Need Serious Opinions

Want to build a AI startup. Finding it impossible as 1) Incumbents with distribution and data will easily build AI to their products 2) I don’t have PhD to build something truly innovative. 3) For consumer space, I don’t think it’s possible to build a new device or a OS etc (Incumbents again!) I seriously wonder how startup founders start something! Do they just BS VCs about nice ideas and raise money? Any tips *from actual founders* will be useful

Is this true or is it just me? I feel at this point there are no moats in consumer fintech. The framework seems to be in a rut, everybody is doing the same thing. Account aggregator, spend insights, personal loans, credit card, mutual funds, indian stocks, us stocks, etc etc. If 5 different apps have literally the same features, with no meaningful edge over the other, what would you go for? How do they stand out? Customer support? Onboarding? Branding? Picking a niche TG? Wanna hear what other product folks think about this.

I might sound stupid here but please hear me out. The market is crowded with so many startups in every domain. Older startups are much more stable, on track to become profitable or are already profitable with a huge market share. Not to forget the legacy companies with deep pockets and years of R&D and experience. Along with the competition, funding is another major pain point now because of various reasons we all know of. Also, somewhere I feel we don't face a lot of burning problems we faced a few years back which gave birth to a lot of startups who were actually solving some problem. Most of the new age startups out there are not really solving any problem but just offering premium products or services targeting just the high earning individuals. Most of the new ideas are repetitive with no major differentiation or value add. Because of all these reasons, I feel we might see very few new startups in future let alone successful ones. Share your thoughts please!

Silent layoffs. Heard it from friends at Leap. I know a few folks who have been let go as well.

Is working on your own startup while in MNC a moonlight case, will it lead to serious blow from your company. Wanted to know the opinion what happens when your manager finds out that you also run a startup. What are the possibile things you can do to avoid this ? Any recommendations by anyone . Or any things to be aware of ?

What questions would you ask to evaluate if you should join an early stage startup in this market? The objective is to ensure job longevity, avoid getting laid off and experience a reasonable amount of growth. Is there anything else that we can do apart from asking questions to the company folks?

Currently I’m in the stage of building the MVP of my idea. Idea is not something unique. Already has a lot of competitors. In that scenario what is the chance of somebody investing in my startup. And I am also not from any tier 1 colleges or not an ex employee of any unicorn startups. In fact I am a college drop out from a tier 3 college. What is chance of I’m getting funding?

Soonicorn founder Shoot your questions!

Having worked for both early stage startups and large corporations, the work satisfaction I get by working for startups is unmatched. I’m currently identifying few of the startups to work for as an experienced software engineer. What are the metrics and parameters to look for? There are some brilliant minds here who share their awesome knowledge, your thoughts will be appreciated!