Hey bootstrappers,

I noticed something during my two-week vacation that you might find helpful. 

When I don’t need to be productive, I’m more productive. I guess that’s counter-intuitive, but it reminded me of a talk by Alan Watts on the concept of Wu Wei, or “effortless action”.

In business, you might think a mad scramble to be first to market is your best chance for success. Today’s founders, however, tell a different story. 

While you might call some over-achievers, none forced their success but patiently solved problems others had yet to tackle or had done so poorly. 

The lesson? Being first to market isn’t always about speed but waiting for the right moment to tackle a problem few have tried to solve. 

Until next week.

Chris Roper

Managing Editor

You Don’t Need an Original Idea For Your Startup – Just Do It First For a New Market

Serial entrepreneur Andy Cloke built Data Fetcher to solve a problem he experienced first-hand. Later, it became the top – and only – API import extension on Airtable.

Andy fell in love with Airtable when writing financial newsletters, but its lack of API support troubled him. Others complained of the same on forums, and when Andy saw a Google Sheets add-on listed on ProductHunt, he wondered whether he could build one for Airtable.

Problem was, where would he launch it? Rumors of an upcoming Airtable extension store were enough to push Andy into development. And sure enough, a few months later, Airtable unveiled its store just as he was finishing his application. A few security tweaks later, and he was ready.

“It’s hard to get data in or out with Airtable. I dug around the forums and found a few posts from people trying to connect to third-party APIs, especially ones that weren’t on Zapier. This was enough validation for me to think there was something there.”

Wins 👍

1. Building a new landing page every week. Launching several business ideas in a short space of time helped him filter good ideas from bad, ultimately landing on Data Fetcher.

2. Emulating solutions in other ecosystems. Discovering the same add-on for Google Sheets gave Andy the confidence to build something similar for Airtable.

3. Conducting user testing to improve his product. Customer support calls helped Andy identify elements of his UX that were confusing and inhibiting sales.

Challenges 🤔

1. High churn. People often migrate data once only, so Andy has to keep his sales pipeline active with growth marketing such as Youtube tutorials and SEO.

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How This Teenage Entrepreneur Brought Ecommerce to Rural India

At just 14 years old, Kunal Chandiramani started an online marketplace that helped rural Indian merchants sell their handicrafts to the world. It’s now a startup incubator.

Kunal’s relationship with technology started when he taught himself to code at ten. When rural India finally came online in 2016, Kunal saw an opportunity to better the lives of his fellow citizens by helping them access technology unavailable to them in the past.

What began as a marketplace helping Indian craftspeople sell their products online is now a portfolio of businesses. Kunal has learned many lessons along the way, including not taking anything for granted and evaluating opportunities as they arise before rushing into them.

“Profits alone can’t shape a business’s future. While profits help a business survive, they don’t help them thrive. When you focus on solving a big problem, there are always ways to monetize. You want to create changes that can outlive your business.”

Wins 👍

1. Recognizing what 4G would do to rural India. Before Kunal, no business has stepped in to help those overcoming the digital divide take advantage of online opportunities.

2. Following trends where he could make a difference. Rather than build for profits, he builds to solve problems that he sees around him every day.

3. Giving employees a say in development. Allowing his team to develop a founder’s mentality has motivated them and given the company a conveyor belt of ideas to explore.

Challenges 🤔

1. Cheap customer hardware. Many of KStar’s customers used cheap smartphones with little RAM, causing the software to lag. Optimizing for low memory solved the problem.

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One Person’s Trash Is Another’s Six-Figure Services Business

Justin Pera’s failed attempts to start a business came to a head one day while vacating an Airbnb. Dragging previous guests’ trash to the curb, he wondered, “Why am I doing this?”

Ecommerce never worked out for Albanian-born, Justin Pera. Trash, however, did. He recognized that most Airbnb guests probably didn’t want to take out other people’s trash before spending a night. Maybe he could offer a trash removal service for Airbnb hosts?

While he made some progress with that idea, especially with owners who lived in different cities to their properties, a bigger business emerged elsewhere. In cities like Philadephia, government trash collection failed to maintain the standards Airbnb hosts in the city wanted to set.

“Everything clicked when I shifted to a city like Philadelphia that I’d never visited before and that has a true trash problem. You have an idea of what you want the business to be when you start it. But ultimately, the market dictates what you do. You have to be able to adjust.”

Wins 👍

1. Offering trash collection as a service. Justin plugged the hole in city trash collection to keep Airbnb properties clean when guests checked in and out, regardless of day or hour.

2. Consolidating everything in one app. An integration with hosting platforms like Hostaway notifies Justin’s drivers when and where to collect trash that day.

3. Offering on-demand as well as subscription services. Justin has every corner of the market covered with a variety of service options for every type of rental owner.

Challenges 🤔

1. Proving demand for the service. After failing to make money with a trash-to-curb pushing service, Justin expanded into full trash collection after advice from fellow entrepreneurs.

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