48 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2023
    1. The move made sense for Reddit, particularly as the company looked toward its IPO. Reddit isn’t profitable, and the infrastructure to support third-party apps costs Reddit $10 million per year. Charging for the API could wipe out that loss and potentially be a net positive on the balance sheet. (Microsoft declined to comment if it would pay for Reddit’s data; OpenAI and Google didn’t reply to requests for comment.)

      Reddit still loses money. Think about amount of funding that supports reddit year on year for over a decade. This is capitalism baby.

  2. Feb 2023
    1. Thanks for writing Micheal, I’m also 30-something ex-Google SWE and currently all-in on solo dev bootstrapping, so your blog is one of my (many) big inspirations.As you note, I do think if your primary objective was to catch up to SWE compensation, your project idea filter was probably not optimal. But it’s still great that you have the spark of something with TinyPilot. One thing I see repeatedly in the indie hacker community is hockey stick success where people struggle to get the engine going but often once they find the spark it takes off. The ten year overnight success.Also worth noting many indie hackers add part time stable income such as contracting as their finances require.If people are looking for a straightforward path where they leave their SWE job and quickly get similar stable income as a bootstrapper, they’re in for an unpleasant surprise. But if you can “make it” you control your own destiny , face unique challenges demanding true creativity, and have uncapped upside in a way you’ll never get at BigTech .I do think content businesses are an easier launch point . Adam Wethan of Tailwind and Nathan Barry of Convertkit are both examples of bootstrappers who self-funded by starting with info products. I think one mental trap for solo devs is to over identify as SWE and not as online entrepreneurs with SWE skills as a particularly helpful asset.Wish you and TinyPilot the best of luck and look forward to future updates.

      Mental model to keep in mind for bootstrapping as a solo founder

    1. Perhaps the best piece of advice I ever got from Jeff Bezos was this: Invest in things that don't change. His example was that customers won't wake up one day and wish shipping was slower or the selection of goods poorer. So investing in logistics and warehousing was investing in things that don't change, and will continue to pay dividends for decades.

      This was also discussed at length in one of the Acquired's episode on AWS/Amazon.

  3. Jan 2023
    1. Over the last year, we’ve met with dozens of startup founders and operators in large companies who deal directly with generative AI. We’ve observed that infrastructure vendors are likely the biggest winners in this market so far, capturing the majority of dollars flowing through the stack. Application companies are growing topline revenues very quickly but often struggle with retention, product differentiation, and gross margins. And most model providers, though responsible for the very existence of this market, haven’t yet achieved large commercial scale.

      Infrastructure vendors are laughing all the way to the bank because companies are dumping millions on GPUs. Meanwhile, the people building apps on top of these models are struggling. We've seen this sort of gold-rush before and infrastructure providers are selling the shovels.

  4. Aug 2022
    1. when an investor sees a Magic Quadrant, they'll think:Can your company actually only differentiate its product on two axes? Does your product beat the competition on just two key benefits or strategies?If that's the case, and your product isn't much different from your competitors, why will people buy it or use it?
  5. Jul 2022
  6. Apr 2022
    1. you are focussing all of your efforts in a very defined range of products or services, and this helps you to be 100% committed to this and dominate that part because your competition is too busy focussing on the main niche
    1. for emerging businesses, how can they stand out from their competitors in a way that people learn to know and trust them? The answer is distinction
    1. If you want to understand how Tesla can become the most valuable car company in the world without needing to spend a dime on advertising, while its competitors futilely buy Superbowl ads, or why 170,000 people pilgrimage annually to Dreamforce for the opportunity to be sold Salesforce products, the answer is that the founders of these companies have created a movement. Obviously, it couldn’t happen if they didn’t also make great products, but marketing is the amplifier of all their other efforts. If sales is like hand-to-hand combat, great marketing is like having an air force.There is a playbook for this. I call it Movement Marketing. It is also known as “earned marketing” because you can’t just buy it, you have to earn it. Unlike paid campaigns, there is no formula for ROI. Earned marketing is about brand, messaging, press, influencers, content — all the things that define who you are. This is undeniably crucial, but since the metrics are hard to quantify, founders often have trouble with it.

      Fascinating to see how brands have carved out this earned marketing space.

  7. Mar 2022
    1. I usually recommend that SaaS companies go with the Free Trial approach because it’s easier to implement in the product and coordinate with sales and marketing efforts
    1. “It’s really hard to help Emmett understand anything qualitative,” one former employee says. “It has to be quantitative.”

      Does running a community require qualitative decision making?

