Ask HN: Non hypergrowth startups

[holocat]

Most of materials devoted to startups are focused on hypergrowth business.

I am currently thinking about lifestyle SaaS business. What can you recommend to read on this topic? Are such goals worth pursuing if we consider corporate career vs small own company?

[itengelhardt]

Places we hang out: - http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm - Micropreneur Academy (http://www.micropreneur.com)

reading material: - The 7 day startup (http://wpcurve.com/the-7-day-startup/) - Start Small, Stay Small (a bit dated, but the concepts are worth the read - http://www.amazon.com/Start-Small-Stay-Developers-Launching/...)

podcasts: - Startups for the Rest of Us (http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com) - Bootstrapped with Kids (http://www.bootstrappedwithkids.com)

[merrillii]

One resource I would recommend is the Startups For the Rest of Us podcast.

http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/

Most of the topics are around SAAS based services.

[danieltillett]

Why are you considering SaaS? The reason I ask is you might be prematuraly optimising your thinking of the best way to go with a lifestyle business.

This is an off topic rant, but can we please come up with a less pejorative term than "lifestyle business" to describe non-"shoot for the moon or crash" type start-ups?

[logn]

less pejorative term than "lifestyle business"

Independent business: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_business

MicroISV: http://www.singlefounder.com/2009/11/17/the-day-the-microisv...

[mindcrime]

but can we please come up with a less pejorative term than "lifestyle business" to describe non-"shoot for the moon or crash" type start-ups?

FWIW, this is the first time I've ever heard anybody suggest "lifestyle business" is an inherently pejorative term. I don't consider it a pejorative in any way, and I don't know anybody offhand who does. That said, I've heard tell of VC's and other people who are deeply invested (no pun intended) in the "shoot for the moon" approach being somewhat dismissive of lifestyle businesses, and perhaps couching their discussion of them in pejorative terms... I just haven't known anybody who holds the phrase to be intrinsically pejorative.

[MCRed]

I believe the correct term is startup. It is only in recent years that people have tried to make startup mean a very specific, narrow, method of launching a business. But the term, traditionally, means a business in its early phase, pre-profitability. Whether this is an international shipping concern or a mobile hook-up app, they're both startups.

GitHub isn't a "lifestyle business" (even before they took A16Z money)

[michaelbuckbee]

I'd suggest the term "Bootstrapped" to "Lifestyle".