I'm bootstrapping an extension that serves as a complete shopping companion. I don't think there has been enough innovation in the shopping extension space recently. Online shopping is an inefficient marketplace where 25% of spend is overpayment, and 65% of shoppers spend 15+ minutes comparing prices. It's high value to have one tool that:
1. Has chat UX: "Men's Jordans, size 10, secondhand and arrives by xmas"
2. Finds lowest prices ACROSS local, secondhand, FB marketplace, AND online
3. Suggests equivalent products of comparable quality
4. Offers affordable but decent alternatives, as well as straight-up dupes
5. And does everything else w/ cashback, coupons, etc.
PMF is not quite there, but is getting there. The real challenge is distribution. It's only grown through W.O.M. and Reddit so far! By the way, most of the above is not built yet. But it's still at 4k users and is saving people money. Feel free to try it (pasting direct link):
I'm trying to bring Intercom-like level of automation to regular WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business [1].
Bootstrapping it from the start, a few customers, going slow but always forward.
I got rejected by YC after after being invited to the interview but I decided to continue bootstrapping it and maybe apply again later after getting to clear PMF.
I've been building https://serverfluent.com on a side. No PMF yet, but I'm planning to go harder on the marketing side soon since the market is already validated as there are a couple of well established competitors. Happy to chat about this nonetheless!
might be of interest to early startups who want to focus on adding value on the back end, because it simplifies front end development and often allows developers to work full stack
for small startups especially, avoiding the front-end/back-end split can increase velocity quite a bit