    2. “We went down the Silicon Valley route—hiring from Facebook, from Twitter,” he says, adding that many recruits had little understanding of gaming or livestreaming and were “unwilling to learn what this community was, why it was special.”

      Interesting argument that to build unique products, you need to hire people uniquely interested in the mission.

  8. Feb 2022
    1. I have already put 6+ hours into researching this idea

      I wouldn't consider one day of research to be long, many new businesses take years to work well at scale.

  9. Jan 2022
    1. Why I chose to step down as CEO of CircleUpOver the past year, when I began telling team members, investors, LPs and other stakeholders about my transition, their first question was, inevitably, “Why?” I typically explained that the average founder/CEO of a startup is in the seat for less than five years; I had been with CircleUp for nine, and I was exhausted. But there was so much more to it than that.I don’t remember the first time I told our board that I was exhausted and needed to step down as CEO. I imagine it was around 2016 or 2017, a period defined by stressful business decisions and physical and mental health issues. I later realized that the board interpreted my complaints as “typical founder/CEO exhaustion”. I blame myself for that lack of clarity. For years I did a poor job of communicating the depth of my stress and exhaustion, a problem only compounded by the fact that, at times, I wasn’t even sure of my own feelings. There were stretches of time where I felt horrible — lonely; terrified; depressed. Depression exacerbates exhaustion. But I tried to put on a brave face to make sure the board felt comfortable.

      Massive "work life" imbalance. stress. suffering.

  10. Dec 2021
    1. Jobs are multifaceted. They’re never simply about function; they have powerful social and emotional dimensions
  11. Nov 2021
    1. What Makes Ruby on Rails Perfect for Marketplace Development?AlinaE-Commerce & SaaS StrategistMarketplaceRuby/RailsHomeBlogEntrepreneurshipWhat Makes Ruby on Rails Perfect for Marketplace Development?PublishedJul 13, 2020UpdatedJul 13, 202012 min readThe last several years have been marked with the rise of different marketplaces. Airbnb, AliExpress, Etsy, Booking.com are on everyone’s lips. That's not surprising that the idea of launching a second Amazon or eBay seems so appealing. To win the e-commerce race, entrepreneurs focus on providing excellent customer experience and build fast-loading and scalable websites. Besides, business owners take various security measures to protect their customers’ sensitive information. This way, they can gain clients’ trust and boost sales. When building a custom marketplace, what technology stack is best to achieve all these goals? Our answer is simple: Ruby on Rails. In this article, we will fill you in on the Ruby on Rails marketplace development. At Codica, we are passionate fans of this framework and have built numerous e-commerce platforms with its help. Based on our experience, we will discuss the key reasons to choose RoR for building a successful marketplace.

      The last several years have been marked with the rise of different marketplaces. Airbnb, AliExpress, Etsy, Booking.com are on everyone’s lips. That's not surprising that the idea of launching a second Amazon or eBay seems so appealing.

      To win the e-commerce race, entrepreneurs focus on providing excellent customer experience and build fast-loading and scalable websites. Besides, business owners take various security measures to protect their customers’ sensitive information. This way, they can gain clients’ trust and boost sales.

      When building a custom marketplace, what technology stack is best to achieve all these goals? Our answer is simple: Ruby on Rails.

      In this article, we will fill you in on the Ruby on Rails marketplace development. At Codica, we are passionate fans of this framework and have built numerous e-commerce platforms with its help. Based on our experience, we will discuss the key reasons to choose RoR for building a successful marketplace.

  12. Sep 2021
    1. Why is entrepreneurship important?

      The entrepreneur is a problem-solving person who stays focused on developing a solution. They are talented leaders who work for improving society and giving jobs to others. Let’s have a look at the reasons that prove entrepreneurship is important below:

      Lowers unemployment The jobs are created by entrepreneurship that helps others earn well. The entrepreneurs take risks for giving employment to the society. They continuously focused on growing their business that directly creates jobs. It helps in lowering the unemployment rate.

      Make Change There are natural dreams in the ideas of entrepreneurs that can change the concept globally. It can range from the development of a new product for solving the transport problem or a system that purifies the air. While checking history, one can see how tremendous sort of things delivered by entrepreneurs for the world.

      Boost the nation’s economy As we all know, entrepreneurship can lead to the generation of money that can enhance the economy of the country. The growth of new markets occurs due to the new ideas or improved services provided by entrepreneurs. Description

    1. How to Create NFT MarketPlace?

      Owing to the worldwide requirement of the current Digital world, the NFT aspirants are actively looking for an efficient NFT Marketplace to showcase their collectibles. Statistics have defined that OpenSea and Rarible are bound to offer enhanced performance than most other NFT marketplaces. If you are an active entrepreneur or investor looking to launch your own NFT Marketplace Platform? You are in the right place!

