More At-Bats for B2C Startups in the Community

An entrepreneur recently asked me why we don’t have more B2C startups in town. Consumer startups, as opposed to business ones, have a lower success rate. Much like the movie business, even experts have a hard time telling what’s going to do well financially and what isn’t — it’s a “hits” business. With the continued success of Yik Yak here, there’s a renewed interest, and hope, in more B2C startups locally. What’s the solution? More at bats. More swings. More strikeouts. More hits.

Here are a few thoughts on more at-bats for B2C startups:

• Incubators like Switchyards are working on developing institutional knowledge around what does, and doesn’t work, while catalyzing the community
• More local success will result in more local hires that get exposed to consumer startups, and in turn they’ll start their own companies (success breeds success but there’s a chicken and egg problem to get it going)
• More meetups, experience sharing, and public startup funerals will help give people confidence to take more at-bats, and if it doesn’t work, closure to move on

When someone asks about creating more B2C startups, tell them it’s a numbers game and that we need more at-bats.

What else? What are some more thoughts on at-bats and B2C startups?