

Ask HN: Is that true startups on small business space are too crowded? - fenghao120

Why ask: saw lots of big name in this space, groupon, living social, google, square, even apple ... and some "smart" products.<p>However: the fact is most of the SMBs are still struggling a lot on their business.<p>Why this happens, does it mean it need more innovation to jump in?<p>Or they just can't leverage the power of technology?
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pedalpete
I don't think the space is too crowded. For many opportunities, the sales
force necessary and the dollar opportunities make it a significant challenge.

Groupon and LivingSocial have to maintain a huge sales force to keep new daily
deals in the pipeline. SMB's aren't serving themselves.

Square is a one-time purchase with recurring revenue for the business, and a
massive benefit to the business. Square also has a significant amount of money
to spend on marketing.

Google is the go to solution for e-mail, so again, a no brainer.

Innovation (technical) isn't the solution to everything. I believe to break
into this space you need sales innovation as well. Remember, many people in
this space are non-technical, so selling them a technical solution that they
don't NEED can be a challenge.

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fenghao120
I am a big fan of one point u just mention "SMB aren't serving themselves" for
the groupon livingsocial like products.

I think "serving themselves" is the first step to really help them to boost
their business, which must be very non-tech friendly, so that they can
understand what happen there and trust the product.

The sales innovation I think might be the most challenging part, since there
is almost no virality between SMB. Maybe an accurate sales targeting on the
tech early adopters among them could be a potential solution, just like the
accurate ad for consumers.

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dylanhassinger
there are infinite opportunities in this space, always will be

easiest way to make money is help other people make money

