Ask HN: I've bootstrapped a tech ed startup. Now what?
My startup does brick&mortar CS ed, but it also does some interactive java tutorials: https://www.ktbyte.com/intro . I feel like most of the companies in the space I'm in are venture backed. I'm not. Should I be?
Published in 2014, this chronicle by @benkt details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 4 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 6 comments
Java is not "sexy" and too difficult to learn compared to the dynamic languages.
My advice would be to instead focus on the corporate market (depending on how good you are with Java yourself).
For example, I am developer X working at bank FF. We're old school, so we use tech that was big 10 years ago. Our systems are all Java. I got my CS degree and have tried to keep up with Java updates itself, but I've probably missed a couple of things over the years. My company approaches ktbyte.com to come do some instruction lessons for Java 7/8. I'm getting the lessons for free and when I'm done learning, the knowledge I have will enable me to obtain a Java certificate from Oracle/Sun (you'll need to connect with them here).
Anyway, that is what I might consider, instead of the crowded "teach anyone to code" market. You could easily negotiate good terms with Oracle and because it'll only be you in the start, your main expense would be travel.
No need for venture money there.
The question is: "Are you targeting Westerners with money?" American, and I extrapolate to other Western countries, don't care much for education after a certain income level. I don't mean they dislike education. They just don't see it as a priority in spending since they already have a public school system available.
If you are targeting this demographic, you'll need venture money. If you are targeting poor Asian countries, you need savvy. These countries are poor. They know the value of an education. As a result, parents will pay for their kids to get an education if they can.
If you can target poor nations, then you have to get your product known. The rest will follow. You should be able to do this on your own, assuming you've planned a runway.