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How to kickstart and scale a consumer business by doing things that don’t scale
Also, how today’s biggest consumer products got their first 1,000 users
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State of Independent SaaS
The State of Independent SaaS is our annual survey and benchmark report covering the insights you need to know in the Bootstrapped SaaS sector. Get data to help you make decisions about how to build and grow a successful software business.
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Why to Not Not Start a Startup
March 2007 (This essay is derived from talks at the 2007 Startup School and the Berkeley CSUA.) We've now been doing Y Combinator long enough to have some data about success rates. Our first batch, in the summer of 2005, had eight startups in it. Of those eight, it now looks as if at least four succeeded. Three have…
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Overnight success takes a long time
For some reason, this weekend has seen a lot of talk about what FriendFeed is/isn't/should be doing (see Louis Gray and others ). One pers...
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Ejection Seats
I pulled a few pranks in the military, but the one that got pulled on me took years off of my life. Alone in the Cockpit There isn’t anything cooler for a 19-year old then getting into the cockpit …
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Tips for Startup Companies (2006)
Having rich parents is great. In fact, it is the best and surest way to get rich in these United States. Unfortunately, having a low cost of capital is no guarantee of success because, as formerly poor countries have become ridiculously rich, capital has become very cheap. Your competitors can probably get a home…
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Not for sale
You can’t say your company is not for sale these days without incredulous stares and doubtful gasps. The big flip has become the holy grail. Worshipped to the point where non-believers are chastised, straight-faced, for refusing to give up their life’s work. See, the new world of …
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The returns to entrepreneurship
I was at dinner the other night with a group of entrepreneurs. One told the story of a 27-year-old whiz kid whose company will likely exit for $500M – $1B – the business now being less than two years old. You can imagine the effect that this had on the brilliant, hardworking 35+ entrepreneurs in the group, who have…
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It’s very easy to underprice your product
What’s the right price for your product? According to Steve Blank, it’s apparently $0. And it’s also $1 million. What? Listen to this wonderful story to learn how Steve uses these…
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Competition is overrated
programming, philosophy, history, internet, startups
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Business ideas: proving ideas are a dime a dosen
Choose a memorable domain name. Professional, friendly customer support. Start using your domain right away.
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Profits = Freedom
There are many reasons why someone would want to start a company. There’s the pursuit of wealth, glory, and fame, but above all, I believe most founders are searching for freedom. Freedom to run things the way they see fit, freedom to be the masters of their own domain. But until you have …
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Notifo (YC W10) gets a Co-Founder... Me
Just over 5 weeks ago I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to seek new opportunities. I had no idea what I wanted to shift my full-time focus to and began connecting with people, researching and interviewing with a handful of companies — ranging from huge web presences all the way down to tiny star
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How to find start-up ideas
Chris Dixon had an interesting post a while ago about how to find start-up ideas. The advice boiled down to keeping a spreadsheet of ideas and talking to lots of smart people (entrepreneurs, potent…
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