Ask HN: Business that should not scale

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14629862

7 5 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Having visited a few commercial dog kennels it was refreshing to find some neighbors who dog sit semi-regularly as a side business. Are there certain businesses or industries best kept small or local?

byoung2• 9 years ago

Anything in the "lifestyle business" category by definition doesn't scale past a certain point. Also, anything that requires a licensed individual (e.g. plumber, electrician). There could be an interesting business opportunity in Uber-izing networks of these small businesses. For example, I need a dog sitter last minute but I don't want to scour craigslist or have to remember which of my neighbors dog sits.

innopreneur• 9 years ago

services like TaskRabbit etc. already provides this type of on-demand services.

taprun• 9 years ago

Yes. Anything that does not benefit from either network effects or economies of scale should not scale.

Network effects - If I created the first telephone network, the first phone is basically a paperweight, but the more customers I convince to buy, the more useful each phone is to my other customers.

Economies of scale - Similarly, if I have a car company, the more I scale, the more efficient I can become (I can invest more in engineering and machinery).

nnn1234• 9 years ago

Think of trust proxies or an external dependant factor like geographies An example A paid Meetup group or a dating app for within a city. These work better at smaller scale than large.

The opportunity is where someone or something causes a change in the underlying restriction such that an infrastructure can be built at scale. So the answer to your question depends on time and tech

cm2012• 9 years ago

Off topic, but rover.com is awesome for their network of part time sitters.

Ask HN: Business that should not scale

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