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The Daily Founder: Build Something a Small Number of People Love

Paul Graham on starting small.

“When a startup launches, there have to be at least some users who really need what they're making — not just people who could see themselves using it one day, but who want it urgently. Usually this initial group of users is small, for the simple reason that if there were something that large numbers of people urgently needed and that could be built with the amount of effort a startup usually puts into a version 1, it would probably already exist. Which means you have to compromise on 1 dimension: you can either build something a large number of people want a small amount, or something a small number of people want a large amount. Choose the latter. Not all ideas of that type are good startup ideas, but nearly all good startup ideas are of that type.”

Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator

Many of today’s largest companies began in surprisingly small, niche markets. Apple sold just 200 computers in its first year, mostly to hobbyists through Paul Terrell’s Byte Shop. Amazon started as an online book store. eBay’s first customers were collectors trading Pez dispensers and Beanie Babies. PayPal initially served eBay power sellers. Facebook was exclusively for Harvard students. Microsoft’s journey began with Bill Gates developing a BASIC interpreter for the Altair. Big things start small.