      The NFT marketplace can be built in two significant ways.

      White Label NFT marketplace

      Build NFT marketplace from Scratch.

      White Label NFT Marketplace

      White Label NFT MarketPlace solutions are pre-built ones. It can be customized based on the client's requirements. It is more beneficial for the people who want to start an NFT with less capital investment. Development costs and the time to Create NFT Marketplace by opting for White Label NFT MarketPlace Software solutions are minimal.

      Building an NFT Marketplace from Scratch

      Building NFT MarketPlace from Scratch involves some basic steps like Blockchain selection, Finalizing features & functionalities, Developing Smart Contracts, UI Creations, Smart Contract Auditing & Bug fixing, Testnet deployment, release beta version or mainnet release. These NFT platforms are built based on the client's requirements. It is fully customized and we can integrate any unique features on it.

      Create NFT MarketPlace on your desired Blockchain network

      There are so many NFT Marketplace solution providers present in the crypto market. So tie up with the trustworthy NFT MarketPlace Development Company and check out the live demo of their white label nft marketplace and then create your own NFT marketplace on the desired blockchain network such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and TRON as per your wish.

  13. May 2021
    1. Fintech is transforming the way financial businesses operate, the way they cooperate and negotiate with their clients, regulators, and other industry players.  Almost all types of businesses use fintech, from start-ups and growth companies to established and reputable mastodons. In recent years, many new directions have appeared in fintech that rely on advanced technologies created specifically for certain sectors or functions in the financial ecosystem. 
  14. Feb 2021
    1. Why make A snow plow App?

      The snow plow business is central in regions where heavy snowfall is a common environment situation, like Canada, Europe, Russia, North America, and others. Right when such heavy snow hinders people's regular day to day existence, there is a constant demand for snow plow. There are two sorts of business models watching out. The essential model is the contract type in which an organization would offer a contract for the entire winter or unequivocal months for their administration. In the second model, the home or business owner would contact the expert center at whatever point they need the assistance.

      The contract model's obstacle is that, if there was only a couple of long stretches of heavy snowfall in the entire winter, the whole contract transforms into a bothersome expense. The on demand model prods a spike in interest during heavy snowfall, and the expenses for the equipment or the assist would be high with canning where the customer needs it. The chances for the stuff being out of reach during the hour of need are similarly high.

      Right when you choose to make a snow plow app, you can offer an on demand model of administration with more straightforwardness and down to earth. Right when a customer look "snow plow administration near me", it gets more straightforward for them to find the administrations closer to them, at whatever point they need it. The drivers and the customers get connected by methods for a comparable stage, allowing them to recognize the work effectively without an unnecessary measure of authoritative commotion.

      Do you need the online stage to help start your online Snow Plowing startup? Or on the other hand willing to make a tremendous proportion of advantage with authentic utilization of online Snow Plowing administrations? Hence, in this context, your answer or answer is confirmed, by then our discussion and article both will go probably as accommodating along with huge resource for you, as a business visionary, which will give the absolute nuances to dispatch your online Snow Plow On Demand administrations. Therefore, the present time and place range will wind up being the advantage or appropriate time for you as a business person to create the online mechanized presence in the overall market utilizing the latest and advanced web development apparatuses.

      How our on demand organizing app functions

      Pick A Service

      Plan It

      Relax!

      The snow plow app mobile app development has opened up promising conditions for the businesses just as for individuals looking for low support/regular occupation during the season. If, despite everything that you look at the business express bits of knowledge,

      The snow plowing industry gets around $22.7 billion yearly;

      The total business unequivocal pay addresses 25%;

      Snow and Ice the chiefs association is creating at a speed of 3.5% consistently;

      These figures clearly depict that it justifies placing assets into an undertaking overseeing snow plowing to bring most prominent pay for your business. An on demand snow plow app development urges you to attract your customers with less drudgery

      Starting with the benefits of snow plow app development:

      By developing a snow scooping and snow plow app, you will stop a ton of regulatory work that again consumes a lot of time.;

      You can enough arrangement with the entire gathering of plow bosses and monitor their working conduct.

