3 ms·

I upvoted because I think we should have this discussion, but I disagree strongly. As an example, I was reading recently about the growth of SAAS companies. Loo

by gniv 7y ago

I upvoted because I think we should have this discussion, but I disagree strongly. As an example, I was reading recently about the growth of SAAS companies. Lookup the stocks OKTA, WDAY, TWLO, MDB, SHOP, etc. They have grown hockey stick in the last 2-3 years. In general I think the opportunities in non-direct-to-consumer business will be great in the short term (there are a lot of inefficiencies that are hard to solve in-house by the big corps).

futureastronaut 7y ago
It's important to notice parallels though. For instance, I have no good, novel startup ideas now, just like in 2003, 2008, and 2011. Oh wait, that's been true every year :(
greenyoda 7y ago
> there are a lot of inefficiencies that are hard to solve in-house by the big corps The problem is that it's much harder to sell to big companies than it is to sell to consumers. While a consumer may be receptive to an unreliable app with MVP-level functionality, a big company isn't going to risk the stability of its business operations on that quality of product. They're going to want stability, scalability and support, and they won't want to deal with a startup that's at high risk of not existing a year from now. One exception would be if the startup offered a unique product that couldn't be replicated internally. But if all they offer is the promise of better efficiency, what's the point of risking your business on it? If a startup has survived long enough to achieve this kind of stability (like the already-public companies you cited), then it has a better chance selling to big corporations. But it's going to take a significant amount funding and growth for them to get to that point. The companies that are seem to be winning the most at selling services to big companies are huge, established businesses like AWS, Microsoft and Google.

3 ms·

I upvoted because I think we should have this discussion, but I disagree strongly. As an example, I was reading recently about the growth of SAAS companies. Loo

by gniv 7y ago

futureastronaut 7y ago
It's important to notice parallels though. For instance, I have no good, novel startup ideas now, just like in 2003, 2008, and 2011. Oh wait, that's been true every year :(
greenyoda 7y ago
> there are a lot of inefficiencies that are hard to solve in-house by the big corps The problem is that it's much harder to sell to big companies than it is to sell to consumers. While a consumer may be receptive to an unreliable app with MVP-level functionality, a big company isn't going to risk the stability of its business operations on that quality of product. They're going to want stability, scalability and support, and they won't want to deal with a startup that's at high risk of not existing a year from now. One exception would be if the startup offered a unique product that couldn't be replicated internally. But if all they offer is the promise of better efficiency, what's the point of risking your business on it? If a startup has survived long enough to achieve this kind of stability (like the already-public companies you cited), then it has a better chance selling to big corporations. But it's going to take a significant amount funding and growth for them to get to that point. The companies that are seem to be winning the most at selling services to big companies are huge, established businesses like AWS, Microsoft and Google.