Meta comment: I miss the time when there were many more stories like this one on HN.
I'm sure that one reason why there aren't as many now is that lots of low hanging fruits for niche tech/online/mobile businesses have already been picked, as many people write from time to time, but I also think another reason is that the stories of hypergrowth and unicorns have raised expectations and standards too much. Incredibly high salaries for engineers in SV helped there too (what? 30k? that's nothing...).
But let's not forget that trying to win the big lottery is going to make most people miserable. Creating a sustainable online business - something like what 37signals promotes, or even just a lifestyle one - can be a perfectly legitimate goal, something we should celebrate more IMHO. And the world is still full of niches which can greatly benefit from the thoughtful application of technology and sustain that kind of businesses.
wow you aren't wrong[1]. they even have a sort by top capability right out of the gate which you don't get on hackernews. i guess i'm shifting there from now on, seeing as how lots of highly upvoted hackernews submissions are essentially fluff/self promotion nowadays
I'm sure that one reason why there aren't as many now is that lots of low hanging fruits for niche tech/online/mobile businesses have already been picked, as many people write from time to time, but I also think another reason is that the stories of hypergrowth and unicorns have raised expectations and standards too much. Incredibly high salaries for engineers in SV helped there too (what? 30k? that's nothing...).
But let's not forget that trying to win the big lottery is going to make most people miserable. Creating a sustainable online business - something like what 37signals promotes, or even just a lifestyle one - can be a perfectly legitimate goal, something we should celebrate more IMHO. And the world is still full of niches which can greatly benefit from the thoughtful application of technology and sustain that kind of businesses.
EDIT: clarified language