[HN Gopher] Your startup idea probably isn't venture-scale
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       Your startup idea probably isn't venture-scale
        
       Author : type0
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2023-07-04 22:01 UTC (58 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lennysnewsletter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lennysnewsletter.com)
        
       | aabhay wrote:
       | The analysis paralysis that comes with wondering whether your
       | idea is "venture scale" is a really common mental pitfall for
       | many friends that have considered starting a company.
       | 
       | Do what you're passionate about, solve problems for people, and
       | constantly question whether you are doing enough to solve this
       | problem for everyone possible. If you're asking yourself that
       | question in the most intellectually honest way, you will
       | naturally realize that the necessary tools to do things for many
       | people involves software, AI, and all those common tropes of
       | "venture scale" business. You'll end up realizing that things
       | like consulting are doomed to not solve the problem for a broad
       | swath of people.
        
         | paulddraper wrote:
         | I have friend still searching for his "billion dollar" idea.
         | 
         | Whereas if he had done some of his "million dollar" ideas, he'd
         | be much better off, both financially and in a position to
         | create a unicorn.
        
       | pedalpete wrote:
       | Even if it is venture-scale, does that mean it needs to be funded
       | by VCs?
       | 
       | That is maybe the more important question to ask.
       | 
       | As many people have suggested, it is as hard to build a small
       | business as it is to build a large one, so don't aim too small.
        
       | ghiculescu wrote:
       | > A simple rule of thumb for what makes an idea venture-scale is
       | having a path to $100 million a year in revenue
       | 
       | I don't think this is a good rule of thumb. After all...
       | 
       | > What do Product Hunt, Trello, Balsamiq, Basecamp, Things,
       | DuckDuckGo, Brain.fm, and many of your favorite products have in
       | common?
       | 
       | I don't think any of them had 100M revenue within 10 years.
        
       | dinobones wrote:
       | Would you consider DocuSign or Dropbox venture scale?
        
       | moomoo11 wrote:
       | Does it need to be?
       | 
       | Not everyone wants to sell their soul lol.
        
         | paulddraper wrote:
         | If you're raising venture capital, then yes.
         | 
         | If you're not, then of course not.
        
       | morkalork wrote:
       | I'd settle for early retirement and lake house scale.
        
         | Swizec wrote:
         | > I'd settle for early retirement and lake house scale.
         | 
         | You can get that as a tech employee with much less risk.
         | 
         | Get into tech in your 20's, do good enough work, invest the
         | money you aren't using, and you can retire by 45 or so with a
         | very low degree of variance.
         | 
         | Lake houses are pretty cheap too. Plenty of cute lakes in
         | unpopular hard to reach areas.
        
           | paulddraper wrote:
           | > Lake houses are pretty cheap too.
           | 
           | Anything that you'd colloquially call a "lake house" is going
           | to be $1m+, even in frigid remote areas.
           | 
           | But, IDK with inflation maybe $1,000,000 does count as
           | "cheap."
        
         | willio58 wrote:
         | I mean this can be achieved with a high salary job and good
         | savings (in a lower COL area of course).
        
         | brailsafe wrote:
         | * * *
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-04 23:00 UTC)