

We Are The 99% Of Startups - timjahn
http://mattreport.com/2011/11/we-are-the-99-percent-of-startups/

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coenhyde
I'm not commenting on the article its self, but I liked this snippet:

"I’m the 1% of tech users. I know 99 other people out of 100 (close friends
and relatives) that I could never get them to use the Oink app, Foursquare, or
buy from Fab.com.

People need to build for the 99%."

Absolutely. There are so many opportunities solving problems outside the world
of software with software. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to see and
understand those opportunities when you only live in one domain (for most of
us here that is software).

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mattreport
Thanks!

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notJim
I feel like this guy has a point that I might agree with (something about the
valley echo chamber, or the idea that a lot of startups tackle a seemingly-
small set of problems), but it's poorly-focused and under-developed, so it
falls kind of flat.

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mattreport
Sorry about that! A lot of my posts come off the cuff and I usually have about
30-45 minutes to sit down and gather my ideas between meetings. I appreciate
your read though!

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justin
This article is silly. Of course there are massively overhyped startups in
Silicon Valley that don't deserve their funding or attention. I won't comment
whether Groupon is one, but certainly startups like Cuil come to mind.

However, there are also amazing, world-changing technology companies that DO
come out of the Valley with semi-regularity, which are NOT coming out of other
places. Google, Facebook, Paypal, YouTube, LinkedIn, Yelp, Dropbox... this
list continues. These are companies that may initially serve the 1%, but also
grow to serve the 99%, because they are useful, simple, powerful ideas.

This is not to say that innovation doesn't come from other places as well --
it clearly does. However, the Valley produces a vastly disproportionate amount
of innovation in Internet technology considering its size, and justly deserves
a disproportionate amount of attention. A Wordpress theming company is not
going to change the world; I guarantee at least 1 company started in the
Valley this year will. Yes, there are a lot of overhyped startups, but there
are also a lot of appropriately hyped ones.

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mattreport
Justin,

You're right there are a lot of great startups coming out of the valley. My
article is from the view of an outsider looking in and the challenges I (we)
face when we're not getting interviewed by Kevin Rose.

Also, I'm not saying all startups out of the valley are for the 1%, but a
majority in the Techcrunch media are.

At any rate, thanks for reading and commenting!

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cobychapple
Being based in Australia, I've often felt as though I'm at a _massive_
disadvantage by not being in the centre of a startup hotspot. It feels as
though being so far away from "all the action" means I'm less likely to
succeed with the things I build, but despite this I've never been deterred
from continuing down the track I'm heading on.

I don't know if banding together as a coalition would be much help (happy to
be proven wrong), but I _do_ think the author makes a valid point that we—as
the other 99% of startups—need do a better job of focusing on being a
successful business (especially on a local scale) first before we worry about
moving to SF/NYC, TechCrunch headlines, and massive exits.

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achillesfrenkel
It is a poker game for investors, they just hope for the best when they invest
in a young startup. That 1% is the lucky lotto winners that get funded. You
should work to build a sustainable business not to win the lottery. Take in
consideration that sometimes getting funded can ruin your company, you have to
be careful of what you wish. Perhaps you only need a seed round that can be
borrowed from a bank or an uncle ;)

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ryanpers
The most apparent thing from this was the author and I are not in the same
business at all. I work for startups, technology and all that. But without a
doubt all the big stuff happens in a small part of the world. Unique and
important major technology innovations. Not just more social media apps.
Social media apps are the applications the Internet was built for. They are
more akin to HTML websites circa 1996.

~~~
mattreport
Thanks for reading and commenting!

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howardr
going to get down voted, but Groupon is based on Chicago not in in Bay Area
(or as the author calls "ValleyWood")

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billpatrianakos
Yeah but it can be considered one of Valleywood's darlings. It really helps
make his case despite not being in SV.

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howardr
I mean I got the point of what the author is referencing and agree with some
of his points about the Valley being an echo chamber. However it can not be
considered a Silicon Valley darling unless one wants to admit that success (I
think that Groupon is, but I will accept that many don't think so) is somehow
only associated with the area. I guess that is why I felt the need to point
out that Groupon is not based in SF.

Edit: clarifying success reference to be clear that I mean I think that
Groupon is a success and not that I think that success must be associated with
SF

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ivankirigin
vapid and poorly written

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mattreport
I'm sorry you feel that way!

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billpatrianakos
Ho-ly shit! I a, doing the _exact_ same thing as the author. The similarities
are eerie! I run "another web design shop" while at the same time building a
web product on the side. A startup within a startup, the mother of all mom n'
pop startup shops just like he says.

I feel for the author. There are plenty of us out here in the sticks (well,
I'm just a stone's throw away from Chicago but others are in the sticks)
slaving away, reading HN and TechCrunch and wondering, "does yet another me-
too social network really need a trillion dollar funding round?" and "it's
pretty obvious that Groupon is a bubble so how could _anyone_ have let them
get this far?".

In some ways we think the 1% are a bunch of undeserving assholes who are
screwing things up for the rest of us. We see Valleywood as a huge bubble and,
just like Hollywood, it often looks shallow, vain, and like nothing more than
novelty from the outside.

In other ways we envy the 1% and sometimes even idolize them while dreaming of
the day we get featured on TechCrunch or when PG personally invites us to
become part of YC's next round.

We simultaneously love the big guys and hate them. Startups are more than
hard. They're downright impossible! There are those of us who try despite this
and I'd say those who go down that road are either delusional, crazy, or
really god damn smart (like Einstein multiplied by Edison to the power of
Newton smart). The market is already overcrowded by hordes of idiots who think
"HTML for Dummies" books contain all the technical knowledge they need to
build and run a web startup and more naive idiots who have a decent tech
background (like me!), know they'll need far more to execute, but figure
they're smart enough to learn what they need as they go.

In the end, really making it is like winning the lottery. You know you won't
but you have to try to know for sure. The best we can do is just try to eek
out a nice middle class living for ourselves and hope to god our business
doesn't sink against the odds. I never came across an article that really hit
the nail on the head like this one. Thank you for writing it Matt!

~~~
davidhansen
_In some ways we think the 1% are a bunch of undeserving assholes who are
screwing things up for the rest of us. We see Valleywood as a huge bubble and,
just like Hollywood, it often looks shallow, vain, and like nothing more than
novelty from the outside._

They are, and it is. The bubble will pop, and those of us who managed to build
sustainable businesses without the benefit of setting huge piles of other
people's money on fire will be very well positioned to take advantage of the
carnage.

Patience is rarely a virtue in the startup world. But in this case, it is.
Keep building.

~~~
billpatrianakos
I often think that way too but I worry that if the bubble pops it could
actually make things harder for those of us who have sustainable businesses.
Not everyone can afford to bootstrap and sometimes you have to take a loan.
Now, I haven't and I have no plans to but what if one day in the future people
like us get to a point where it actually makes sense to have some investors on
board (responsibly, of course) but by that time the bubble bursts and we're
left with nothing even if we are a good investment? Maybe I'm wrong and it's
that envy in me that wants to get to that point.

