

Building an app does not make you a startup - pytrin
http://www.techfounder.net/2012/08/16/building-an-app-does-not-make-you-a-startup/

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UnoriginalGuy
I like how the article re-defines "startups" so that they can then claim that
most small businesses aren't one unless they do X, Y, and Z.

Last time I checked any new business was a "startup" since they were, you
know, just starting up...

~~~
tptacek
Like hacker/cracker, or open-source/free-software, or any of a myriad of other
classic message board topics, "startup/small-biz" is a pointless rathole
argument. It's easily avoidable by reading articles with an open mind and
trying to grasp what the author means. In this case, the author's take on
"startup" versus "small business" is fairly anodyne: he's not disparaging
small app shops, and in fact is leveling a popular critique of VC startups.

The bigger issue with this post is the extremely clumsy segue from talking
about the mobile software market to talking about his own business. There's
nothing wrong with promoting your business in a blog post --- why else write
one? --- but the transition here sure was jarring.

~~~
jeremyarussell
why else write one? -- To provide helpful informative information and/or a
neatly compiled opinion that has hopefully been well thought out, going into
detail as to why things are or why the author thinks this. Even to rant about
things.

Promoting a business doesn't really belong in an article that starts out
philosophical. (hence the jarring sensation.)

~~~
larrys
Parent: "There's nothing wrong with promoting your business in a blog post ---
why else write one?"

You: "why else write one? -- To provide helpful informative information"

And to promote yourself of course. Which is good for business. Even if that is
not your intention.

While many people prefer to comment anonymously on HN anecdotally I'm not
aware of many bloggers that blog that way. (Even Fake Steve Jobs came out of
the closet eventually).

~~~
jeremyarussell
There's nothing wrong with promoting yourself, just makes more sense to keep
philosophy in a separate blog than your advertising. I was just answering the
why else portion.

Edit: Grammar

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aschearer
An advertisement that starts by telling me I'm not building a start up...

~~~
wattson12
strange since his company seems targeted at app developers. Although I'm not
sure how many people are going to pay for components which have open source
equivalents (all the iOS components on the advertisement site I looked at do,
except for maybe the PDF kit)

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dkkarthik
Hah, I agree with the first commenter. Not the best strategy to advertise -
dissing the mouths that feed you.

What constitutes a start up or not is obviously very fluid. And this is
totally orthogonal to the point of your startup which I think is identifying
design patterns in mobile app space and providing that as a service. You
should save your punches for when you need them.

The 'apps are not startups' comment seems very flippant. There are many
examples of good startups that are apps. But I do agree that the expectations
for an average startup whose sole product is an app might not match that of a
more traditional startup in terms of capital requirement, man-power, and
potential revenue all of which are affected when you go the traditional route
and get VC funding.

Good luck with binpress.

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bdunn
I actually wrote a post yesterday about how custom IP / software shouldn't be
a requirement for a new startup: [http://planscope.io/blog/a-programmers-
advice-to-startup-fou...](http://planscope.io/blog/a-programmers-advice-to-
startup-founders/)

A lot of people would be surprised how many startups could be created
leveraging just email and and maybe Excel, and only graduating to custom
software when that becomes too much of a pain in the ass.

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objclxt
> I am convinced that this kind of component-based development is the future
> of the software industry.

Building software using reusable components is good. However, there is a real
danger that this approach discourages people from blindly throwing in
components with no real idea of how they work. I have had the misfortune of
having to rescue companies from poorly written iOS apps from iOS 'engineers'
with no real idea of how to actually code who threw together a bunch of
libraries like iCarousel.

Sites like Binpress (not to single them out here: there are several others
trying basically the same thing) don't encourage good development. They
encourage developers without the skills to implement features to pay money for
a quick fix.

The cars analogy used here is an interesting one. Sure, some car manufacturers
don't make their own engines - but they _do_ spend a lot of time and effort to
tune those engines to suit their needs. A company like Binpress doesn't
encourage that: something like GitHub, on the other hand, does.

~~~
pytrin
You still need capable developers to build a good product. The goal is to
reduce the time they spend on solved problems.

~~~
objclxt
...I'm not denying that - I'm wondering why, for example, an iOS developer
might obtain iCarousel from Binpress rather than GitHub.

~~~
pytrin
There's no reason not to use Github, we are not competitors - in fact, Github
sponsored us in several events we ran. We are not a social coding / repo
service like Github, but we perform a different function - we curate
components and provide a platform to gain attention. In addition we provide
the ability to charge for licensing, creating another incentive for sharing
code and for maintaining it over the long run - basically run it like a
business.

Consider that Github has almost 3.5M repos. It's not easy finding what you
need and also evaluating the quality. We try to reduce that friction for best
in class components.

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philip1209
I also take issue with the definition of a startup. For instance, in Missouri
it costs $50 to set up an LLC. I tend to separate my ventures into separate
companies. The goal of each one is to make a profit. A weekend project or
automated/passive income project also counts as a startup, even if it does not
have an active team or venture capital - it is still a new business.

~~~
stephen_g
Wow, I'm envious! It costs $433 to lodge a company registration with the ASIC
in Australia. It's a bit more (mine cost $570) if you use an online service
which can lodge electronically and generate all the documents you need for
your company to be legal (i.e. forms for consent to act as a director, company
constitution, share certificates, etc.)

~~~
jmitcheson
FWIW it's around $130 AUD to lodge in New Zealand. Most Australian companies
you do business with will treat you the same, plus: no software patents :)

Of course if you have complicated tax / revenue issues it's probably not worth
the hassle.

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AndrewKemendo
One thing I think that is missing here is that there is a category of app
developers which are implementing NEW technologies (Machine vision, AR etc...)
which need tons of funding but doesn't necessarily lead to further projects in
the way that a true small business does. If people took the poster's approach,
then those will never get funded and that technology will either languish or
come from bloatware companies. It is hard to get those up and running because
it is so leading edge and is not repackaging a social/mobile/local/aggregation
etc... service.

The whole VC world is looking for the billion dollar exit, which is entirely
unsustainable and given it's history doesn't produce the requisite amount of
major tech breakthroughs.

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therandomguy
Why not? Does running a lemonade stand make me startup? What exactly are you
considering a startup? Businesses that have taken VC money? Does that mean
none of the bootstrapped business are startups?

~~~
pytrin
As I'm sure you know, words have different meaning in different context. If
you read the article, you know I make the distinction between a "business
starting up" and the popular term "startup" which usually bears additional
connotations.

