I'm not convinced that is true. The JCB digger didn't put groundworkers out of business. A consultant that can get more done in a day is worth a lot more than one who can't. There is still skill required in wielding the tool of the day and that skill is marketable.
Thanks for your kind response. Could you guide further? Like businesses don't care about the tool/tech itself, how do I find and approach them, and for which niche.
> Like businesses don't care about the tool/tech itself, how do I find and approach them, and for which niche.
You probably don't realize this, but you're asking one of the hardest questions when starting a business, and one of the questions others are least likely to be able to answer for you.
"finding" a niche, and connecting to the business folks inside that 'niche' is hard, and is inherently a personal journey.
There's an old writing adage, "Write about what you know", and the same adage works in business: Do business with what you know.
Your question goes into another issue that you have to resolve when building a business: going into a platform specialization necessarily means folks know about that platform or they know they need you to solve a problem they have with that platform.
In general, there are two ways out of each problem:
1. Build an ecosystem with DuckDB at its center that solves a business problem that a particular niche cares about.
2. Build a reputation solving problems with DuckDB that would attract those that know they have a problem with DuckDB.
Honestly, best of luck here, becoming successful at business is hard if you're not already in tune with why folks buy and ensuring you're selling something they want to buy from you.
There is a theory called diffusion of innovation. The simple explanation is that there are 5 different cohorts of buyers. Early adopters, visionaries, pragmatists, conservatives and laggards. Early adopters and visionaries are risk takers, who will make bold moves to achieve order of magnitude results. This is called the early market, which represents 13% of the market. The pragmatists and conservatives make up the mainstream market which is about 70%.
In order to get into the mainstream market, you need solid adoption from the early market.
To choose a niche, you need to develop a solution that fits nicely into the buyers expectations for different types of market participants. There is the market alternative and product alternative. The market alternative is the solution that owns the highest proportion of market share. The product alternative is innovative tech that challenges superiority to the market alternative.
You need to introduce a solution that fits in between those participants to stand out.
To choose a solution, go to industry trade events and talk to people about high value problems that aren’t solved by current participants. That is the purpose of industry associations, to solve difficult problems.
Visionaries and early adopters love new vendors. They will champion you through their organization if your solution will help them meet their goals.
That's going to be a difficult business in this age unless you have some uniquely strong ideas and products.
I'm not convinced that is true. The JCB digger didn't put groundworkers out of business. A consultant that can get more done in a day is worth a lot more than one who can't. There is still skill required in wielding the tool of the day and that skill is marketable.
Sorry, I don't think your non-software analogy that existed before 2025 helps at all in this specific topic about software consultancy.
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Thanks for your kind response. Could you guide further? Like businesses don't care about the tool/tech itself, how do I find and approach them, and for which niche.
Thanks in Advance
> Like businesses don't care about the tool/tech itself, how do I find and approach them, and for which niche.
You probably don't realize this, but you're asking one of the hardest questions when starting a business, and one of the questions others are least likely to be able to answer for you.
"finding" a niche, and connecting to the business folks inside that 'niche' is hard, and is inherently a personal journey.
There's an old writing adage, "Write about what you know", and the same adage works in business: Do business with what you know.
Your question goes into another issue that you have to resolve when building a business: going into a platform specialization necessarily means folks know about that platform or they know they need you to solve a problem they have with that platform.
In general, there are two ways out of each problem:
1. Build an ecosystem with DuckDB at its center that solves a business problem that a particular niche cares about. 2. Build a reputation solving problems with DuckDB that would attract those that know they have a problem with DuckDB.
Honestly, best of luck here, becoming successful at business is hard if you're not already in tune with why folks buy and ensuring you're selling something they want to buy from you.
I use to be in sales before I became an MLE.
There is a theory called diffusion of innovation. The simple explanation is that there are 5 different cohorts of buyers. Early adopters, visionaries, pragmatists, conservatives and laggards. Early adopters and visionaries are risk takers, who will make bold moves to achieve order of magnitude results. This is called the early market, which represents 13% of the market. The pragmatists and conservatives make up the mainstream market which is about 70%.
In order to get into the mainstream market, you need solid adoption from the early market.
To choose a niche, you need to develop a solution that fits nicely into the buyers expectations for different types of market participants. There is the market alternative and product alternative. The market alternative is the solution that owns the highest proportion of market share. The product alternative is innovative tech that challenges superiority to the market alternative.
You need to introduce a solution that fits in between those participants to stand out.
To choose a solution, go to industry trade events and talk to people about high value problems that aren’t solved by current participants. That is the purpose of industry associations, to solve difficult problems.
Visionaries and early adopters love new vendors. They will champion you through their organization if your solution will help them meet their goals.
Good luck
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