      Since it is the ideal chance to move to the credit only example, you can get prompt portions into your record. You can allow the customers to pay for the administrations using either a Mastercard or a check card or through some other portion section;

      Your customers can see the assistance revives continuously;

      You can connect more customers and contact them out with no issue;

      Snow plow app development licenses you to meet your customer needs promptly in addition to in an exceptional way;

      It will give an effortlessness of administrations to liberating the hail from snow with several ticks;

      By giving strong, ensured, and top notch professionals, you can win the trust of incalculable customers;

      You can take off the arrangements by offering the customers some historic feature set.

      Like Uber and Lyft, each city has snow plow drivers who connect with customers, and give on demand administration. This revolutionizes the business, allowing drivers to help customers without massive contracts or the issue of phone calls.

      How should a mobile app help your snow plow business?

      Business expansion and web business integration

      It is essential to offer a one-stop solution for your administrations, which is smartphone reasonable. Beyond your middle thing or administration, a capable app will add additional impact to your picture regard. You can in like manner arrange it with a web business stage for selling plowing and grass care stuff and additional parts. This integration will give business availability consistently. Your application will transform into a phase for certain businesses and consultants to make a reliable transaction.

      Basic administration

      It is conceivable to manage different resources and handle various tasks by using an application. You can coordinate resource allocation, following, and portion through the application. Such straightforward administration will put aside time and money and besides improves the versatility of the business. Beyond these, the application grants continuous after of consumer unwaveringness, director execution, and control of various variables.

      10,000 foot see

      Your application will be your overall viewpoint all in all business measure. You can figure out your business and resources enough. The application energizes you track the recorded background of exercises, portions, and utilization of resources. You can make a polyline on your guide and make zones for straightforward administration of your business. Such an interaction will help in improving online advantage.

      So would you say you are set up to develop a snow plow app? don't hesitate to connect with our expert for startup consulting. Next time you or a companion wish getting your carport plowed was simpler, recall, there's an app for that!

      Source: Snow plow app

  15. Oct 2020
    1. How to Find a Technical Co-Founder in 2020: Platforms, Hints, and Alternatives

      Read this article by Cleveroad to learn how to find a technical cofounder for a startup.

  16. Aug 2020
    1. For most software businesses in the US, the problem isn’t technical knowledge anymore. The problem is getting a wedge into distribution — also known as marketing.

      Building a website has become a utility. This has shifted the domain of competitive advantage to distribution, which in this case means marketing.

    2. This has led to a flurry of many applications being built online – often with multiple teams building the same thing. It is not uncommon to run into 50 different founding teams all trying to build a marketplace for gym trainers. Or 300 founding teams trying re-invent marketing automation.

      It has become common to see multiple software teams go after the same market.

  17. Dec 2019
    1. 7 Best Services that are Essential for Your Startup Growth Get link Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Other Apps December 12, 2019 As an entrepreneur, the primary focus of your startup is to grow big and increase brand awareness. For any startup, the initial stages are the most challenging one. Many businesses fail because they cannot withstand this stage. If you want to increase your business growth then you need to do business strategy and planning. Initially, you need help from other businesses for certain services that you cannot do on your own. Here is the list of 7 services that you need for growing your startup. Market Membership In order to increase country growth Government promote businesses and commerce. Financial System is the backbone of a country. Therefore, the Government establishes promotion council for every niche market. These promotion councils have one primary objective and that is to promote businesses and create big market share globally. Some of the benefits that you can experience by subscribing to these council memberships are an increase in business growth, new leads, marketing, discounted promotional booths in trade fares and much more. Office Space Services In order to run your office you need to have an office. The best option that you can have is to rent out a building. But an even better option is Co-working space. Here, many other startups and businesses share the office space and amenities required by any businesses. The rates are decided on per seat bases which are very nominal. IT services- Website, Graphic Design & technical support For any business, being online is now very essential. This is the digital age, where every business is turning online. In order to meet this digital need you need to have some IT support. There are a lot of services that come under this department like website designing, logo design services, etc. For website services, it is best to use word press, as it powers 23% of all websites in the world. This platform is an open source platform and very easy to use. For an affordable solution to your graphic needs like logo design, you can use a good logo designcontest website that provides affordable services. There are a lot of IT services that you might need. So, researching about them on Google will be very helpful. Marketing Services Marketing your businesses is very important part of any business. What’s the purpose of any business if they cannot find you? You can use multiple marketing streams to get customers, but the best marketing channel that every business is using is Digital Marketing. Other marketing methods used by businesses are merchandise marketing using tools like t shirt design online. Accounting Services Hiring an accountant can be very costly. So, the best option is to outsource this service. You can choose any local accountant for this job. Customer Relationship Management As the name suggests, it is another part of business that cannot be overlooked. Establishing a good relationship with your customer is essential for your business to grow. These third party services help you in engaging your customers more. Human Resource Services As a startup you need to hire people to make your job easy and fast. This can be done using effective Human Resource services. HR services can handle the hiring process which saves you time and money. Investing Investment is an essential need for your business. If you cannot find a good investor then your fund can get easily exhausted fast. To run a business in this competitive world you need to have an investor who not only provides you funds but, also helps you in mentoring. The best resource to find investors is using services like Gust.

