It was a fun read. But also a bit sad that it takes thousands of dollars and a lot of available time (which many people don't have) to do something as fundamental as this.
The good thing about a business like this is that it's much less likely someone is going to swoop in and steal your idea and customers because you took a little longer to work out the kinks.
We all seem to agree like things like this is a good thing, but then we undermine people's ability to do it by favoring things like real estate, domains and "middle man businesses" instead.
I guess bunnie said it best: "supply chains are made out of people" https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4266
Real business is hard because of all the not obvious things you need to account for.
In Shenzhen you might make hundred boards, go down to the market and buy a hundred boxes and leave them with the shipper. Boards don't work? Re-work them or make another hundred. Box doesn't work? Buy another box. You don't like your box supplier? There is a hundred others on Taobao.
In NYC it might take you weeks to do the same thing while you are bleeding rent (and everything else) so you need the thousand boards and boxes to make it work (or you are selling very few in your spare time). And if something goes wrong you are probably fucked.
I am exaggerating, but you get the idea.
Well, there's a massive middle ground between plastic bags on eBay and placing a $10,000 order for boxes. I didn't mean to imply they couldn't eventually place a $10k order, but often you can order in smaller (but still large) quantities to check the quality. Or just use Uline for a while until you've gotten samples from enough locations to confirm a provider can service your needs.
We don't have the details of this part, so a lot of things could have gone into the decision to place a bit order which made it what appeared to be the correct choice at the time. I just thought it sounded a bit risky given the little information we have.
That's life in a nutshell, I guess.
This is why it’s more common for people that are already well off to be entrepreneurs[1] — they have a safety net.
[1]: https://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-gene...
Source: I have owned multiple small businesses.
Or put other way - I'd love to find some great "regular" business ideas to both fund and assist in getting off the ground to the tune of $5-50k, and if successful make a few thousand a month down the road in a couple years - not millions on some future exit.
Basically I want to seed-fund/invest in/be involved in what HN calls "lifestyle business" - just a regular old sustainable business expected to grow 10% a year and comfortably employ a couple founders and employees.
Many good reasons this market doesn't exist and is "hard", but one can wish. It would feel fare more satisfying to invest money in actual hard working people with real but boring (read: low risk) business models than tossing it into the S&P500 or engaging it yet more rent-seeking by buying up small properties to turn into rentals.
I could scrape the $5K to get an idea off the ground, but if it failed I’d regret it. Simply put, it’s not money to risk.
To respond to the "rent from investment property" concept, you can get in on investment properties at a fairly low price (IIRC 40% discounts) if you invest when builders are looking for prospective buyers. i.e., before anything is built. I looked into doing this some time ago, but the builder couldn't find enough buyers, so the property was never built.
I've been trying to work this out, that seems like a massive discount, what's the expected profit margin for the builder? Surely not much more.
Why not get a loan? Would be cheaper, certainly on the land. I don't get it, something doesn't add up for me.
The situation you're describing seems to suggest that it would be better to split up the permitting and the building.
Company A buys land, gets permits, then either sells on to a builder, or contracts a builder.
But then I don't understand why so much capital would be required just for getting permits.
I'm guessing it's another example of different countries doing house buying/building differently, and none of them optimal.
There are lots of permits that only become available much later in the process. For example, an occupancy permit is only granted once the building is in a habitable state.
There are always permit delays of some kind or another because no matter how much research and planning you do, there are things that are simply unknown or that have to be changed (and thus re-permitted) at the proverbial last minute.
It comes down to: if you are interested in real estate investment (either renting or flipping), you are going to find the property more valuable than a bank, who isn't as interested and would just auction it off if they had to own it.
I remember that it was a substantial savings, but I can't say exactly where the 40% number came from. It was condos in a retirement community so the builder was making a big deal of "these tenants won't leave until they die..."
Edit: Don't know why this is objectionable. $5k is like one months living costs in many places, and sometimes one months savings. You aren't going to get much in return for that. You need to go somewhere cheaper where that kind of money can buy someone some time. Unless you can provide something else.
Sounds like a viable startup opportunity. Especially with the Beyond Meats S-1 post from yesterday where hackers talked about buying meat directly from farmers.
Its the nature of the beast, you invest money to make money, the internet is no different.
This guy has one partner, Incentives are aligned, if I were one to buy onions online, I can see myself still being happy with them in 20 years time. Maybe it cost more, but they don't have a monopoly on Onions, their ability to pass on that cost is limited, which is the major concern, is it not?