You can start with the community
I’ve identified ~8000 communities that could be unbundled from Reddit
- They are thriving
- They could make you ~$1m/year of revenue
- You often need $400 max to build MVP to tap that untapped value
- It's fun
Sounds like a dream job to me
People in Silicon Valley don’t have an edge on you
SF held the monopoly on startups for decades. Now, being in SF doesn’t matter for 99% of businesses
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise
The world is flat and is staying flat
Hell yeah. That feels good to say
You have 10x the amount of funding sources
You used to have to rely on VCs. Not anymore
To name a few:
- Fund via your community
- Fund via NFTs
- Fund via pre-sales
- Fund via tokens
- Fund via accelerators all over the world
- Etc
All of a sudden, you have 10x the options
Niche businesses can be worth billions
People used to laugh at niche. Why “go small” when you could “go big”?
The way to go big right now IS to go small
Large tech companies can’t be everything to everyone
My head spins thinking about how much is changing in our world right now
Ex:
- Millions of creators who need support
- Communities that are ripe for tokenization
- ↑ social commerce
- ↑ sustainability products
- ↑ internet usage across the globe
This won’t last forever
Everything is unbundling before our eyes
- Facebook groups
- eBay
- Zoom
- Etsy
- Reddit
- Udemy
What a wonderful time to be building a startup
No-code/low-code tools
Launching isn’t the hard part anymore. It’s community building
There's so much available to learn online
The right Discord servers or Podcasts are worth 10x more than a Harvard Business Degree
Bonus: it's a pandemic. You have more time. Seize the day and find these sacred sources of wisdom
You can attract niches easier than ever
Start with the community, then build software
vs.
Start with software, then build community
Point: you increase your odds of success by building community-first
You can run a $100m/year business from your iPhone
I have a friend who’s company makes $100m/yr
Facts:
- He started it in 2018
- It’s niche
- Unbundled from a FB Group
- Moved from SF to Malta because he likes the vibe
- He runs his entire biz from his iPhone on an island!
I hope you enjoyed this thread
If it gave you a little extra confidence to start/join that startup, I'm extra happy
Or if you disagree with me and think this is a terrible time to be building. Prove me wrong
Either way, follow me on Twitter
@gregisenberg for more threads
I write a free newsletter where I share more detailed posts about startup insights, community-led product building and internet communities
If you think it's a good time for startups, you'll enjoy what I write there
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