If you could change one thing about the current startup ecosystem, what would it be?
Vlad Zivkovic
65 replies
Hey Product Hunters, happy Monday! Share what would you change about the current startup ecosystem?
Replies
Elias Fares@elifares
Easier understanding of government funds and grants for early-stage startups.
Share
Celebrating profitability rather than valuations 🤷♂️
@vladimir_zivkovic What would you change?
@samuel_tf_lam What would you change Sam?
@kaustumbh7 Heyy 👋 we just launched Insight7 and would appreciate your support (https://www.producthunt.com/post...)
Thanks!!
I'd infuse more resources and support for mental health, acknowledging the immense pressures and challenges faced by founders, which can often lead to burnout and impede creative problem-solving, thereby enhancing resilience, innovation, and overall well-being in our startup ecosystem.
@barnes_brian93 great point Brian!
We just launched and would appreciate your help. Could you please throw in some support here
Thanks!
https://www.producthunt.com/post...
@barnes_brian93 absolutely agree! burnouts are bad things, there is a real need to understand that these are serious things and need to be given time.
@barnes_brian93 Yeah burnout can be a big deal. There are so many emotions running so high when you are running a startup
Incentivize startups to consider ethics. Startups are often laser-focused on growth. I'd like to see more incentives or regulations that encourage startups to think deeply about the ethical implications of their technologies early on.
To make it easier to attract investors at an early stage, rather than when the company is already profitable.
Better communications and cooperation between producers. When you help someone, 2 people get ahead. Them and you
@cyriljeet Hi Cyril, we just launched Insight7 and would really appreciate your support here (https://www.producthunt.com/post...)
@cyriljeet acquainted with the RedwoodJS community? You'd appreciate their take on shared success.
Less "pay-to-play". More bootstrapping. And let's level the playing field for those without Silicon Valley connections. Basically, democratize startup success a bit more.
@dia_wash_nj totally agree Diana!
We also just launched Insight7 today and would appreciate your support here (https://www.producthunt.com/post...)
Thanks
As an entrepreneur that used to work in a Venture Capital; value team effort over market speculation. 💪 Passionate entrepreneurs can drive innovation! 🚀
@ozgumusbusra Hi Busra, we just launched Insight7 and would appreciate your support (https://www.producthunt.com/post...)
Thanks
Just sign-up and I'm already loving the user experience.
I would like to see less investment received by strange people with inflated egos and idiotic ideas. If you have a profitable startup with high growth rates but the most common, but for such a startup, it is much more difficult to raise funding than a startup on steroids with a crazy team that does not even understand how to make money.
More publications from the boostrapping startups about their journey versus VC-backed ones. Startup isn’t always all fairytales
@adeola_williams hi Deola, we just launched Insight7 and would appreciate your support here (https://www.producthunt.com/post...)
Thanks
More really useful startups (medicine, education, science, and so on).
@iren_ivashchinenko Hi Iren, we just launched Insight7 and would appreciate your support here (https://www.producthunt.com/post...)
Thanks
Less bloated startup rounds and evaluations. It doesn't benefit others.
Encourage founders to validate product viability early in order not to waste time building things that have already been built by thousands of others.
The bias of investors towards serial entrepreneurs, alma mater, and networks.
@senthil99nathan They do have more experience than the first time founders. Even if you failed before they still know you already been there, so they will trust you more.
To let every founder know from Day 1 that raising money from VCs isn't something straight up more glamorous than bootstrapping. I heard about it earlier but only deeply understand it after 5 years of being a founder.
Sure, VC money can possibly bring success faster, but if you don't have the experience to pick an investor wisely and got a toxic one in your company, if not your board member, it can be the reason leading to failure for your company.
Investor-founder matching is like a marriage (I mean, literally), having a toxic partner can screw you in many big ways - especially product flexibility. They can also drain your mental health. Think twice before getting into the route of being venture-backed.
@vladimir_zivkovic what's yours!
@harrischh VC money is good, nobody can deny that, it's the media that push us to chase money instead of the building something profitable.
For me is pretty much the same, I've raised money from VCs before, but my startup failed, so I would shine more light on indie hackers and bootstrapped startups.
@vladimir_zivkovic I've done both too and the experience is quite different. I'm glad that my investors gave me much more freedom.
I have got a founder friend whose product idea got stuck for PMF, while their investor is not keen on allowing them to pivot and put so much pressure on them to follow the money instead of their passion. Despite me being seemingly negative about VC money, my personal preference would be
👉🏻 Good VC > Bootstrap > Bad VC - I just find myself intrigued with the excitement of the VC-backed route.
I'd love to hear more of your stories from your past experience. Please make a post about it next time!🫡
I've shared mine here if anyone's interested - https://medium.com/jupitrr/bruta...
@harrischh Good VC will take you to the moon and back in a year, that's definitely better option than struggling with bootstrapping for 10 years or even worse having a bad VC. The problem with VCs is not them it's us, we are the one thirsty for some kind of glory and quadrillion dollar valuations instigated by startups media, that will never change. We don't want to pay attention to failures even if the VCs say they are only right 20% of the time when investing money. I am staying for now on the bootstrapping side and let's see what the future brings :)
More programs in high school to get students to consider the entrepreneurship pathway
hey, happy Monday! if i could tinker with one element, it'd be reframing failure. right now, failure is often treated as a setback, a blemish on one's startup journey.
yet, failure is less of an end, more of a semicolon. it's a stepping stone, a chance to learn, refine, grow. some of our most groundbreaking solutions have been born from the echoes of failed attempts.
i'd love for us to shift the narrative - from fearing failure to embracing it as part of our journey.
let's encourage a culture of learning, resilience, and growth. after all, every stumble brings us one step closer to that breakthrough leap. 🚀
Minimalistic entrepreneurship! Be profitable as soon as possible and grow healthily.
I would recommend we all celebrate the smallest wins, and also celebrate indiehackers and bootstrapers more
By the way, if you're interested in a hiring tech talent in Africa or want to make sense of the landscape, here's a LinkedIn newsletter to start: https://www.linkedin.com/build-r...