Is it wise to operate e-commerce seller for cashflow and making a startup? | Hacker News Reader

Is it wise to operate e-commerce seller for cashflow and making a startup?

2 pointsshju196 comments

Hi, I’m a solo founder for 3.5 years and I haven’t make a viable service and try to survive now.

I’m doing a e-commerce seller for the cashflow while trying to make a startup. My first idea was making a cash flow through e-commerce until making a product market fit for the long term startup. Also I thought working as a seller would be a good way to find a problem in the sector, which could be a startup idea. I have been seeing that a lot of startups have been failed without making product market fit and ran out of money. So, I choose this way.

But in reality, making a e-commerce itself is too hard and time consuming so I barely do the long term startup work. I’m pursuing tech based startup for the long term. but I feel if I focus on e-commerce, I might have to do this for 3-5 years because making a e-commerce itself needs time to grow. So, it’s like reversal of main work.

So now I feel confused in two options. First, stick on the first idea, which is focusing on e-commerce for the cashflow and try to make a startup. Second, getting a job in tech sector and making some experiences while making a startup in weekend.

Would you give me some advice for my thought and situation?

Have you thought about consulting/agency.

E-commerce isn't free cash-flow. Don't kid yourself, you're starting a business with all that entails. You'll be niched in e-commerce and most probably short of cash for some time until you figure out "e-commerce", which is easier said than done.

A job, will niche you down, but will provide you with an income stream right way and you won't have to figure it out like starting a business.

With an agency/consulting, you'll have a couple of possibilities:

- Choose a sector/industry and go deeper solving problems for roles in that sector/industry. Vertical segmenting if you will. Say, if you choose banking, you'll try and solve problems for the different roles withing banking. You can also chunk down, like banks of a certain size, or a certain type of banks.

- Choose a role across different sectors. Horizontal segmenting, if you will. Say, you choose sales people or marketing people, and you'll solve problems for these folks across industries.

You can of course choose a hybrid approach to have a sort of "mutation", avoid inbreeding, and find criteria where your solution generalizes a bit, without falling into the trap of generalizing too much or you'll never ship with the never-ending abstraction quest.

You also will build a network of good people, which is both rewarding and useful when doing enterprise software. You'll get to become familiar with the problems of the people you're helping and give yourself a better chance for product-market fit.

I've written a bit about it here: https://twitter.com/jugurthahadjar/status/131066829330549965...

I deeply appreciate your feedback on my thought. Correct, E-Commerce is not free cashflow and your feedback is really valid. I cannot generate cashflow from E-Commerce from the start and even if I achieved it, I need to put my time and energy on it. In other case, getting a job is really good option to make cashflow and have some experiences like you mentioned.

I want to share one more thought which is important decision point for me. I’m outside the US and want to move to the US to make a company there. So, I thought I need location independent work to move and E-Commerce would be suitable for this. That’s one of the main point I considered for my direction.

Based on your feedback, I’ll think about my direction again. I really appreciate it again.

>I want to share one more thought which is important decision point for me. I’m outside the US and want to move to the US to make a company there.

You don't need to move to the U.S. to start a company there; you can do it online and there are many services that make it possible for you.

>So, I thought I need location independent work to move and E-Commerce would be suitable for this.

COVID-19 showed us that we don't need to get on a flight for a lot of things. Many categories of "knowledge work" lend themselves to location independence rather well.

Yes I totally agree on it. I need to open my mind from 'I need to do something in order to start some others' into 'how can I start from here'. I'll think about it deeply again. I really appreciate your feedback.

Trying to start a successful e-commerce business while trying to start a startup sounds incredibly difficult.

Kind of like a plan that starts with "first make a viral youtube video then...". That first step is significantly larger and more difficult than it seems, and kind of sounds like that is your experience.

If I were in your situation, I would prioritize the quickest path to stability. If your e-commerce business is popping off, drop the startup. If neither of those are going anywhere, get a job. Without having some stability it will be difficult to take another swing at your startup.

Once you are treading water again, I would re-evaluate your startup strategy. I wouldn't write any code, or build any prototypes yet. First step is getting in front of people who are your target users and ask them lots of questions about their problems. If the idea you are showing them isn't doing it, ask about their other problems. Build the lowest effort thing that solves that problem in the happiest case and keep showing it.

I totally agree with your thought that I have to choose one path. Previously, I have been thought that tech startup is the only way to grow. However, I have changed my mind that E-Commerce could be a good way to make growth. Growth is the key rather than tech or E-Commerce. If I I get into the E-Commerce, I have to put my all energy and need to be serious to make a growth.

In either case(E-Commerce or tech startup), talk to user and build a product is the only work founder need to do at the first stage like you mentioned. I wasn’t good enough at it until now and I’ll try my best for that again.

I was quite confused for this matter when I think about it for myself. But it’s getting clear after getting feedback. I really appreciate you.

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