      This guide will help you in finding the necessary services that your startups needs. These services helps your businesses to grow faster.

  18. Nov 2019
  19. Nov 2018
    1. Contrast that with an idea that came to me about five years ago. A young man by the name of Brian Chesky came up to me and had this idea that he was going to have an air mattress in his apartment that he rented to people. It would be an air bed and breakfast and I immediately thought: wow, that’s a horrible, horrible idea. Who would want to rent an air mattress out to somebody’s apartment like probably a serial killer?

      Initial impressions of an idea can seem outrageous, bad, horrible. Experiments in the real world can validate or provide surprising evidence of something good.

      Requires deep research, work and perseverance to go against common advice. This is where you can unlock secrets

  20. Sep 2017
    1. Amazon integrated customer data and payment information with e-book distribution and its Amazon publishing initiative

      Customer data (big data) + payment info (where's the money) + e-book distribution (infrastructure: kindle store and kindle device's seamless integration)

      Earlier guys integrated: Procurement (writers initial draft) + editing + marketing + distribution = Think book reviews and author tours on talk shows.

      Amazon's idea is more insightful and focussed on individual customers and not shooting in the DARK :)

  21. Mar 2017
    1. shift resources from capturing knowledge — which we've been doing almost exclusively for the past five years — toward packaging and distributing knowledge

      The ideas of "capturing" and "packaging" knowledge suggests a mindset based on monetizing rather than empowering knowledge makers. The new metaphor of zebra not unicorn startup business models suggests "profitable businesses that solve real, meaningful problems and in the process repair existing social systems" might serve us all better than Genius' "pivot" to media.

    1. Zebra companies are often started by women and other underrepresented founders.

      Because folks outside the dominant POV see needs, opportunities, and possibilities that others don't?

    2. To state the obvious: unlike unicorns, zebras are real.
    3. We believe that developing alternative business models to the startup status quo has become a central moral challenge of our time.

      Zebras: alternative business models

    4. When VC firms prize time on site over truth, a lucky few may profit, but civil society suffers.

      connecting venture capital motivations with ill effects on the common good

  22. Feb 2017
  23. Jul 2016
    1. I could have easily chosen a different prepositional phrase. "Convivial Tools in an Age of Big Data.” Or “Convivial Tools in an Age of DRM.” Or “Convivial Tools in an Age of Venture-Funded Education Technology Startups.” Or “Convivial Tools in an Age of Doxxing and Trolls."

      The Others.

  24. Jan 2016
    1. Ami Bloomer's new company Clozer provides on-demand sales representatives globally.

      Ami herself currently calls it "the Uber of sales". But that must be a very loose comparison. Anyone who can drive a car could work for Uber, but salesmanship is a talent.

  25. Oct 2015
    1. Pero un emprendedor en España o en Latinoamérica que se plantea crear algo desde su casa porque está en paro o porque tiene un empleo que quiere dejar, que a la vez que emprende tiene que pagar las facturas y ocuparse de los niños, y que tiene que enfrentarse a una burocracia mucho más feroz que la estadounidense tiene mucho más complicado aplicar felizmente las recetas de Lean Startup

      y bien que es diferente en España donde abrir una empresa por lo general demora más de cien días

    2. Sigo convencido de que Lean Startup y las ideas, herramientas y metodologías que le rodean como Customer Development, Business Model Design, Lean UX o Effectuation son la mejor vía para crear una empresa. Pero la interacción con mis lectores y con los alumnos de mis cursos me ha hecho ver que hay problemas para llevar a la práctica estas ideas.
  26. Jun 2015
    1. The very best startup ideas tend to have three things in common: they're something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build, and that few others realize are worth doing
    1. centralized systems was a less-solved problem (even at far smaller numbers). More importantly, though it was easier due to this setup, we weren’t creating network effects. Though (I believe) we had more people publishing with Blogger than anything else, that didn’t make Blogger better. In fact, it made it worse, because it got slow and harder to add features to.

      a major winning point of why relying on decentralized protocols is ultimately better for eco systems and humanity