Hey HN, my wife and I are often complimented on our home taste, and we love building "collections", so we've considered creating a retail/ecom site for curated home designer goods in a niche that matches our style.
I know how to build the tech (it's pretty easy these days) but my own experience with startups is on things like developer tools and other B2C or B2B SaaS products. I have a relatively vague notion that we'll need to plan things like sourcing, inventory, merchandising, branding, fulfillment, etc., and am ready to dive in to explore.
One thing I think that's on my side is I've got good product, brand, and marketing experience in a general sense, and a good focus on the numbers needed to move a business forward.. or at least a framework to get started. That, and startup costs seem relatively low compared to a brick and mortar shop, so if I get in over my head it's fairly easy to get out.
That said, does anyone have any lessons learned or other advice from having made the transition from SaaS to retail? What did you wish you knew before you got started? Were there any resources that helped you make the right decisions - books, blogs, etc.? I'd love to learn anything I can.
I know how to build the tech (it's pretty easy these days) but my own experience with startups is on things like developer tools and other B2C or B2B SaaS products. I have a relatively vague notion that we'll need to plan things like sourcing, inventory, merchandising, branding, fulfillment, etc., and am ready to dive in to explore.
One thing I think that's on my side is I've got good product, brand, and marketing experience in a general sense, and a good focus on the numbers needed to move a business forward.. or at least a framework to get started. That, and startup costs seem relatively low compared to a brick and mortar shop, so if I get in over my head it's fairly easy to get out.
That said, does anyone have any lessons learned or other advice from having made the transition from SaaS to retail? What did you wish you knew before you got started? Were there any resources that helped you make the right decisions - books, blogs, etc.? I'd love to learn anything I can.