🧠 Smart Founders Avoid These

Together with

👋 Hi there - it’s Egemen. Thanks for reading Scalable.

Thinking about a founders gathering on Zoom so everybody gets to put a face behind the name. Reply to this email if you wanna join, planning for the end of Oct.

I read something along these lines the other day on LinkedIn:

“Not that many years ago, it was really hard and expensive to build something, but it was easy to find people willing to to use what you built. It’s the opposite now.”

Got me thinking - why is that the opposite now? Is it because there is a lack of talent? People working less? Technology not being any better? People stopped using products?

Success often depends on being in the right place at the right time. Although it may sounds counter-intuitive, a founder must know when to pull the plug on an idea.

I observe that a lot founder who simply pursue “bad ideas” and fall into tarpits, which is impossible to escape on their own. Or at the very least, sucks all their time and energy instead gaining traction.

Well, in today’s edition, we’re gonna have a deep-dive on how to avoid those.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the menu today:

🧠 Deep-Dive: Why “Bad” Ideas Exist

Some ideas seem great at first, but end up being a major drain on your time and resources.

Y Combinator identifies “tarpit ideas” as follows:

So, let's chat about "tarpit ideas"—those tricky, overcomplicated concepts that can bog down founders. Their characteristics:

• Problems that seem solvable because others succeeded, like apps helping you find new restaurants.

• Ideas riding on popular trends but feel overdone, like "a new social network for X."

• Projects tough to grow, such as hardware startups needing loads of cash before seeing results.

Even solid ideas from the past can become tarpits today. If you realize you're stuck in one,you might have to pivot.

The label of “bad ideas” exists because founders fail to execute or pivot at the right time. First, understand your founder-problem ft:

• Some ideas attract tons of founders because they seem exciting (think partying with celebrities), leading to heavy competition.

• Overcrowded markets (like generic social apps) have low demand, while there's high demand for software solving real business problems.

Tarpit ideas usually have too many founders chasing too little customer interest. Only a few founders have what it takes to pull them off, in a way they are uniquely positioned at.

Think of it like job hunting: unique skills make you stand out. If you've tackled niche problems or have industry insights, you might be perfect for a startup that's off the beaten path.

👉 If you are a founder, there is nothing wrong with building something in a crowded space. But to avoid a tarpit, or your idea becoming a bad one:

• do your homework, know what it takes to succeed,

• consider how you are uniquely positioned to pull that off.

🗺️ Method: Tips to Run With A “Good” Startup Idea

Here are two considerations I can recommend to execute a successful pivot:

• Shift to ideas where fewer people are competing and customers are eager for solutions.

• Avoid the crowded, easy paths. Venture into less-traveled territories—it's tougher but more rewarding.

Along with a bunch of other parameters, I’ve actually come up with a checklist for you to identify what a good startup idea is:

I hope it comes in handy - it’s yours!

💡 Spotlight: Leonardo

Leonardo.AI simplifies visual content creation by offering an easy-to-use platform for producing professional-quality assets.

I’ve used it a few times to play around, their print-on-demand solution is quite interested, you can as well build a whole e-com store with that.

Here’s what you can do with Leonardo:

• Create high-quality images and graphics fast

• Focus on speed and consistency

• Perfect for digital projects and creative content

👉 Not sure if it’s built on top of Midjourney or if' it’s a direct competitor, but Leonardo’s capability is solid. Something I’m thinking about using for social media posts.

👋 Building a startup? Here’s how I can help:

📨 Keep in mind - you can also reply to this email, I read every reply.

☝️ Scaled This Past Week: Artisan

As you might have noticed, we have covered Artisan before, they are probably my favorite SaaS discovery in Q3, but we’re revisiting them on a different tangent this time.

They announced a $11.5 million Seed Round led by Oliver Jung, with participation from Y Combinator, HubSpot Ventures, Day One Ventures, Fellows Fund, Soma Capital, BOND, 10x Founders, Bayhouse Capital, Sequoia Scout, and others.

They've already achieved $1 million in ARR in just 3 months, with over 120 customers onboard, including Treatwell, Fondo, and Rho.

Wow. Remarkable progress. Definitely the scale of the week!

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