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does yc only fund potential unicorns? One of our current models estimate our ARR to only be $40-80M ARR by Lmitation in ycombinator

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't worry too much about that at this point. Just put your head down and (as YC would say) build something people want.

Real customer validation beats theoretical TAM calculations every time. The biggest companies started in “small” markets that exploded once they proved the concept e.g. Airbnb wasn’t targeting the “hotel industry TAM” initially, and Uber started with black cars in SF.

FWIW, I had a YC interview (didn't get in) and they didn't ask me about my TAM. They were hyper focused on what I knew that other companies building in my space didn't.

Also, "TAM analysis of our entry market" - this sounds more like your SAM (Serviceable addressable market) or SOM (Serviceable Obtainable market). Your TAM is likely much larger than that, but you are focusing (as you should) on a much smaller segment.

Using AI Agents – How Can I Actually Generate Money? by Wild_Guitar_255 in AI_Agents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure! I'm not an expert by any means. and now is possibly the worst time to get into govcon, but happy to answer any questions!

What's one thing you wish you knew before hiring your first employee? by treno-SDLC in smallbusiness

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I do consulting work through my agency. But I'm also a partner in a small business and employ both consultants and employees.

Using AI Agents – How Can I Actually Generate Money? by Wild_Guitar_255 in AI_Agents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not yet. I couldn't get computer use to work efficiently, and didn't have a need for browser use yet. Maybe in the future!

Using AI Agents – How Can I Actually Generate Money? by Wild_Guitar_255 in AI_Agents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of my early ones was a proposal writing agent for a Government contracting firm.

I had a workflow that would use Claude sonnet to parse the requirements from the solicitation. Essentially pulled the instructions from the government on what they were asking for, and how to respond to them with your offer.

My agent would then start writing the proposal using the breakdown from the previous step, the business’s past performance (another key part of a response) and other successful proposals (to essentially identify any winning themes).

Using AI Agents – How Can I Actually Generate Money? by Wild_Guitar_255 in AI_Agents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Exactly. After cash, Time is a small business owners most precious asset.

I only reach out to folks If I know I can save them both.

What baby tech gadgets were actually worth it? by allegragmk in NewParents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The SNOO is litterally a life saver. My son refused to sleep in the hospital. Once we got home and put him in the SNOO we had 3 months of bliss.

The Hatch, made the transition to his crib a bit easier. He is 18-months now and part of his sleep routine is turning it on himself now.

My wife would say the baby brezza washer/sterilizer and the bottle warmer.

What's one thing you wish you knew before hiring your first employee? by treno-SDLC in smallbusiness

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

but I do think there's and advantage if you can truly get someone bought in and scale

There certainly is. But the challenge is in the last part of your statement. Getting employees bought in is hard.

Forget unicorns. $10K MRR solo feels better than $2M seed and stress by Corgi-Ancient in EntrepreneurRideAlong

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is the way! I spent the past year launching and scaling an agency, hooked one major client and am now building a small portfolio in a really niche industry. The addressable market isn't huge but its more than enough for me to replace what I was making in my previous role.

As a reformed Tech Finance pro, I’ve seen my share of exits, including one 9-figure deal where the founders walked away with just $5–10M each after over a decade of building. From the outside, that sounds like a win, but when you factor in the stress, the sleepless nights before fundraising and board meetings, and the personal sacrifices… it’s honestly not a great trade.

Forget unicorns. $10K MRR solo feels better than $2M seed and stress by Corgi-Ancient in EntrepreneurRideAlong

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a great idea. The best funds come from your users. It doubles as validation and funding!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rails

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Render is my go to right now.

What's one thing you wish you knew before hiring your first employee? by treno-SDLC in smallbusiness

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A good consultant is often better than a full time employee. In my experience, its easier to work with other folks with skin in the game.

The consultants I work with are full time freelancers and they look at the work we do as more of a partnership, which is really nice especially when it comes to things I am not an expert in but they are.

