How does one become a Bitcoin entrepreneur?

[BoardGameCoin]

Well, I'm hoping to become a bitcoin entrepreneur by selling things I like (strategy board games). Startup post is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83111.0, I'd like to hear whether any of you are interested or have any feedback.

-bgc

[1715137001]

1715137001

[1715137001]

1715137001

[cheapster]

I really like the way this thread is going and it's been fun clicking through the websites in your signatures.  As a 'non-developer,' I've been earning bitcoins through commerce like many others.  As in the real-world, most entrepreneurs capitalize on their existing skills and knowledge.  Accountants get private clients and do their taxes, teachers get private students, mechanics repair their friends' cars, etc.  So i think it's pretty cool when non tech-wizards are able to get in and make a profit.

[Gabi]

[cbeast]

And some people will outright steal your idea and call it their own, like what happened with my Twunker idea.

At least with Bitcoin, if someone steals your idea and it is successful then the Bitcoin economy grows in value and we all win. I hope to come up with ideas that many people imitate.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Off topic but if you ask Google maps for walking directions (only works for walking) from "The Shire" to "Mordor" you get

Walking directions are in beta.
Use caution – One does not simply walk into Mordor.

Oh those google engineers.  Always time for fun and games.

[kjlimo]

I have a metric fuckton of ideas, but lack the PHP and Java skills (let alone TIME) to make them happen.

Ditto. I have plenty of ideas that are within my skillset however and I plan on developing as many as possible. Too bad none of my current projects are profitable enough for me to quit my day job without my wife leaving me.

I tend to agree with FreeMoney in that there are really only a relatively small subset of bitcoin enthusiasts actively working on new ideas but only because most people lack the confidence to just jump in and try. Look at me, I have almost no coding skills and I'm directly involved in running seven bitcoin based projects with almost that many on the backburner. And that's not even counting the ones I support with some BTC and some other minimal contributions like lovebitcoins.org and bitcoin100.org.

+1

[kjlimo]

I just thought of something. I've read the rules about not wearing a shirt with ads unless approved, but what about a tattoo, albeit a temporary one on his arm(s) (or legs, if wearing shorts)?

Or wearing these...



But with this...

Do this and you'll be a bitcoin entrepreneur... and I'm guessing a shit ton of people will buy them!

[Elwar]

Step 1: Collect Bitcoins
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I just thought of something. I've read the rules about not wearing a shirt with ads unless approved, but what about a tattoo, albeit a temporary one on his arm(s) (or legs, if wearing shorts)?

Or wearing these...



But with this...

Do this and you'll be a bitcoin entrepreneur... and I'm guessing a shit ton of people will buy them!

There's a site I once visited that can do just this at a reasonable cost. A little Googling should get you there.

Off topic but if you ask Google maps for walking directions (only works for walking) from "The Shire" to "Mordor" you get

Walking directions are in beta.
Use caution – One does not simply walk into Mordor.

Oh those google engineers.  Always time for fun and games.

I first learned about their fun and games when I once Googled "anagram" (no quotes needed).

~Bruno~

[evoorhees]

The most important attribute of a good Bitcoin project/business, is that it does something unique to bitcoin. This means, don't try to build a business that could be done with dollars because the person doing it for dollars has a market 100,000x larger than yours and you will fail.

To succeed, you need a project that was not possible before Bitcoin occurred. This takes more creativity, but is crucial.

We can use a couple of my projects as examples here:
FeedZeBirds.com - works because it was impossible to pay thousands of anonymous users with micropayments before Bitcoin
Paysius.com - works because it was impossible to accept payments from any country at low fees without chargebacks before Bitcoin
SatoshiDice.com - works because it was impossible to accept and pay wagering money to and from gamblers without user accounts, and with public roll verification, before Bitcoin.
Coinapult.com - works because it was impossible to send money anonymously via email before Bitcoin

As a counter example, I had also for a while built a web-based VoIP service using Bitcoin. It failed, and was abandoned, because it was totally doable before Bitcoin, and thus had no real competitive advantage. It didn't serve any newly created need.  I've pondered through (and scrapped) various other projects for this same reason.

