Literally clicked to the comments to say exactly this. While I agree with the overall sentiment of the piece, this statement destroys the author's credibility.
Came here to say this. The author lost all credibility with me when including Ramit in the list as if he's actually paid any attention at all to what IWT says he'd realize that Ramit could have written the article he just published (and they would have been similarly condescending tones)
There are lots of great reasons to buy SaaS businesses. Failed product market fit, for example, does not mean that creators tried everything they could. If you're a marketer (or already have an audience) buying a product is a great idea.
Lots of people also sell good SaaS products because they have others that have taken off (I bought one last year from someone who got funding from YC on another project, for example).
"The market likes the product. In this case, the original owner can just hire people to do the work, so there's no reason to sell." is also flawed. Do you have any idea how many developers/creators hate the idea (and reality) of hiring and managing people? Plenty would prefer to cash in and go back to building and let someone else build a team.
That attitude here on HN boggles my mind. Almost every person I talk to about this site IRL mentions it. It's a defining feature of the community that no one likes.
Agreed but replace 'discord' with the platform that your users already know and hang out on. For us, in a non-technical niche, that's Facebook groups. For others it might be slack or discord - just know your market and go where they are.
This might be true technically but it's common knowledge that not paying will negatively affect perfectly good reviews. To the point that reviews that were ok while we paid aren't the instant we stop.
You can argue whatever you want about your former employers but convincing SBOs that Yelp aren't extortionist scumbags based on this detail is not going to fly.
Source: I work directly with maid services and trust in Yelp is at an all time low. Literally the first comment when they are mentioned in our private group is something along the lines of "Die in a grease fire" or "F*ck Yelp". And this is from some of the nicest ladies (mostly) that you'll meet.
In addition to the skills needed for each founding role (differs between teams) there are two vital things that have to align:
1. The why - if one of you is trying to legitimately change the world and the other knows up front they'd be happy to sell out for $x amount, chances are big problems regarding strategy will arise in the future, even if there never is a buy-out offer
2. Communication - I would rather work with someone whose 80% as good as the best available if their communication skills are better. Once you're out of the initial product development phase almost everything the founders do is communicating, on some level, whether that be managing employees, customers, or investors.
3.(BONUS) Growth mindset / Self-improvement driven - Starting a company means doing A LOT of shit that you don't want to. If you partner with someone that is afraid to be terribly shitty at something and won't even try, you're in for a rough time.
It's not my first time here. I can't say I'd stay here long term but it's good for focusing for a few months with high quality of life and good balance.
I have mixed feelings about this. The 4 Hour Work Week created my "why" for me that's kept me going through thick and thin. I definitely realize that it's a ton more work than it's made out to be (and while Tim Ferriss simplifies what it takes, he doesn't downplay the amount of work involved).
My company is also at a point where my business partner and I could reasonably step away and spend 4 hours a week literally running the business but of course, that's not what business is about, it's about helping our customers and we work hard every day to do that.
Think my "issue" here is I was one of the people who only had that source of prevailing wisdom for a long time and while I can't say it helped me create the business, it did create the dream that led to me starting, and powering through, what I currently do.
(also, while my partner and I both work hard on the project we both happen to be on a tropical island in Thailand at the moment ... but it's 8 am and beautiful and I'm sitting here on HN :-D )