
Ask HN: Business that should not scale - paulryanrogers
Having visited a few commercial dog kennels it was refreshing to find some neighbors who dog sit semi-regularly as a side business. Are there certain businesses or industries best kept small or local?
======
byoung2
Anything in the "lifestyle business" category by definition doesn't scale past
a certain point. Also, anything that requires a licensed individual (e.g.
plumber, electrician). There could be an interesting business opportunity in
Uber-izing networks of these small businesses. For example, I need a dog
sitter last minute but I don't want to scour craigslist or have to remember
which of my neighbors dog sits.

~~~
innopreneur
services like TaskRabbit etc. already provides this type of on-demand
services.

------
taprun
Yes. Anything that does not benefit from either network effects or economies
of scale should not scale.

Network effects - If I created the first telephone network, the first phone is
basically a paperweight, but the more customers I convince to buy, the more
useful each phone is to my other customers.

Economies of scale - Similarly, if I have a car company, the more I scale, the
more efficient I can become (I can invest more in engineering and machinery).

------
nnn1234
Think of trust proxies or an external dependant factor like geographies An
example A paid Meetup group or a dating app for within a city. These work
better at smaller scale than large.

The opportunity is where someone or something causes a change in the
underlying restriction such that an infrastructure can be built at scale. So
the answer to your question depends on time and tech

------
cm2012
Off topic, but rover.com is awesome for their network of part time sitters.

