This $25M+ business was validated in 3 hours for $5

[truther]

Problem: You’re stuck in NYC with all your bags, but no hotel
Solution: Bag storage as a service.

How the founder validates:

1. DOES NOT write a single line of code
2. Creates a BASIC landing page w/ Typeform (see image)
3. Runs a $5 Google search ad for "bag storage NYC"
4. First request comes in 5 mins later
5. Founder hops on a Citi bike to meet the customer and take their bag

• They did ~$100k in the first year bootstrapped
• Lost all revenue during COVID, stayed alive
• Then they went massive scale and raised $12M from A16Z
• They now have 10,000+ storage locations in 2,000+ cities
• Founder sat on the idea for 3 years bc he thought it would be "too complex" to build

The PERFECT example of: do things that don't scale.

usebounce.com

(Org tweet

https://twitter.com/x/status/1749810201614864602

)

 

[porven]

@truther While I don't doubt the approach, the advice here is simplifying to the point of being impractical.

While I do agree a lot of people waste a lot of time on the irrelevant, which I think this post does a good job of saying "stay focused, cut out the BS", it's also not a one size fits all solution.

but I do agree, the only real validation is to do the thin you're promising and seeing if people will pay you for it, anything else is just dipping your toes in the water.

 

[saida]

@truther That’s how you do it. That’s what zero to one book was all about

 

[nighthawk4824]

@saida The book was not about bootstrapping, have you even read it? Thiel specifically says it's about building a monopoly in the industry you're in so that there is no competition.

 

[hoodiebunny12]

@saida exponential growth!

 

[613jono]

@truther 99% of these stories are completely fabricated.

 

[dvidxpsyko]

@613jono I don't trust these stories as well. Too simple to be true.

 

[lorenasa]

@613jono OP cappin

 

[awedbyhim]

@truther Kudos to the first client for leaving their bags to a complete stranger on a city bike

 

[pretorcm]

@awedbyhim That part was wild, this also seems like a great way of stealing stuff by having people give you their stuff. Easier than stealing candy from a baby.

Also in Switzerland every train station has walls of lockers of various sizes that you can rent to temporarily store you luggage.

 

[motherofone]

@truther The only part that doesnt make sense is getting his 1st customer 5mins later...Google doesn't immediately crawl pages when they are up. It takes longer than that to appear in search results.

 

[613jono]

@motherofone Maybe means 5 mins after the ad went live

 

[taygirl28]

@motherofone yes, last I checked, Google took 2 days to make my ad live.

 

[dannheim]

@taygirl28 Is your account flagged or are you in medicine? I set a whole campaign live in a couple hours.

 

[taygirl28]

@dannheim My website was relatively new.