How I would build a new startup if I had to do it all over

I've been brainstorming how I would build a new indie startup if I had to do it again in 2023. Here are 5 principles I’d use.

1. Build a product that people are already searching for.

It's way easier to build something for a customer who is already in motion, searching for a solution.

For Transistor, one of the big benefits of the podcast hosting category is that every day, thousands of people wake up and type in "How to start a podcast" into Google. They have a desire, and they're acting on it.

You don’t want to have to convince customers that they have a problem and need to use your product;

As another example, Ben Orenstein (the founder of Tuple) doesn’t have to cold call developers to convince them they need a remote pair programming tool. Instead, customers find Tuple because they’re already looking for a product like his.

2. Look for product categories where the incumbents are old and crusty, and customers want something new and fresh.

Jason Fried and 37signals did this with the launch of Hey: it's a new take on email, that competes with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook.

In an AMA, Jason talked about the response they received:

Derrick Reimer is doing something similar with SavvyCal (which he launched in 2020), where he competes with Calendly (founded in 2013).

Calendly, which has $350m in funding, was able to carve out a product category for "calendar meeting time software," Derrick was able to come along and bring a fresh product to the space.

My friends Paul and Jack did something similar with Fathom Analytics: Google Analytics had become this big, slow, bloated software. They were able to counter-position themselves as the simple alternative.

3. If you’re still looking for a good business idea, get in motion by building side projects in public.

Adam Wathan was looking to build his first SaaS and was exploring the idea of building a Gumroad competitor. He was livestreaming a lot of his coding sessions.

During those sessions, he realized that most of the people watching didn’t care about the software he was building – they were way more interested in how he was writing CSS. He decided to follow that trail, which led him to create Tailwind CSS.

(For more on Adam's story, read his excellent blog post.)

4. A successful business idea will emerge out of the experiences, connections, skills, insights, and resources you’ve accumulated so far.

When Jon Buda and I launched Transistor, it came out of decades of experience we had with podcasting, building software products, launching other projects, making key connections, growing an audience, learning skills, pursuing experiences, taking risks, and working in public.

The remedy for “not having good business ideas” is to go out and create more experiences: start a podcast and interview people you admire, attend meetups and conferences, get curious about how different industries work, and run some experiments (and tell people about your findings).

5. Learn to recognize the shape of a good opportunity.

When I talk about “finding a good market,” I’m describing the sum of demand for a particular thing:

• Number of potential customers
• How much they spend
• The frequency at which they buy
• Their willingness to pay

Successful founders see an opportunity at the right time and have the skills, connections, and resources to take advantage of it.

Most good opportunities are not obvious (especially to outsiders). It’s unlikely that you’ll spot an opportunity in a space you’re not familiar with. You’re looking for evidence of unmet demand in a category you understand.

Characteristics of a good opportunity:

• Folks have a strong desire or need for a solution,
• They’re applying effort (time or money) to solve the problem,
• And they’re unsatisfied with their current solution.

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Writing this article is part of an exploration I'm doing for my upcoming talk at Full Stack Europe, Oct 19-20, in Belgium.

If you'd like to join me there, I have a discount code.

Have feedback for me? I'd love to hear it (reply to this email).

This was originally something I posted on LinkedIn. I'm trying to get more visibility there. If you could give it a 👍, share, or comment, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,
Justin Jackson

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