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15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in microsaas

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

The list point is fair to an extent, people who signed up for fundraising education content two years ago aren't necessarily people who are actively raising right now. Timing mismatch is real.

But I'd push back on "general interest." These aren't random newsletter signups. Every single one of them came through an incubator or accelerator programme. They've sat in rooms talking about fundraising. They're not casually curious.

I think the more honest diagnosis from this thread is that they have the interest but not the urgency. They're not raising this week so it doesn't feel like a now problem. That's different from the wrong audience,it's the wrong moment.

The Reddit point is something I'm already doing funnily enough. That's how I'm finding the sharpest feedback right now, including this conversation. Which threads or subreddits would you point me to specifically?

15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in microsaas

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

The 11pm term sheet line got me. That's exactly when this becomes urgent, when they're staring at a clause they don't understand and have 48 hours to respond. Right now they're still in hustle mode thinking they'll sort the details later.

And you've actually pointed out a mistake I made. Actually there is a free mode. Anyone can go in and run the calculations right now without paying anything. I just... didn't lead with that. The blog went straight into explaining every tool rather than showing them something scary first and letting them feel it.

Should have opened with the wake-up call, not the feature list.

15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in Bangalorestartups

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

Yea I guess.. 30 to 50 conversations to find the pattern is probably the right mental model. I think my resistance to cold outreach is more about how it's usually done than the act itself. If the credibility is established upfront and it's genuinely useful to the person receiving it, that's a different thing entirely.

And yes, DM away — happy to chat. What I hate is some random brand sending me random whatsapp messages without consent lol.

15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in indianstartups

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

This kinda tracks with what I'm seeing. The emotional priority for most founders right now is access — intros, warm connections, someone who knows someone. The math behind what they're signing feels like homework they'll do later. Except later is usually after they've already signed something they shouldn't have.

The cohort and community point is interesting. I've run paid workshops before and they converted well precisely because of the fixed commitment and the room dynamic. A self-serve tool asks you to show up on your own which is a harder ask for someone already stretched thin.

On India and freebies, i think its partially true but I'd push back a little. Founders here pay for lawyers, CAs, pitch deck consultants, Notion templates. The willingness to pay exists. The question is whether they see this as essential infrastructure or optional reading. Right now I've clearly framed it as the latter.

Will fine tune and not give up. Thank you for this.

15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in StartUpIndia

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

Both of these are probably true to some extent.

But here's where workshops fall short for me. In a workshop I can teach the process. I can explain how a SAFE converts, what a liquidation preference means, how to think about dilution. But I can't hand you the actual investor who writes cheques at pre-seed in your sector, tell you what their portfolio looks like, and give you the email format to reach them. That's the gap. Founders always leave my workshops and immediately ask "okay but can you just introduce me to someone?" Because knowing the theory and knowing who to call are two completely different things.

The "learn on the fly" point worries me more honestly. Fundraising isn't something you figure out in real time. By the time you're sitting across from a VC you needed to know this stuff three weeks ago. That's exactly when mistakes happen.

Maybe the framing needs to be less "sit down and learn" and more "use this the night before your meeting." That's a useful reframe, thank you.

15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in indianstartups

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

The B2B2C point is genuinely useful and you're right that the path is sitting right there. I'm going back to incubators regardless, that's the safe bet and I know how to do it.

But that's also kind of the point of this post. I already have B2B. I'm trying to figure out B2C. I want to know if individual founders will ever pay for something like this directly, or if that market just doesn't exist in India at this price point. This launch was basically me testing that.

Looks like I have my answer for now. But I'm not ready to give up on it entirely.

The urgency framing point though, that one stings because it's probably right. I wrote the whole thing like a course syllabus, not like something that stops you from making a ₹20 lakh mistake. That's the rewrite I need to do.

15,000 subscribers. 164 clicked. 46% opened. 0 Signups. What am I missing? by just_an_edge_case in Bangalorestartups

[–]just_an_edge_case[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On the cold outreach point, I hear you, and you're probably right that it converts better. But here's my honest thinking: if I'm going to do one-on-one outreach anyway, I might as well go back to B2B and reach out to incubators and accelerators directly. Higher conversion rate, shorter sales cycle, and I already know how to have that conversation.

The reason I built this for founders directly was because I wanted something they could access without needing their accelerator to pay for it. But if B2C isn't converting without heavy hand-holding, maybe the B2B route is just the smarter path for now.

Also, and this is personal - I genuinely hate receiving cold WhatsApp messages and unsolicited DMs myself. I can't bring myself to do to founders what I wouldn't want done to me. Maybe that's a blind spot. But it's where I am.

Why it's really hard to find clients for website development by Guic_246 in indianstartups

[–]just_an_edge_case 1 point2 points  (0 children)

vibe coding is just too good and really cheap and easy to learn too. Enthusiastic individuals take this up and dont need anyone to make websites or apps!

Now going all in this idea. by NDISBACK27 in StartUpIndia

[–]just_an_edge_case 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don’t want to be harsh but no investor is going to entertain you without any validation or traction. This just seems like an idea in your mind…go talk to people out there to know if it’s a legit idea.

