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by lojack 3884 days ago
I think DHH (and a lot of people) miss out on a lot of modestly growing startups that are doing relatively boring things because they don't hear about them. It's not that they don't exist. They just don't hear about them because they're relatively boring.

The vast majority of (moderately successful) startups I see friends and colleagues starting or working for are in this group. For every one friend I see go work for a company like Uber, I see 10 more working for a startup that builds software for expense reports or HR teams or insurance companies or old school cab companies. They will never be billion dollar companies, and they probably won't IPO, and they may be an acquisition target -- but that certainly isn't their end goal. They are gaining customers and growing relatively sustainably, making smart choices about when to (or not) take outside funding.
2 comments
javajosh 3884 days ago
Actually, he mentions that such startups don't need to tell their story like VC-funded startups do, to meet their recruitment goals, and so VC startups dominate the zeitgeist.
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morgante 3884 days ago
Most of those "modest" startups are also VC-funded.
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mattmanser 3884 days ago
Last time I looked through the YC alumni list (http://yclist.com/) I was surprised at how heavily it was skewed B2C though. I haven't checked since W15 was added but a quick skim and it still seems fairly B2C focused.

It's in their request for startups though. Seed funds don't seem to be an area that attracts B2B.

I suspect it's because you have to be in the industry to understand the problem exists in the first place, so a huge segment of the YC applicants simply don't know about those opportunities as they've not worked in industry and only know about B2C opportunities.

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morgante 3884 days ago
YC is not the VC industry as a whole. For one thing, it (like SV) skews much younger and much more consumer than VCs in general. There are plenty of VCs who invest mostly in B2B companies started by founders with domain expertise.
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Apocryphon 3884 days ago
Hasn't Zenefits been massively hyped and valued this past year, even though it's in the business of building HR software?
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