BC STARTUPS
Saved by @zmbnski

If folks aren’t already buying what you’re thinking of selling, don’t start that business!

 There should be be evidence that folks are already spending money in the space you’re thinking of entering.

Before AirBnB, folks paid money to stay at hotels, B&Bs, cottages, vacation homes, and hostels.

Annually, people spend $570 BILLION on travel accommodation.
Entrepreneurs need to follow the money:

“Where is it already being spent, and how can I get a piece of it?”
Don’t look for “problems that need solving.”

Look for categories where people/businesses are already spending money.

From an entrepreneur’s POV, if folks are willing to spend money on it, it’s a problem worth solving.
Apple has consistently followed this approach.

They didn’t make the first:

- PC
- Laptop
- MP3 player
- Smart phone

They saw the existing demand, and built on it.
This approach isn’t just for bootstrappers.

Tesla, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon all entered existing categories where folks were already spending money.

They rode a rising tide; they didn’t create the wave. 🏄‍♂️
Good point by Arvid:

There are other indicators that can show you whether a market is worth pursuing.

(However, existing purchasing behavior is probably the safest.)

https://t.co/Vv3ZWS0Ghp
BTW – you’re free to do whatever you want.

If you want to start a business based on your gut, go ahead! 😜

But if you want to reduce your risk, look for existing demand in your segment (or in a parallel category).
Even with good principles, there are no guarantees!

In surfing, you paddle out hoping to catch a good wave.

Knowing which wave to catch helps.

Being in the right place helps.

Having the right skills helps.

But even then, there are no guarantees you’ll ride that wave in.

More from Startups

Marketing Examples
Marketing Examples
@GoodMarketingHQ
🔥 I got 2000 new subscribers from my Product Hunt launch

THREAD...

Last week I launched Marketing Examples to Product Hunt.

✔️ 1,500+ upvotes
✔️ Product of the Week
✔️ Email list grew from 1,300 to 3,300

This is the step by step account of how I did it


Step 1 - Don't launch straight away

23rd May 2019 Marketing Examples v1.0 went live. The site had a few case studies, several bugs, and an email box which didn’t convert well.

The old version of me would have thrown it on Product Hunt straight away. But I decided to wait.

Why?

1) I didn’t want to waste my “turn” with the very first iteration of my site.

2) I didn’t want to launch in a vacuum. Product Hunt multiplies current momentum. Having a small following of “fans” on launch day goes a long way.

So I set myself a target.

✔️ 1000 email subscribers
✔️ 1000 twitter followers

And then I would launch. 70 days later I hit my target.

It was showtime.
STARTUPS
Corey Haines \U0001f4a1
Corey Haines 💡...
@coreyhainesco
There are some amazing founders and indie hackers that have made 🤯-worthy progress this last year.

The stuff you can do in a year is seriously astounding 👇

👉 @TransistorFM reaching $22k MRR in one year: https://t.co/BuKmXEeEtH

I was one of their first customers and the progress @mijustin and @jonbuda have made working mostly part-time has been crazy.

Now both are full-time. Follow them on @buildyoursaas

👉 @talk2oneup reaching $10k MRR in one year: https://t.co/SOoGkKA19r

@daviswbaer joined as a co-founder and through many different marketing tactics, pricing changes, and product updates, they've managed to carve out a niche market in a really competitive industry.

👉 @hostifi_net $9k MRR in one year: https://t.co/TknroGZWoK

After getting fired from his full-time job, @_rchase_ embarked on a year focused on building products to replace his salary in a year.

The dude seriously SHIPS and even took investment from @earnestcapital


👉 @ClosetTools $11k MRR WHILE WORKING FULL-TIME AND WITH A FAMILY: https://t.co/pKQ7pFvpZY

With a strong product, continuous improvement, and SEO, @unindie has really been inspirational.

There are no excuses.
STARTUPS
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Massimo Di Berardino
Massimo Di Berardino
@Massimokris
@_shahedk @buzz_chronicles save as startups

@buzz_chronicles @buzz_chronicles save as startups
STARTUPS , STARTUPS THANKS HTTPSTCOBYLE1EMWXB
Mehmood
Mehmood
@mehmood168
Just watched this 47-min presentation given by @adamwathan at @MicroConf in 2018 titled 'Nailing Your First Launch'. It was recommended by @RandallKanna

Adam shared a step-by-step guide for launching successful info products from idea to launch.

Thread 👇👇

1st Product: Nitpick (Automated PHP code review comments on Github in one click)

Total Revenue: ($3650.59 from 19 customers) Nov 1, 2015 - Apr 30, 2018

2nd Product: Refactoring to Collections (eBook to teach PHP developers some functional programming principles)

Launched: May 2016

1st Day: $28,299

1st 3 days: $61,392

After 2 weeks he quit his job to focus on info products

3rd Product: Test-Driven Laravel

Early Access: November 2016

1st Day: $82,919

1st 3 Days: $115,676

Sales from May 2016 - April 2018

Book $179,147

TDD Course $468,536

Total $647,683

Why an Info Product?

There is a finish line

Doesn't take much time

Unlike SaaS, it puts money in the bank quickly

Selling subscription software is hard, courses are easy
STARTUPS
Logan Herzog
Logan Herzog
@logansherzog
1/ I recently read about Adjacent User Theory and, despite it being focused on expanding existing users. thought there were some great takeaways about prospecting.

2/ General concept is that just beyond your existing users are groups of potential users who would better adopt your product if it were positioned differently. As you expand your positioning, you convert under-engaged users.

In outbound sales it's the same.

3/ Too many startups try too hard to guess their exact prospect profile. This is necessary to find their first successful customer profile, but beyond that, identifying new types of prospects should be more formulaic.

4/ Here's how I've done it to identify 12 different successful prospect profiles in a few months:

- Use the 80/20 rule: 20% of the leads you reach out to should fall outside of your current core prospect profile.

5/ Priority should be on profiles with only 1-2 differences from the current core. Perhaps a slightly different pain point, but not dramatically different.
STARTUPS

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William
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🛠️ OPEN BUSINESS IDEAS 🛠️

Below a list of business/product ideas I had or read about.

They are worthless if they remain ideas and if you don't overcome the challenges in building them, so feel free to copy / tweak / implement them!
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🚧 IndieCrunch - VC free tech news
Techcrunch but only for bootstrapped companies

🎧 Kickstarter for audiobooks
A lot of awesome books are not available as audio.
Crowdfund the money to buy the audio rights + a voice actor
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Just note, I am not bitter or salty in any way at all, the last 2 years have been an amazing ride - travelled the world, been wealthy, been poor.

2/ Dec '16, my advertising agency folded, I had a little bit of money left and I put $32k into Bitcoin and Ether. As it started to go up I diversified into everything, Monero, Dash, this that, any crap - even Ripplecoin. Everything just kept going up.

3/ By March I think I had around $300k and $500k by the summer. I used to take 25% out but towards the end of the summer I got greedy and put it all back in and by December it was $1.2m.

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