You really think inflation cannot affect a successful business? When the economy is becomes tough for the customers, they may demand less than they usually do. Economic conditions can affect any business, even if the business is well known to everyone. In my opinion, a strong business can survive the difficult times than what people do not always demand.
Right. Inflation hits everyone. Nobody is immune.
When price inflation takes off, the first thing to go is the unwarranted, frivolous and non-essentials. Even a famous brand name or a giant balance sheet cannot save a company if its main business suddenly becomes a luxury item people cannot afford or justify buying.
In addition, before going into any business, you need to understand what people in that environment demand. You can’t just go into a business and start selling what people are not interested in. Even if I want to start a business, I will also consider selling something that my friends would like to buy from me instead of buying from other people.
With this I do not agree. Look at the weirdest, most lucrative businesses out there. They are not asking focus groups or surveying their college buddies about what they want to buy. They find hyper-specific friction, the absurd, inconvenient things people quietly hate dealing with, and monetize on that. Asking "what do people want?" ends up with saturated marketplaces and boringly generic answers like a coffee shop or a t-shirt company. A real business sells a fix for a problem people havent even articulated yet. Take for example Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, GoPro... I could go on forever. No one asked for these products and services. We didnt even know we needed them. Yet, their creators had a vision that ultimately paid off.
So, I say... Build something so undeniably useful or odd that a total stranger in another timezone wants to buy. And leave your friends out of it. they buy out of courtesy once or twice, but that is not a sustainable market.