So, when you do have an idea, ask yourself, "could this service be provided without Bitcoin". If yes, drop the idea. If no, then consider it.

In the future, when Bitcoin usage is far higher, then a wider variety of businesses become possible. Perhaps my VoIP project would work in a year or five, but not today.

Also, if you're going to make a business, please make it professional. If you are not a professional programmer, find one. If you are not a professional designer, find one. If you are not a professional writer, find one. If you can't afford these things, and you can't convince anyone to loan you the money to afford them, then your idea is not good enough to go to market. No matter how good your idea is, you better build it to be beautiful and highly functional, otherwise it will be ignored. The idea itself is not nearly as important as the execution of the idea.

Also realize that almost any idea you can think of is likely to fail. So when you inevitably fail, get up and do it again, better.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

The most important attribute of a good Bitcoin project/business, is that it does something unique to bitcoin. This means, don't try to build a business that could be done with dollars because the person doing it for dollars has a market 100,000x larger than yours and you will fail.

To succeed, you need a project that was not possible before Bitcoin occurred. This takes more creativity, but is crucial.

We can use a couple of my projects as examples here:
FeedZeBirds.com - works because it was impossible to pay thousands of anonymous users with micropayments before Bitcoin
Paysius.com - works because it was impossible to accept payments from any country at low fees without chargebacks before Bitcoin
SatoshiDice.com - works because it was impossible to accept and pay wagering money to and from gamblers without user accounts, and with public roll verification, before Bitcoin.
Coinapult.com - works because it was impossible to send money anonymously via email before Bitcoin

As a counter example, I had also for a while built a web-based VoIP service using Bitcoin. It failed, and was abandoned, because it was totally doable before Bitcoin, and thus had no real competitive advantage. It didn't serve any newly created need.  I've pondered through (and scrapped) various other projects for this same reason.

So, when you do have an idea, ask yourself, "could this service be provided without Bitcoin". If yes, drop the idea. If no, then consider it.

In the future, when Bitcoin usage is far higher, then a wider variety of businesses become possible. Perhaps my VoIP project would work in a year or five, but not today.

Also, if you're going to make a business, please make it professional. If you are not a professional programmer, find one. If you are not a professional designer, find one. If you are not a professional writer, find one. If you can't afford these things, and you can't convince anyone to loan you the money to afford them, then your idea is not good enough to go to market. No matter how good your idea is, you better build it to be beautiful and highly functional, otherwise it will be ignored. The idea itself is not nearly as important as the execution of the idea.

Also realize that almost any idea you can think of is likely to fail. So when you inevitably fail, get up and do it again, better.

Another reason why evoorhees is my favorite user on this forum. (apologies to Rassah)

~Bruno~

[dropboxexpander]

I'm not very convinced that people who posess bitcoins are actually keen on spend it on merchandise, lets say. Most of them will try to speculate and profit and that's a very bad thing for the future of bitcoin economy. It's very difficult to invest money in such a business where the bitcoin price is manipulated. Anyway, bitcoin is a good example for people that there are better alternatives anytime, but people fail to use them due to their greed.

[acoindr]

To succeed, you need a project that was not possible before Bitcoin occurred. This takes more creativity, but is crucial.

+1

[evoorhees]

Most of them will try to speculate and profit and that's a very bad thing for the future of bitcoin economy.

Fully disagree. Speculation and profit are good things, and without them Bitcoin dies. My sincere hope is that Bitcoin enables massive profits for all sorts of people. You profit when you don't pay a fee to Visa. You profit when you send money to your friend in Italy. You profit when you can buy products 2% under retail due to the lack of chargeback risk with the merchant (and the merchant profits when you buy from him). You profit when you're able to hide your money from nasty governments, and the victims of what those funds would have been spent on profit by not being victimized. You profit when you can buy whatever you want, from anyone in the world, without 3rd party interference. And you profit when your assets are held in a currency that cannot be debased in perpetuity.