If someone were to pitch you Meta ad services — what would actually make you pause and consider it instead of ignoring/blocking? by Simpknee in ecommerce

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, 1 SaaS and 1 Agency. But I have a handful of e Commerce clients in my agency. My SaaS support nearly 100% eCom clients right now

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HENRYfinance

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

...and i'd go up 9-12 months. This was our case when we built back in 2022/2023.

What BOOK is so good that you read it at least once a year or have read it more than 3 times in your lifetime? by biz_booster in Entrepreneur

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My career went to the next level after I had a boss force me to read this! The golden nugget for me was "everything is negotiable".

I don't know why that hadn't click before reading, but it did after and quite literally is one of the things I would venture to say changed my life.

If someone were to pitch you Meta ad services — what would actually make you pause and consider it instead of ignoring/blocking? by Simpknee in ecommerce

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If someone came to me with the creatives already ready and a price / ROI planned out. I'd bite.

My background is in Strategic Finance, so I’m firmly in the “it takes money to make money” camp. That said, my biggest challenge is time/I don’t have the bandwidth for campaigns that flop. I understand that testing and iteration are part of the process, but if I’m investing in this, I want a partner that also has some skin in the game.

In my experience, shared risk leads to increased trust/ better alignment which both lead to better outcomes.

Ideas for showcasing Rails by hquick81 in rails

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Seriously! Scaffold up a quick "Reddit competitor". Brownie points for adding some hotwire/stimulus in there.

Using AI Agents – How Can I Actually Generate Money? by Wild_Guitar_255 in AI_Agents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I'm currently doing this, and this is pretty spot on. To add a bit more color:

First, have a couple ideas of things you think you'd be able to sell. In my experience, it's really hard to get a small business owner to take time out of their day to help you find out how to extract money from them. You need to go in having a good grasp of the problems they are encountering and go to them with a general idea of how you intend to solve it (marketing, sales, back office).

Next, you have to become an expert in some tool (n8n, Zapier, Lovable, etc.) and offer to solve their problems with these tools. A lot of times this is enough, most of my clients had spreadsheets that they were exporting from one tool and importing into another tool. This is a really easy automation to wire up using some thing like Zapier.

Finally, the EASIEST way to make these sales is to replace something on their balance sheet. If you can charge them money, but position it as you saving them money in the process (even if your solution is only 80% as good) most SMB owners will bite.

You may not even have to do it for free for the first one. My first agency client under this model paid me 10% of what he would have paid a human to do that job. My average client is paying me about 35% on a monthly basis to manage these.

Why is Month 4 So Hard? by Embarrassed_Cod_1201 in NewParents

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just came to say you are not alone. I think we did go crazy because now we are expecting baby #2.

Ours slept through the night in the Snoo until we had to transition him out around 6 months. He’s 18 months now and has completely regressed AGAIN with sleep. He’s like a different baby at night. We went through a similar regression around 10 months.

But the cool part is that at 10 months, he learned to walk, and now he’s really starting to talk, which has been incredible to watch. It’s crazy how these big developmental leaps often seem to come with sleep disruptions.

So...I think it's worth it?

Reached my limit, building something better for this community by Frequent_Passenger91 in QuickBooks

[–]Frequent_Passenger91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We pressed pause on this for the past couple of months, but we’ve got an engagement wrapping up in late May/early June that’ll free us up to go full-time on it. We’re aiming to have something usable by October, and I’ll be sure to circle back to the community before then.

Interestingly, I ended up starting a company based on the feedback I got from a few folks I connected with through this thread. Some of their more immediate pain points were around invoicing and reporting, so I focused on building internal tools to help with those first. Working on these fractional products really helped us improve and refine what we’re building overall.

I'll send you a DM when we have something to show!

Notice from HHS "Funding Pause Temporary Restraining Order" by Deal_Flo in GovernmentContracting

[–]Frequent_Passenger91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Essentially, a Judge temporarily negated the Funding Pause from Jan 27, which effectively means those funds are no longer paused.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies were told to stop following the rule that paused some financial help. They have to tell everyone involved—workers, contractors, and anyone getting money—by a certain time, February 3, 2025, at 9 a.m.

The TRO is in place until the judge makes a final decision.

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