[asdev]

I wonder if this approach to starting a vertical business the founders have 0 experience in has ever panned out. I know YC pushes the B2B SaaS angle as hard as possible, searching for "underserved" niches, but seems like if you don't have true industry experience, it can't possibly work out.

[mbesto]

Travis Kalanick had zero taxi experience and Brian Chesky had zero hospitality experience.

Now they created new models to existing paradigms, because I do tend to agree that founders that have verticalized experience tend to be far more successful (but perhaps arguably less 'disruptive')

[asdev]

Those were consumer apps, not B2B. No deep niche experience needed, Uber had to fight regulations but wasn't something industry knowledge would've helped with a ton