My journey in startups began 10 years ago, and I've launched 18 startups, most of which failed. Briefly on why they failed:
1. Contract Online my first startup in 2015, which was supposed to be an online service for remote signing of contracts for any transactions between individuals. A kind of analogue of a secure transaction. For this startup, I even managed to attract a business angel who invested $16,500.
Reason for failure: I had two lawyers on my team who discovered in the process that the legal framework at the time could not provide reliable grounds for protecting our users in remote transactions. The contracts would not have been considered legally signed.
2. Natural Products In 2015-2018, I became very passionate about healthy eating, but in the process, I discovered that products in all chain stores are full of chemicals, and stores with truly natural products are inaccessible to the majority. Hence, the idea emerged to create my own online platform where you could order natural products directly from farmers at affordable prices.
Reason for failure: For several years, I tried to launch this project, even trained as a baker of natural bread and tried to create my own farm, but in the process, I found that few people are willing to pay for truly natural products, even if these products were only 20-30% more expensive than market prices, and not 2-3 times more, as in premium stores. Hence, the market was so small that all my attempts were doomed.
ProblemHunt
ProblemHunt
Hey guys! 👋 I'm Boris, founder of ProblemHunt
1. So, how did I come up with the idea for this product?
It's simple: first, I failed 3-4 startups in a row. The main reason was that I was building products that people didn't need. Then I stepped back to reflect and learn from my mistakes. During this reflection, I came across a series of essays by Paul Graham (the founder of Y Combinator) about how to build startups, starting with the search for ideas. I realized that the entire focus should not be on «startup ideas», but on the problems that can become the foundation for a startup. And that's how the idea for ProblemHunt came about — a place to find unsolved problems that people are willing to pay to have solved.
2. How much time passed from the idea to the first user?
I launched the first version of the product about two months ago, and the first user came right after the launch.
3. What was the most difficult moment and how did you overcome it?
In the process, we found that the most difficult thing is precisely to find people's problems. Most people perceive their difficulties as «normal» and simply put up with them for years, without even looking for a solution.
We have to manually search for and write to different people to draw out their problems. Out of 100 personal requests asking them to share a problem, only 2-3 people react positively. But even among them, we filter out about half — those whose problem has almost no market or is a one-time «wish».
Guys, if you have any questions — please ask them in the comments. I'll be happy to answer all of them. 😊