Don't start a hosting company
I talk to a lot of people who are just starting their first startup. An oddly large percentage of them want to know what it'll take to start a webhosting company. This isn't surprising, as web hosting companies like GoDaddy are very visible. Almost everyone needs some sort of hosting to get started. The technical challenges don't seem overwhelming to the beginner - chances are, they've played with some sort of server already. Most importantly, hosting services seem to make a lot of money. To the uninitiated, this seems like a great area to enter. In this essay, I hope to explain why you shouldn't start a hosting service, while also explaining more general pitfalls beginners encounter.
#It's never about the money Lots of beginners fall for the 1% fallacy (the idea that all they need to succeed is 1% of the market) when selecting what to build. They see large, entrenched players as a good sign - there's money to be made here. Large companies are particularly keen on no