Hey bootstrappers,

What do moles and horses have in common?

They don’t always see the full picture 🥁

One is often blinkered while the other lives underground. 

Why am I asking you about moles and horses?

Because if you’re blinkered or bunkered, you might also miss what’s going on around you.

The best startup ideas don’t appear out of thin air. To spot them, you need to observe the world and its inhabitants.

What do people want, talk, or complain about – and is there a business in it?

This week’s founders watched, listened, and then built, and despite the odd failure or two, succeeded where others might not have.

Unleash your inner David Attenborough and you might, too 🐾

Eliezer Steinbock spotted not one, not two, but three different market opportunities. His latest pulls in $15,000 MRR, which he built to help others do what he does. How did it all begin?

This Former Tank Programmer Built a Talent Marketplace to Help Others Live His Lifestyle – It Now Makes $15,000 MRR

“There aren't a lot of freelance developers in Israel. On the other hand, there are lots of Israeli startups today and a lot of funding for them, but they want local talent and it’s difficult to find. I'm connected to the ecosystem here and found myself in a perfect position to connect things.”

Muhammad Younas grew tired of fruitless corporate events where the best you’d leave with was a business card or pamphlet. Today, his hybrid virtual events sell themselves.

A Crowded College Job Fair Led This Founder to Overhaul In-Person Events to the Tune of $40 Million ARR

“Our customers offer up testimonials, tell their friends, and treat us like family. We are a part of their team and they want us to win. We don’t have outbound salespeople, but we have thousands of customers who sell vFairs to their social circles because they believe in us.”

David James thinks it’s unfair to charge people $50 to check a car’s history. While the industry disagrees, he’s built an affordable alternative that’s now checking 1 in 4 cars in the UK.

When His Parents Accidentally Bought a Stolen Car, This Founder Rewrote the Car History Industry in the UK

“Big guys often like to lean on the little guys in any market. I was receiving vague cease and desist letters from corporate lawyers from day one and there were a couple of industry events and meetings where I received letters asking that I not attend.”

Bjorn Forsberg knows what matters and spent years finding a way to achieve it. His early observations of the Shopify ecosystem now let him work six-hour weeks.

Wanting More Time With Family, This Founder Built a Suite of Shopify Apps That Generate Over $1 Million ARR

“Back then, they (Shopify) even had a request forum where customers would put in suggestions for software they would like people to design. It was nice because you basically knew that if you created these simple apps you would have a customer base.”

Karthik Sridharan almost went broke after two unsuccessful attempts to elevate coding standards across the contracting space. The third time, his premium marketplace hit paydirt.

These Founders Failed Twice And Burned $10,000 to Take Their Talent Marketplace to $250,000 in Revenue

“Businesses invest way too much time building tech to solve future scaling challenges when they should be focusing on growth. They should only add technology when manual efforts have become a bottleneck. Otherwise, you’re trying to predict bottlenecks, which hardly ever works.”

 -Bjorn Forsberg, FORSBERG+two

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