Originally Posted by
Kalis
That misses the point entirely.
The choices aren't handwritten calligraphy or nothing, they are innumerable, and the most common choice that people would make is sending an email/text, then writing it in their own handwriting, then printing something off a computer, and that pretty much dominates the entire market, and it is free.
After that you have people who buy the services, which is so far down the scale of people as to be virtually no market at all as a standalone product as people often have a "Thank You" note as part of another service.
They aren't similar business concepts: on the one hand you have people who buy a standard bowl versus those willing to pay a bit more for a personalised bowl, and on the other you have people who can send a message for free versus paying someone to write a message.
The competition for the letter writing business is virtually cost free, her competition isn't, and pay vs. pay =/= free vs. pay. You can make a living on the laziness of others, but not at everything.
A. People want personalised pet bowls, there is a market for it - some pet owners are strange, and there is enough of them for it to be feasible. She makes money, not enough that I would do it, but she makes a living.
B. That is her competition, and most businesses targetting a large market accept that.
C. Her products aren't that easy to make without a kiln, which she has access to.
Then you'd have been wrong, which doesn't really say much for your business acumen. She went into a large market, it was a risk, but she has succeeded.
I wouldn't buy from her, as I think they are tat, nor would I invest in her business as I don't think it has much scope for growth. It's a 1-2 person venture at most, and she won't be driving a Bentley anytime soon.
You don't have a business perspective on this, you have a personal perspective on it, which is the problem that so many startups come up against. Stop thinking as to whether you would buy the product, and start thinking whether enough people would also buy the product to make it profitable.
If this person wanted to start a business as a hobby, then I'd say go for it - they'll probably cover their costs, get to write in calligraphy and receive the occasional thank you from their customers to make them feel good (one of my aunts makes jam for that reason, and she enjoys it) - but this person isn't proposing a hobby venture, it is a proposal for a proper business.
It's absolutely nothing like Google creating gmail, unless you don't realise that Google had a huge readymade marketing platform. This person doesn't have that platform, and it would have been a waste of resources for Google to use that platform to market an idea such as this.
You've heard someone say that starting business is a risk and are just repeating what you've heard without understanding it completely - starting a viable business is a risk, starting a non-viable business isn't a risk, it's commerical suicide...this is a non-viable business.