My previous startup was a marketplace for custom email addresses called at.market.
Every day I would open sublime, write code for a few hours, and then close it. From that, I got thousands of website visitors, tens of signups per day, reviewed by prominent tech publications, invited to speak at a conference, an interview with the thiel fellowship. In fact, someone from Chinese YC reached out to me to invest in my “startup” and I’m talking with them tomorrow, even though I no longer actively work on it, which is what inspired me to write this post. They say they want to potentially invest in my company, the company that’s losing tens of thousands of dollars per year and has a broken business model.
Apart from a producthunt launch, I did zero marketing or sales whatsoever. I never even talked to users. Because I got signups every day without fail without doing any marketing or sales, I fell into the trap of thinking that if I could just make the product better, I would get more signups and eventually paying users. That never happened. They came, but they didn’t come fast enough, or with any buying intent.
The business fundamentals were (and are) completely broken. I had over a thousand domain names at one point, and still hold over 500. Not just dot coms, but expensive ones like .ba or .cm. The company is losing tens of thousands of dollars a year. I feel like I flushed 3 years of my life and tens of thousands of dollars down the drain.
I built a B2C company that charges a couple of dollars a month, that doesn’t really solve a real problem. Looking back, what I built resembled more of an art project than a viable business. Something that makes people go “wow” but doesn’t make them open their wallet.
Personally, I see other software developers making the same mistake. In fact, the higher calibre of software developer they are, the more in demand they are in the job market, the more they’re susceptible to this. I think it’s because their basic needs are met and if they fail, they can get another high paying software development job. It never personally sunk in for me that I’d need to make enough money to support myself until near the end.
My favourite example of this is when I was invited to a hackathon in LA, where I met 2 stanford masters students. They were building an app to book you an uber when you landed at the airport, so that it’d be waiting for you when you got past airport security. It stands out to me as the most ridiculous idea that I’ve ever heard. I wanted to work with them, but they wanted me to sign an NDA, so I didn’t.
Just wanted to share. Don’t roast me too hard, I’m still getting over it.
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Awesome experience. And the opportunity to speak to a potential investor, especially if they approached you is big. They might already be thinking of different ways to take the idea, you never know, they could help make it fit somewhere
Ya the business model is kinda important. Be encouraged that if you did the same thing but with a good business model, you would be wildly successful in the right direction. Doesnt mean youre a failure. Just means you need a new idea
I think it’s pretty cool what you did
I also think it’s what a lot of people are trying to do anyway with landing pages and e-mail signups and so on
You should take what you did as a win and move on
And sell it to recover all losses and make money if you can… let someone else run it and take it where it needs to go. That Chinese investor could be looking for immigration, so would be willing to invest in literally anything so they could make good all your losses and then some. As long as you are honest that the business is failing and has no hope under you I don’t see it as unethical to sell it for massive amounts of money
I didn’t build shit. Yet.
After spending nearly a decade in consulting and 25 years deeply immersed in the startup ecosystem as a founder, co-founder, and a first-hire developer, I’ve observed this as a common challenge faced by many aspiring founders and entrepreneurs: effectively vetting and validating their startup ideas.
To bridge this gap, I’m working on a new SaaS tailored specifically for idea validation. The tool is not just a concept; it’s a combination of a self service AI driven platform and my experience and lessons hard learned, designed to quickly guide through the initial and often daunting process of evaluation.
One of the most common pitfalls is diving into product development without thorough validation of the idea. Validation is crucial; it’s not just about confirming that an idea is good, but also about understanding if it solves a real problem for real people. This process can save invaluable time and resources by ensuring entrepreneurs are building something that their target market genuinely needs and wants. The platform emphasizes this pre-development validation, offering insights and data-driven strategies to refine the idea into a viable, market-ready product. By prioritizing validation, the platform aims to significantly enhance the chances of success and reduce the risks associated with early-stage startup development.
Here’s what the platform offers:
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Comprehensive Business Case Analysis: Providing a detailed business case for a startup idea, scrutinizing its feasibility and potential in the current market.
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Creation of User Personas: Generation of five detailed user personas, providing a clear picture of the ideal customers - understanding needs, behaviors, and motivations.
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Targeted Marketing Strategies: For each user persona, the platform will identify five optimal places for marketing. This targeted approach ensures that marketing efforts are not just widespread but also effective.
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Customized Marketing Copy and Landing Pages: This doesn’t stop at strategy. The platform also offers personalized marketing copy and designs single-page landing sites. These are crafted to resonate with each persona, ensuring a higher engagement and conversion rate.
If you would be interested in helping shape this offering, please reach out - I’d love to have your feedback and thoughts.
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I don’t understand why you can’t make money from it
I built free app as well & I’m planning to charge for it later when I have like 1000 users.
Will my plan to have a paid app will fail as well?
I’d appreciate if you take a look. Thanks.
I mean, how else can someone showcase their talents?
Experience = Try + Failure
Success = Experience - Failure
Sorry to hear that
You own shitti.ng and I own shitt.ing
Hey domain cousin.
/r/shittyobservation
You still did a thing and learning from it.
Isn’t the solution to do better (or more) marketing, since you say you didn’t do any?
Yeah….I’ve been there. The “art project as a business”….yeesh. It’s an easy hole to fall in for some of us.
Just out of curiosity…which domains were most popular?
Building something cool doesn’t make it a business.
i’ve been thinking about this for the companies that i advice (i work for a VC with an accelerator, i help the companies post-investment on building their business)
I think people need to think of their business on 3 levels -
- the product of the business
- the business of the business
- the value of the business
you’ll usually see tech founders being very good at 1, sales founders being very good at 3, but i dont often see founders who focus on 2. reading your reflections it seems like a gap in 2, looking at the actual business itself, what if the flywheel of value that generates compounding value.
i think your email business is very cool, theres inherent value in the asset of the domains you own. but there’s no clear monitization path other than charging for email storage or routing. but i think if you keep thinking about it, you’ll find something! keep at it!
As someone who has tried to register domains and can never find anything open… Go f yourself. I understand this is a business option but the people that do it and price people out of their domains are scummy in my opinion.
I can’t be alone in this feeling?
First come first serve
Unlike homes or life essentials Internet domain names are not required for life so totally commercial
Unless they are squatting your legal name or taking unethical actions like turning domain name searches into domains or squatting a name of your existing business after researching you, you shouldn’t be angry at it
It just comes off as zero value added I suppose. I don’t mean this as a personal attack but the business idea isn’t adding value to our society
It’s just finding a way to make money on an opportunity. Which is fine I guess, just not something I would want to have as my business