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We kinda went the other way. We started by finding a client, solving their problem, moved on.

Finding clients (people who will pay) was hard work. (Everyone has problems, not everyone will pay for the fix). Over time we started turning our solutions into products, and eventually two gained enough traction so we gradually stopped taking on new problems, and worked more on growing those markets.

The first 7 years or so were "low income". Once we found our niche though we've enjoyed nice consistent growth. Best of all we never took on debt, or had external investors to worry about.

This approach (known as "bootstrapping") won't make us mega rich. We're comfortable, and retirement is sorted, but I won't be flying private.

There are other approaches you can take. VC for example offers a very different model either different outcomes and challenges.

To answer your question more directly - tech can't tell you the problems. Only people can do that. Go talk to people I thr real world. Everyone has problems. The trick is finding those who will pay to solve them.



How would you go about trying to find such clients, if you were starting over today?

We've been trying to tap into our networks and Upwork, but we're struggling to find regular work from good clients.


Not an expert on this but organic grow is slow but the best type, IMHO. You do great work, client hires you again and puts a good word for you with their network. Next thing you know, you're refusing work. It takes a while though.

The initial clients might not be as profitable for you, but if you look from their perspective, they are taking a chance on you so lower prices are justified. Hopefully they contribute to make your network larger and bring more jobs.


I had a similar experience, for the 2nd time now.

I started solving my own problem, and that got me talking to people about the problem, and then I realized their problem was much bigger and more important than mine.

The first time, I didn't love the problem, we did ok with it, but we didn't pay enough attention to the user, as we wanted to find a better use case in the same space. The company was acquired, so not a loss, but not a big success.

This time, we love the problem (sleep),love the customer (the sleep deprived), and this continues to lead into more and more opportunities.




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