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How to Find a Profitable Market for Your Self-Funded Startup (Even Before You Build the Product)?

How to Find a Profitable Market for Your Self-Funded Startup (Even Before You Build the Product)?

To succeed, you need to take action

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Snippets Press
Jan 30, 2025
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How to Find a Profitable Market for Your Self-Funded Startup (Even Before You Build the Product)?
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Hi Rafael here, I write articles with practical advice about making software and document my journey building a solo digital multi-media business.

Free subscribers receive a newsletter edition every week, but some articles will have a paywall.

Paid subscribers receive everything without paywalls. Please [subscribe] to the paid version if you are interested in AI, writing, system thinking, workflow automation, and the interception between human creativity and technology.

The subscription is less than the Netflix subscription that you barely use and I hope more beneficial.

  1. How to Find a Profitable Market for Your Self-Funded Startup (Even Before You Build the Product)?

  2. How One Dollar Can Kickstart Your Business?

  3. How Can You Validate Your Business Idea and Ensure Its Profitability?

  4. Validating Your Business Idea is a Matter of Upfront Payment

  5. Why Coaching Calls Are the Fastest Way to Start Earning?

As a self-funded startup, target a market that already shows demand for your product, even if that product hasn't been created yet.

Your target market should be online, and your product must address a specific need within that market.

One effective way to assess a market's potential is to check for dedicated magazines. If such publications exist, it indicates that there is a large customer base. If a full-page advertisement in one of these magazines costs less than $5,000, it suggests that the market is small enough for you to reach your audience.

A "warm" niche refers to a market where you have some connection or familiarity.

Less competition allows you to set higher prices for your product, leading to better profit margins.

It's often better to dominate a niche that generates $2,000 per month on your own than to own a 20% market share in a niche that generates $10,000 per month.

Being self-employed carries its risks, and it's riskier if you rely on one product.

Having the ability to try out an idea and then pivot to another within six months to a year, once you've automated the first, allows you to take more risks. This is preferable to committing to a product for the next ten years.

When I first built a mailing list, I realized the importance of creating lists for all my products.

  • Create two columns on a piece of paper.

  • In the header of the left column, write "Person," and in the right column, write "Hobby or Work Experience."

  • For each row, write the name of someone you know, including yourself, friends, relatives, or colleagues, and write their work experience or hobby in the right column.

  • Research relevant magazines, it's also helpful to examine census and labor statistics to estimate the size of your market.

  • Visit their websites and gather information from their rate cards.

💭 How One Dollar Can Kickstart Your Business?

Consider asking someone you know to invest just one dollar in your future business.

In return, they will receive regular updates and have a front-row seat to the entire process of building a business from scratch, including all the challenges and obstacles that come with it. This approach may seem insignificant, but it can be an effective way to get started and build momentum.

A lot of you and I have talked over the past few months, and I get it. You might have a job right now, but let’s be real—it’s just a timing thing. No one owns their job forever, and the truth is, you don’t really know what’s going on behind the scenes at your company or with the economy overall.

I’m not pretending to have all the answers, but I’ve been building my own business for the past year—without anyone’s help—while also supporting my family. And the more I talk to people, the more I see that many of you are in the same place I was a year ago.

Want proof you’re still avoiding reality?
Buying an expensive gaming PC at 40+ years old isn’t the flex you think it is.
Drinking yourself sick on a Monday isn’t helping either.

You can do better. And you have to. Time is running out.

So, what are you going to do about it?
Here’s a chance for you to take action: I’m offering my paid newsletter for an entire year for just $1. Think about it—how much have you spent mindlessly on Netflix or other distractions?

Get serious about your future. Here is a one dollar yearly subscription coupon. Take action now. It’s time to make a change.

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