For bootstrappers, the philosophy here is sound. Don't make a fancy restaurant, just build a better burger joint. There are endless burger places. Why? Because people love burgers. Innovation is great once you have money to burn. Until then, be the corner roast beef place that everybody loves and is an institution. The business model is sound, no great innovation is necessary, just hard work, persistence, cleverness yes but not genius. Startup this way is still challenging but not impossible, and initially no major pivots are needed. Customer acquisition is still the most difficult part, and that takes time no matter how well you are funded.
To add to this analogy: you also spend that time learning how to run a burger joint. That’s not wasted time. Walk then run and all that.
If you can’t make a burger joint work, you can’t make a fancy restaurant work. Don’t fool yourself by thinking the problem was the menu and atmosphere.
I experienced a startup where a bunch of mechatronics grads built a product line of simple robots for research use. Simple hamburgers of robotics. Only after years of that did they dive into far more complicated markets. From my rank and file vantage, this felt simple and genius.
Great point. Spend time learning things that will put some fucking money in your pocket. Once you have financial independence then you can think about changing the fucking world.
Comments
For bootstrappers, the philosophy here is sound. Don't make a fancy restaurant, just build a better burger joint. There are endless burger places. Why? Because people love burgers. Innovation is great once you have money to burn. Until then, be the corner roast beef place that everybody loves and is an institution. The business model is sound, no great innovation is necessary, just hard work, persistence, cleverness yes but not genius. Startup this way is still challenging but not impossible, and initially no major pivots are needed. Customer acquisition is still the most difficult part, and that takes time no matter how well you are funded.
To add to this analogy: you also spend that time learning how to run a burger joint. That’s not wasted time. Walk then run and all that.
If you can’t make a burger joint work, you can’t make a fancy restaurant work. Don’t fool yourself by thinking the problem was the menu and atmosphere.
I experienced a startup where a bunch of mechatronics grads built a product line of simple robots for research use. Simple hamburgers of robotics. Only after years of that did they dive into far more complicated markets. From my rank and file vantage, this felt simple and genius.
Great point. Spend time learning things that will put some fucking money in your pocket. Once you have financial independence then you can think about changing the fucking world.