I am trying to bootstrap a business, and this article presents a way to approach that challenge that I never understood at all, yet seems so very common, especially on this forum. I quote:<p><i>> I always wanted to build a company. Startups are frequently the most efficient way to make a profound impact. Build something that people need.</i><p><i>> At first, the insurance sector seemed ripe for disruption. The customer experience was lacklustre, and incumbents were reaping substantial profits. Our thorough analysis of startups in this domain revealed numerous well-executed attempts to shake up the space. [...] While we did spot some niche opportunities, they didn’t pave the way to building a billion-dollar enterprise.</i><p><i>> Next, we shifted our focus to employment of record and payroll services, a sector that had grown post-Covid. Following a disciplined approach, we conducted customer interviews and market research. [...] Although the concept was sound, we missed the train. Our timing was too late.</i><p><i>> Our journey led us to technological advancements that agriculture should have adopted more widely. [...] Former ag tech founders warned us about this being a dead zone. Even with the most progressive farmers, the conversations were challenging. We simply lacked founder-market fit.</i><p>---<p>I really do not get this approach of <i>"I want to build a business. I have no idea what. I'll try something that VCs might like the sound of, but if I can't raise money after 2 months, I'll move onto something else."</i> This is such a common sentiment which to me does not make sense at all. Building a business is something that takes hard, hard work, long hours, fighting against impostor syndrome and the excitement of an idea that slowly fades away, while only the insurmountable mountain remains. Then the actual work of chipping away at the mountain really starts.<p>The only way to succeed against all these odds stacked against you is to have a passion, have a vision for a product, however modest and stupid as mine might be, that keeps you going. Because the difference between a cool idea and a profitable business is not how quickly people are throwing money at you, but how much effort, blood, sweat and tears you have sacrificed for your crazy idea. People can make billions selling hyper-advanced technology as well as selling shoes or nails. The thing they have in common is the effort their founders put in their idea.<p>Am I hopelessly naive in this belief? The entire indie hacking world seems to focus on making money as quickly as possible (the goal always being to disrupt an established player), ideally before you even have a product, and no one really seems to care about the product and effort required to build it.<p>As much as I am a huge fan of Paul Graham and his writing, I believe this fail early-fail fast approach comes from his Silicon Valley / venture capital way of making things which has conquered the Internet and this space in particular, but is totally antithetical to how the rest of the (non-tech, non-SV) world does business, where raw effort and stubborn belief in an idea is what separates the successful entrepreneur from the failed one.