If you can find one customer who has a pain point that is strong enough for which they are willing to pay $$ and even tolerate a sub-standard product/service, you're probably on to something. This is also what PG advises [0].
I've been bootstrapping my startup, I landed a fairly well-known startup as a client which is helping a great deal. Delivering a good quality service gave me capital and credibility to now parlay for future business.
Exactly right. Find something someone will pay for, and build that. Then find another customer,and so on.
My business started by building custom apps for people. But we transitioned from making products for them to making products for _us_. (mostly cause we ran out of custom clients). Once we had lots of customers we transitioned to a licensing model (simply because sales alone was no longer enough to fund everyone). That's been fortunate as Sales in April were zero.
But it all starts with 1. Then 3.then 10.and so on. (if you have <5 customers, you don't have a business, you have a job)
In addition to the advice to build something people want and find customers for it, I would say these are helpful items: LLC, bank account, email address, phone number, business cards, website, etc.
If you're looking for startup ideas, the best way is to talk to people in your target industry. Setup as many interviews as you can and ask them about what they do and the "pains" they experience doing those jobs.
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If you can find one customer who has a pain point that is strong enough for which they are willing to pay $$ and even tolerate a sub-standard product/service, you're probably on to something. This is also what PG advises [0].
I've been bootstrapping my startup, I landed a fairly well-known startup as a client which is helping a great deal. Delivering a good quality service gave me capital and credibility to now parlay for future business.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WO5kJChg3w&feature=youtu.be...
My business started by building custom apps for people. But we transitioned from making products for them to making products for _us_. (mostly cause we ran out of custom clients). Once we had lots of customers we transitioned to a licensing model (simply because sales alone was no longer enough to fund everyone). That's been fortunate as Sales in April were zero.
But it all starts with 1. Then 3.then 10.and so on. (if you have <5 customers, you don't have a business, you have a job)