Topic

Startups

A collection of 11 issues

Ultra-Niche

An ultra niche is a niche within a niche. A minority within a smaller group. The outliers of the pack. The internet makes it possible to cater to such ultra-niches in a viable manner. A piece of software that solves a particular problem for 100 people. Only 100. They would

Data Startups

Startups that rely on data models and AI/data science algorithms for running their business will only get better with time. Moreover, as time passes they have leverage over newcomers. Making it really hard to overthrow a leader in a vertical. In this space I think there can be 2

Product Studios

Product studios is a 21st century ecosystem that supports creativity and innovation. They could be the next step for the startup world. With apps available now that makes it easy to build applications, websites and services using intuitive and graphical tools the cost for trying something out has gone down.

API First

API based businesses are a game-changer. They let other business focus on things that differentiate themselves and use more “off-the-shelf” solutions for other parts of the business. APIs have permeated into many verticals like payments(Stripe), e-commerce(Shopify), messaging(Twilio), search(Algolia), automation(Zapier) just to name a

Group Buying

Group buying is when a product is offered at a reduced price if the product is bought by a minimum number of buyers. The concept of group buying can be traced back to China. The same idea is taking over e-commerce. Pinduoduo, a Chinese e-commerce platform is bringing this idea

Warehouses

Warehouses will become the key to e-commerce growth and dominance. To run an e-commerce company there are a few key things to nail. Internet/App Experience : This is not governed by anything that can considered as a moat for any company. New entrants in the market can replicate and even

4 Stages of a Business

Achieve productivity : A team that can work together and make progress. And all the basic roles of a leader, coordinator, worker etc. are met within the small group. Product market fit : The product that the group is building is wanted by a market. And the market is willing to pay

Product Market Fit

Product-Market fit is a stage during the initial days of a startup when the product and users align. Sam Altman characterizes it as when the user start talking about your product to others on their own. Paul Graham’s definition: Product market fit is when you build something that

The Peter Thiel Questions

Peter Thiel in his book Zero to One, listed 7 questions a startup must answer in order to make it big. The Engineering Question: Can the technology create a 10x improvement rather than an incremental improvement? Is the superiority in technology going to be obvious to the customer? The Timing

How TransferWise Works?

TransferWise is an online money transfer service. TransferWise offers transfers at the mid-market rate, i.e. the rate that you would find on Google. Other banks and transfer services usually offer a higher rate and make a profit out of it. TransferWise uses smart matching to match your transaction to