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As with most YC acceptees, most here have “for x country/demographic/race/gender” Is the best path to forming a startup these days to take an already existing

by ecf 5y ago

As with most YC acceptees, most here have “for x country/demographic/race/gender” Is the best path to forming a startup these days to take an already existing product and market it to a very specific niche while taking investment capital that rivals the revenue of pre-existing software? I don’t get it. Really.

kami8845 5y ago
Something I've noticed as well. Might be related to geographic diversification, or that "[App] for [Emerging Market]" better answers the "Why now?" question.
aakashns 5y ago
In many cases, the existing product is not designed to serve the needs of all countries/demographies/races/genders etc., so there's value in provided a better user experience for a specific niche, especially one that's growing. I like using products that were created keeping me in mind as the primary customer. Wouldn't you too?
dang 5y ago
That's not true of most YC acceptees. It's more true of these "meet the batch" threads but that's a sample bias. I suppose it's mostly an artifact of YC's growing so more internationally in recent years. There are others (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28257352 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28257352 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28087309 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28087309) but these are a small minority.
alexyz12 5y ago
feels like 1->N rather than 0-1. Which is just as good if not better in my book! But different.
wHtisgoinon 5y ago
I agree. Recently all these launches appear to be driven by the demographics of these founders than any real quality products. I guess in the name of "diversity". In fact, there was a thread here and at reddit sometime back about YC funding some student(s) for a product that shows a calendar in your MacOS dock/taskbar. What stood out there was the demographic of the "founders". When that point was made in the comments, here at HN, those posts were flagged and disappeared.

by ecf 5y ago

kami8845 5y ago

Something I've noticed as well. Might be related to geographic diversification, or that "[App] for [Emerging Market]" better answers the "Why now?" question.

aakashns 5y ago

In many cases, the existing product is not designed to serve the needs of all countries/demographies/races/genders etc., so there's value in provided a better user experience for a specific niche, especially one that's growing. I like using products that were created keeping me in mind as the primary customer. Wouldn't you too?

dang 5y ago

That's not true of most YC acceptees. It's more true of these "meet the batch" threads but that's a sample bias. I suppose it's mostly an artifact of YC's growing so more internationally in recent years. There are others (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28257352 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28257352 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28087309 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28087309) but these are a small minority.

alexyz12 5y ago

feels like 1->N rather than 0-1. Which is just as good if not better in my book! But different.

wHtisgoinon 5y ago

I agree. Recently all these launches appear to be driven by the demographics of these founders than any real quality products. I guess in the name of "diversity". In fact, there was a thread here and at reddit sometime back about YC funding some student(s) for a product that shows a calendar in your MacOS dock/taskbar. What stood out there was the demographic of the "founders". When that point was made in the comments, here at HN, those posts were flagged and disappeared.