4 ms·

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

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.

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.