Ask HN: Which niche online businesses would you love to own?

16 points by bhag2066 1 year ago | 14 comments
I'm looking for inspiration:

Have you had your eye on a small website or piece of software delivered online, delivered seamlessly online (e.g. no sales team or implementation) that is just a great business but it's so good the owner won't sell?

My example is BuiltWith.

What is yours?

  • rrwright 1 year ago
    This question sounds like it was asked by a private equity investor looking to sample the tech zeitgeist before buying up and destroying some beloved tool.
    • yen223 1 year ago
      I like email marketing companies, please don't buy them up and destroy them
      • bhag2066 1 year ago
        Nah, the point is these businesses are so good the owner would never sell. So there's nothing to buy. It's more for inspiration, like, what does a good, neat, fun, useful, little internet business look like?
      • shivc 1 year ago
        Simple micro apps I guess which serve a very specific but important pain point IMHO.

        Todoist is a a good example, so is an app called Focus To-Do (the one with orange logo)

        • markus_zhang 1 year ago
          Some online obituary websites that people with the right credential can join a "group" setup by the family and share thoughts and even photos.

          Privacy could be the worst enemy, though.

          • bhag2066 1 year ago
            Great one! Internet native, simple web page, low cost and clear value transfer between the company and the customer.

            Edit: to make the comment more useful

          • keiferski 1 year ago
            > I Sell Onions on the Internet

            https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19728132

            • shanecleveland 1 year ago
              • bhag2066 1 year ago
                I've admired 750 Words as an internet business from afar for a while now. Combo of Morning Pages being a time tested tool (with Tim Ferriss as a practitioner no less) and it being a perfect match for the internet and a small subscription (daily journaling with streaks)

                The webmaster has some interesting write-ups on Indie Hackers for people wanting to know more...

              • rasmus1610 1 year ago
                • alexei_rudak 1 year ago
                  I would love to have my own service and technology to localise videos by using AI. All startups in that niche are growing so fast.
                  • bhag2066 1 year ago
                    Looks like you are living your dream :) Best of luck with it!
                    • alexei_rudak 1 year ago
                      Thanks! But I'm still not in my dream, may be next year will be able to create technology that can do that with desired level of quality ))
                  • greentext 1 year ago
                    Maybe something low effort and ironic like you'd find on a web ring, but even less effort.
                    • 1 year ago