10 reasons why I think now is the greatest time to launch a startup

You should probably consider starting something

Just listen to this:

You can start with the community

I’ve identified ~8000 communities that could be unbundled from Reddit

- They are thriving
- They could make you ~$1m/year of revenue
- You often need $400 max to build MVP to tap that untapped value
- It's fun

Sounds like a dream job to me

People in Silicon Valley don’t have an edge on you

SF held the monopoly on startups for decades. Now, being in SF doesn’t matter for 99% of businesses

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise

The world is flat and is staying flat

Hell yeah. That feels good to say

You have 10x the amount of funding sources

You used to have to rely on VCs. Not anymore

To name a few:

- Fund via your community
- Fund via NFTs
- Fund via pre-sales
- Fund via tokens
- Fund via accelerators all over the world
- Etc

All of a sudden, you have 10x the options

Niche businesses can be worth billions

People used to laugh at niche. Why “go small” when you could “go big”?

The way to go big right now IS to go small

Large tech companies can’t be everything to everyone

My head spins thinking about how much is changing in our world right now

Ex:

- Millions of creators who need support
- Communities that are ripe for tokenization
- ↑ social commerce
- ↑ sustainability products
- ↑ internet usage across the globe

This won’t last forever

Everything is unbundling before our eyes

- Facebook groups
- eBay
- Zoom
- Etsy
- Reddit
- Udemy

What a wonderful time to be building a startup

No-code/low-code tools

Launching isn’t the hard part anymore. It’s community building

There's so much available to learn online

The right Discord servers or Podcasts are worth 10x more than a Harvard Business Degree

Bonus: it's a pandemic. You have more time. Seize the day and find these sacred sources of wisdom

You can attract niches easier than ever

Start with the community, then build software

vs.

Start with software, then build community

Point: you increase your odds of success by building community-first

You can run a $100m/year business from your iPhone

I have a friend who’s company makes $100m/yr

Facts:
- He started it in 2018
- It’s niche
- Unbundled from a FB Group
- Moved from SF to Malta because he likes the vibe
- He runs his entire biz from his iPhone on an island!

I hope you enjoyed this thread

If it gave you a little extra confidence to start/join that startup, I'm extra happy

Or if you disagree with me and think this is a terrible time to be building. Prove me wrong

Either way, follow me on Twitter @gregisenberg for more threads

I write a free newsletter where I share more detailed posts about startup insights, community-led product building and internet communities

If you think it's a good time for startups, you'll enjoy what I write there http://latecheckout.substack.com