Thanks! We are exploring business models. If there's traction with low operating&marketing costs, we can afford not to charge a commission, but instead charge later for optional premium services/functionality. bidroom.com charges tourists instead.
Prior experience in the hospitality industry: none. Just started a few months ago.
(1) That's a good point. Didn't consider the marketing costs for the hotel direct bookings.
Honestly, unless you’re able to find a way to exploit the downturn related to the global pandemic, in a way that you’re able to maintain growth post pandemic, my advice would be to pick a new industry, since this is one of the industries that is in my opinion well know for killing countless startups.
If I had to give a singular piece of advice, I would suggest contacting large enterprises that still book hotel rooms, find the person who has the most control over bookings, and ask them, as it relates to the pandemic, if there’s service they feel is missing. B2B business has a much longer time to revenue, but the revenue is much more predictable. This would also solve the issue of Google, since they’re focusing to my knowledge on consumer market.
Lastly, this is a very regulated industries, I would suggest getting off the record advice from attorneys on potential legal issues based on any model you do find a product market fit for.
Do not watch TV and play computer games too much and stop drinking and using drugs (if you do it). It will make you depressed really fast which is big problem in isolation. Focus on positive things and try to contact your family as much as possible. This is also great opportunity to read or to learn new things like cooking or you can try to do something about current situation - sewing face covers, 3d printing face shields or whatever suits you. And the most important thing is to not pressure yourself too much. If you really are not in the mood to do something just postpone it.
To make an analogy: a singer artist in his town used to be 'good enough'. Now he competes with YouTube and tours from 'alpha' artists in nearby cities.
So yeah, women can pick adventures with alpha males (especially considering looks) instead of a long term relationship with the average guy. This leaves almost nothing (ok-ish) for the average guy.
What's an average guy supposed to do? I'm genuinely interested in answers.
Have fun with older women who got past their teeny screamy phase, whilst learning how to be charming, interesting and good conversation. Steadily improve your looks and build up a career. Then by the time the average man reaches thirty he'll find he can easily compete with YouTube singers if he really wants to date 20 year olds, but also women his own age or older too.
Worked for me. Yes young men struggle to date young women, but wasn't it always like that? Women respond to age and age signals in the reverse way to men.
When you are experiencing something you'd call "hardship"; first, go slower with yourself; then consider: Are you trying to become numb to something unpleasant or painful, or are you in an opportunity to become more than who you once were?
Considering about working on an open source with turnkey SaaS hosting modern alternative. Drawback: MVP is quite big.
Would you see such a need, or is everyone happy with Shopify?
Some questions, if you can spare a few minutes:
What are top 3-5 issues with the platform that you're currently using?
What do you like most about the current platform?
What would be the must-haves of another store platform in order for you to switch to it?
I don't really understand who an "open source turnkey ecommerce solution" serves.
The last thing you need when trying to sell product is to now deal with running software and a server. Kinda reminds me of when I thought I could build a webshop for my father with Rails and Stripe. Thank god I realized sooner than later that there's basically zero upside to running this software and I switched my father to Shopify where he's happily been since.
I think this kind of solution only seems good to HN nerds who don't realize what Shopify brings to the table, or that technology is somehow the hardest part of running a webshop. It seems naive.
Since you're asking these questions, it sounds like you don't have much domain experience. I encourage you to create a simple Shopify shop and try selling something, if only to see what it gives you out of the box that your turnkey solution can't. That would be essential experience to have before you even make your initial commit.
