I normally use is Steve Blank's, "an organization in search of a repeatable business model". If that's what you're talking about, then a lot of this advice still applies. Looking at the "Pocket Guide" section, for example, I think that all still applies for a niche startup. If, on the other hand, you're just talking about a new company, one where you're applying a well-understood business model to, say, a new location, then yes, you need different advice. But I think that advice differs a lot based on what kind of new business. The advice for a first-time Subway franchisee should be pretty different than somebody who wants to launch their own consulting company. There, it seems like people form up into specific communities around the kind of business.

rgrieselhuber 9y ago

One of the best things I ever heard and I wish this was taught everywhere, is: understand what kind of business you want to build and what the right stage in your life to build it is. In startup terms, there are cashflow businesses and disruptor businesses (credit to Mike Dillard). Cashflow businesses are generally sneered at in Silicon Valley ("lifestyle businesses") but in many cases, they are a great place for entrepreneurs to start. Cashflow businesses can provide you with a level of financial independence on your own terms. Then, if you want more, either start more cashflow businesses or then focus on your disruptor business (Silicon Valley style startup). But if you do you cashflow business first, you are far less at the mercy of fickle VCs, etc. The other useful thing to come out of this classification is it almost certainly informs your funding strategy. If you're building a cashflow business, don't ever raise money. If you're building a disruptor business, definitely raise money, as much of it as fast as you can. If you've done your cashflow business beforehand, you'll already be quite well off and can think much more strategically in your disruptor business.

speby 9y ago

There are tons of literature, books, articles, and more already out there, written over decades, that talk through starting a new business. Even material specific to starting a software-based business if that is what you are after. The chances of hearing some "new" advice about doing this that isn't just already out there is not terribly high.

hashkb 9y ago

You're looking for regular business advice, not "startup advice" from YC. They advise particular classes of businesses extremely effectively.