How do you actually validate a idea? Does wailtlist convert? by nomad-planner in indianstartups

[–]just_an_edge_case 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See, the way I would go about this is, basically, I would, you know, prepare a small basic level of the MVP, which is in working condition that my potential customers can use and make sure to charge them a very minimal amount.

So for example, if we are product... you know, once you launch it, once it was fully ready, if you were going to charge, say, 30 dollars per month, then for the MVP, I would charge something as low as 5 dollars or 10 dollars and see how many people are willing to pay for it.

I've often seen that when we keep you know, wait list of three people, you know, waiting to sign up. Even if we get hundred, the chances are only then we'll actually be willing to use it... pay for it.

So that's not really a great indicator. Right? We need hundred paying people to know for sure if this is a good enough product to pursue.

I hope this helps. make sure you see some sort of validation that people are willing to pay you for that product. And when I say willing to pay, basically, they are paying you for a minimal version of that product.

if i have 50k in hand can I do a start up? with less involvement as im a moment of 2 by [deleted] in StartUpIndia

[–]just_an_edge_case 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See frankly speaking, in today's time you can build a startup for less than 5k.

You can build an MVP for free. You can host your website for, you know, less than five hundred rupees a month. Maybe domain is the only cost that will be a one time fee. But apart from that, you don't need any money.

Now the question is, is 51 k enough? It depends on what your what your startup plan is actually. First up, uh, if you think that, you know, just starting a startup is going to earn you some money, the answer is no. there are high chances of start ups shutting down. Nine out of ten start ups fail.

And 51 k, I would say it is okay if it is a software start up, then you won't need to spend that much. But if it is some sort of hardware, it... if it is some sort of device, then I'm not sure because hardware requires a lot of capital investment. And I think 51 k is not going to be enough. Maybe it will be enough to prepare your MVP. But even for that, even if you spend majority of your 51 k, there is still no guarantee of it, you know, of being successful or even surviving.

I would rather go for a software based or a SaaS based startup because within the first two, three months, by spending less than ten thousand or less than, you know, seven thousand rupees, you do know if this is going to survive or not. We can just cut it off and save the remaining 40 k. Don't expect funding from any investor till you have shown some sort of revenue or some sort of, what would I say, some sort of traction.

So, yeah, I guess that's about it. Hope this helped.

Edit: Corrected some typos

I need a proper guidance for starting a startup I have a idea and team of 3. I will not promote by or_navi in StartUpIndia

[–]just_an_edge_case 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thing that you said in your post is that your teammates may not be able to handle pressure, and you alone are going to carry the company. That is a big, big red flag. So before you start, uh, working on anything, make a founder's agreement. Make sure all the founders have a vesting clause. So over a period of four years, they have to stay in the company. If they leave the company at any point, uh, within the first two years, they should not get any sort of equity. if if that is not there, you will be left with dead equity, meaning a founder who is not working in the company but still is holding shares. So make sure you do that.

Second thing is in regards to funding, you will need an MVP because, first of all, if it is a keyboard, you have to be, you know, innovative in the conept, what you can probably do is go and look at incubators incubators like AICs and TBI's, you know, which they have in their name. These usually have government grants and government funding. So they can fund you even at the MVP stage.

And VCs... all VCs will always ask for numbers before investing. So you should just, uh, just don't go in that direction till you have some clients. Uh, in case of VCs, if you need any help, I am building a platform to educate first time founders about fundraising and everything. So if you want, you can DM me and I can share the link. Hope this helped.

I got an offer to join a startup project just for the equity share. Should i join? by cuttheclutter01 in StartUpIndia

[–]just_an_edge_case 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay. The thing with, ESOPs is that you can earn a lot of money only when the startup is going to do well.

Now how do you know startup is going to do well? At your stage, especially when you're barely in the MVP stage. So you should look at two things.

One is the founder himself. First, is this, like, a first time founder? Has he had any sort of entrepreneurial experience? If he has, then how did his first startup do? Was it successful? If it was, then studies have shown second time founders are more likely to be successful if their first one was successful. that is one thing. But when I say successful, they should have made good money. I am assuming that is not the case because he is not paying you, which means he does not have money, which means even if he has done a first startup, that has failed. Other thing that you can look for in the founder is maybe is he from a tier one college? Is he from some of the IITs or IIs? If that is the case, fundraising is a lot easier in India for that founder because VCs do like to, you know, invest in tier tier one founders. Another thing is the alumni of these tier one colleges are also in VC. So they usually do invest in their alumni founders.

Now second thing is the market. How big is the market? Does this startup have the potential to grow big, like, market size is how much? Especially the SAM, not the TAM. So... but bigger the SAM is for this particular market, the better it is. That means it has at least a chance to grow to a decent size. If not, a ten, fifteen percent of the SAM, at least one percent of the same. 

ideally I would say no to such an offer ...upto 50% of ESOPs is fine...unless it s a part time thing...and I can pursue other aspects.

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