Ask HN: Is it still worth pursuing a software startup?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall sentiment

  • Majority view: yes, software startups are still worth pursuing, but only under more demanding assumptions (real problem, clear customers, non-trivial execution).
  • Strong minority: it’s not worth it unless you’re rich, well‑connected, or willing to accept very long odds and heavy personal risk.

Purpose and motivation

  • Disagreement over whether startups are “created to solve problems” vs primarily to make founders rich.
  • Some argue profit and problem-solving are aligned (you pivot until you solve something people pay for).
  • Others point to “enshittification,” acquisitions, and exits as evidence that profit often dominates product quality and user benefit.

Moats, copying, and big companies

  • Widely shared: code and features were never a strong moat; they’re even weaker now.
  • Real moats cited:
    – Distribution, contracts, and integrations
    – Brand and trust with a specific audience
    – Data, workflows, and domain expertise
    – Inertia and switching costs inside orgs
  • Many claim big companies are slow, political, and more likely to acquire than successfully copy early; their “moat” is structural inertia, not speed.
  • Some warn more about small, fast “clone mills” and copycat startups than about incumbents.

Impact of AI

  • Broad agreement: AI makes coding much cheaper and faster; “simple CRUD apps” as standalone products are largely dead.
  • Disagreement on timeline and capability:
    – Bullish camp: many computer jobs will be overturned within a year; you now get mid‑six‑figure dev output for a few thousand a year.
    – Skeptical camp: AI still hallucinates, produces messy code, struggles with complex/novel tasks; progress on reliability is slow.
  • Consensus: AI doesn’t replace understanding the problem, domain, or customers. It mainly shifts the bottleneck to problem selection, specification, and distribution.

What still works

  • Focus on: painful, specific problems; “boring” or niche B2B domains; services plus software (logistics, compliance, networks, support).
  • Emphasis on channel and relationships: being the trusted partner who “just makes it work” for busy executives.
  • Strategy advice: start small (e.g., $100 → $1,000 MRR), keep your job initially, iterate quickly, and expect copycats.

Risk and when not to do it

  • Repeated theme: if you’re only mildly interested or asking strangers for permission, it’s probably not for you.
  • Startups are portrayed as life-consuming, with high failure rates and opportunity cost vs a stable dev job; worth doing mainly if you feel a strong pull to solve a particular problem.