Ask a founder

“The best business to start is one solving a real problem you actually understand, in a niche small enough to dominate and big enough to grow from. HubSpot began because we watched marketers struggling to interrupt people who were already tuning out.”

“A simple home service business you can start with a truck and some tools: lawn care, cleaning, pressure washing, mobile detailing. I started mowing lawns at 11 because the barrier was low and the demand never went away. Pick one thing, price it right, and learn to sell it before you worry about scale.”

“I don't think there's a universal good business. The best one is the one where you already have unfair advantages: a customer base, a pain you've lived, or a model you can copy. I built 1-800-GOT-JUNK? because I understood franchise operations and the founder had a clear gap I could fill.”

“Start with a problem you actually understand, ideally one you’ve felt yourself, and talk to potential users until the same pain shows up again and again. Then build the smallest thing that solves it, get it into their hands fast, and iterate based on what they do, not what they say.”

“I started CB Insights with a blog and a spreadsheet, so my bias is to start small and start now. Pick one customer problem you can solve this week, build the smallest version, and charge before it feels ready.”

“I started Bizness Apps with a simple website and a lot of cold outreach, because the only thing that actually validates a business is a customer willing to pay. Build the smallest version of your idea that solves one real problem, then go get your first paying customer before you worry about everything else.”

“I started mowing lawns at 11 with my dad's push mower and a $20 ad in the church bulletin. If I had no money today, I'd knock doors, post in local Facebook groups, and offer the first job cheap or free in exchange for a review and three neighbor introductions. Revenue fixes almost every early problem; spend your time selling before you spend a dollar on branding.”

“I started CB Insights with no outside funding by selling research subscriptions before we built the product, using customer cash to pay for the build. Find a problem people already pay to solve, get them to pay you to solve it, and let revenue fund the next step.”

“I started Bizness Apps with basically nothing: a landing page, a fake buy button that 404'd, and $20 a day in ads to see if anyone would click. When they did, I built the thing.”

“I started Forte Labs as a side hustle while working other jobs, and the thing that made it real was charging $5 for a workshop before I felt ready. Pick the smallest version of what you can offer, put a price on it, and let paying customers teach you what actually matters.”

“I started mine by accident. I was broke at 26, working a minimum-wage job, and began ghostwriting on the side for free until someone finally paid me. The whole game is picking one expensive problem you can already solve, proving you can deliver the result, then charging for outcomes instead of hours.”

“I started both Bizness Apps and Acquire.com as side projects while I had other income, because keeping one foot in and one foot out let me experiment without betting everything.”

“I started consulting in 1994 by selling what I already knew how to do, not by inventing something new. My first move was pricing: I figured out my old effective hourly rate, then tripled it because only a third of my time would actually be billable. Most new consultants undercharge and starve; charge like a premium service from day one and you will have the margin to market, deliver, and actually make money.”

“I wouldn't start with consulting as the offer. I'd pick one problem I can solve, do free Loom audits for five prospects who look like my exact client, and turn the first paid engagement into a repeatable 5-step process. The whole game is making the service less custom every time.”

“I started CB Insights after seeing data on private markets that nobody else was making useful, and my early consulting gigs came from people who wanted exactly that lens on their market. If I were starting one now, I'd pick a narrow problem I already understand better than the client, price by value not hours, and let the first few engagements shape the real offering.”