5 ms·

Or it could just be that so many of them are fishing in the same pond? A lot of them seem like run of the mill productivity software, it is a crowded market wi

by Edmond 6y ago

Or it could just be that so many of them are fishing in the same pond? A lot of them seem like run of the mill productivity software, it is a crowded market with big incumbents. The ones with unique offerings may just be too marginal to garner a large enough customer base, business customers ultimately want full feature suite products.

upen946 6y ago
I think the reverse is true in current days. Run of the mill doesn't work anymore I guess. Most products now needs some unique features or build something for a niche.
- z3t4 6y ago
  Entering a market that has economy of scale (serving 1000 users cost the same as serving 1 user) need a big marketing budget and a sales team and it can take years until you have enough users to become profitable. So unless you have a lot of money beforehand compete at something that doesn't scale (for anyone right now). So it will cost the same ballpark to serve your first user as it will cost an established business to serve +1 user.
  - upen946 6y ago
    What about the popular indiehacking phrase - "Do things that dont scale"?
    - troughway 6y ago
      That used to work back when more people were building things to scratch an itch and didn't have a good sense of business and marketing. Today, you can expect a product that launches to be extremely polished and have a very calculated marketing strategy from the original pitch, to some kind of an invitation list of early adopters, a lot of blogging time invested, and lastly, a sales team of some sort. A lot of them will have some kind of financial backing. And best of all, you won't even know to what degree their image and branding is curated to sell one story ("We're a small shop") vs reality ("We are very well connected with decision makers at important companies", etc). Basically, it was taken from a fun side project and perfected to a business science on an industry-wide scale when the sharks smelled how much money was on the table.
    - z3t4 6y ago
      "Do things that dont scale" - that's good advice because it will make it harder for the big bullies to eat your lunch. But what can't scale today, might scale tomorrow as technology catch up, so if you are lucky you will have a profitable business and domain expertise and be ready to grab the opportunity if/when it arrives.
danjac 6y ago
With some exceptions, most appear to be developers selling developer stuff to other developers. It's like a microeconomy based around people trying to make a living by taking in each others' laundry. If I'd hazard a guess, it's because they have the technical chops to build things, but lack the experience/connections to build things people outside of tech actually need.

by Edmond 6y ago

upen946 6y ago

I think the reverse is true in current days. Run of the mill doesn't work anymore I guess. Most products now needs some unique features or build something for a niche.

z3t4 6y ago
Entering a market that has economy of scale (serving 1000 users cost the same as serving 1 user) need a big marketing budget and a sales team and it can take years until you have enough users to become profitable. So unless you have a lot of money beforehand compete at something that doesn't scale (for anyone right now). So it will cost the same ballpark to serve your first user as it will cost an established business to serve +1 user.
- upen946 6y ago
  What about the popular indiehacking phrase - "Do things that dont scale"?
  - troughway 6y ago
    That used to work back when more people were building things to scratch an itch and didn't have a good sense of business and marketing. Today, you can expect a product that launches to be extremely polished and have a very calculated marketing strategy from the original pitch, to some kind of an invitation list of early adopters, a lot of blogging time invested, and lastly, a sales team of some sort. A lot of them will have some kind of financial backing. And best of all, you won't even know to what degree their image and branding is curated to sell one story ("We're a small shop") vs reality ("We are very well connected with decision makers at important companies", etc). Basically, it was taken from a fun side project and perfected to a business science on an industry-wide scale when the sharks smelled how much money was on the table.
  - z3t4 6y ago
    "Do things that dont scale" - that's good advice because it will make it harder for the big bullies to eat your lunch. But what can't scale today, might scale tomorrow as technology catch up, so if you are lucky you will have a profitable business and domain expertise and be ready to grab the opportunity if/when it arrives.

danjac 6y ago

With some exceptions, most appear to be developers selling developer stuff to other developers. It's like a microeconomy based around people trying to make a living by taking in each others' laundry. If I'd hazard a guess, it's because they have the technical chops to build things, but lack the experience/connections to build things people outside of tech actually need.