All that profit, and much more, is the promise of Bitcoin and if that's not worthy of speculation then I don't know what is.

Let's hope Bitcoin continually enables greater and greater profits for you, me, and society. If not, then for what purpose do we use it?

[SgtSpike]

Actually, this thread has me thinking of an idea...

A website to match up Bitcoin idea-makers, programmers, and venture capitalists.  An idea-maker might post up that they have an idea, but need a programmer and 1000 BTC.  Or, a venture capitalist might post up that they have 20,000 BTC available to invest in good ideas.  Then, people looking for ideas to invest in, or programmers to program, or venture capitalists to badger, can browse through the listings and see what's what.

Only problem is, how would you prevent people from stealing ideas once they know about it?  A programmer could say they want to work on a project, get the details on the idea, and then just go do it himself without giving any credit to the original guy.  You could mitigate some of that with patent protection, but not every idea is patent-able, and not everyone who has an idea has the money to patent it.

[Bees Brothers]

To succeed, you need a project that was not possible before Bitcoin occurred. This takes more creativity, but is crucial.

+1

Depends on what your definition of success is. 

With Bees Brothers, we just wanted to expand (an already existing) little side business, and excepting bitcoins has increased our sales just enough that we don't want to expand much anymore...for now

[acoindr]

To succeed, you need a project that was not possible before Bitcoin occurred. This takes more creativity, but is crucial.

+1

Depends on what your definition of success is. 

With Bees Brothers, we just wanted to expand (an already existing) little side business, and excepting bitcoins has increased our sales just enough that we don't want to expand much anymore...for now

Yes, I agree accepting Bitcoin is a great idea and can help the bottom line of any existing business.

But the OP asked about becoming a Bitcoin entrepreneur, which I take to mean the business will primarily accept Bitcoin.

Nice site BTW 

[DeathAndTaxes]

I'm not very convinced that people who posess bitcoins are actually keen on spend it on merchandise, lets say. Most of them will try to speculate and profit and that's a very bad thing for the future of bitcoin economy. It's very difficult to invest money in such a business where the bitcoin price is manipulated. Anyway, bitcoin is a good example for people that there are better alternatives anytime, but people fail to use them due to their greed.

I disagree.  The week to week changes in Bitcoin don't really matter what matters is the holding cost.  What matters is the cash flow volatility resulting from the window between getting paid and exchanging for fiat (or some or all of the coins to pay your non-coin expenses).  The hourly fluctuations are much smaller now and if you can't handle it then for ~2% Bit-pay will absorb all that risk for you.  Sell something for $100, they give customer a price in BTC, you get $98 (after fees).  

[bitdragon]

This is not related to Bitcoin but more the entrepreneur side:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/05/24/six-figure-businesses-built-for-less-than-100-17-lessons-learned/

thought it might inspire YOU !

[Seal]

Actually, this thread has me thinking of an idea...

A website to match up Bitcoin idea-makers, programmers, and venture capitalists.  An idea-maker might post up that they have an idea, but need a programmer and 1000 BTC.  Or, a venture capitalist might post up that they have 20,000 BTC available to invest in good ideas.  Then, people looking for ideas to invest in, or programmers to program, or venture capitalists to badger, can browse through the listings and see what's what.

Only problem is, how would you prevent people from stealing ideas once they know about it?  A programmer could say they want to work on a project, get the details on the idea, and then just go do it himself without giving any credit to the original guy.  You could mitigate some of that with patent protection, but not every idea is patent-able, and not everyone who has an idea has the money to patent it.

Y Combinator does this. I'm not sure how they prevent stealing ideas though. Anyone?