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I wouldn't consider this validation of the idea. It is just a bunch of people in SF that don't care about five bucks.

We eat a lot of bread in my house. I would love a few loafs delivered every other day for a reasonable rate like how they deliver my newspaper.



But what about the stuff you are putting onto your bread? Unless you also have a delivery service for groceries, you'd still have to go to the store.


http://getbreadbox.com

> Beyond bread, we offer a rotating selection of coffees, cheeses, cured meats, oils and vinegars and more. Each is locally produced and carefully selected.


They sell bread. They got 150 orders in 2 hours. Their idea was validated.


It depends what net profit % was.

Businesses that lose money on every sale are not survivable.

They need to track all of their costs and see if it's going to be remotely profitable.


Actually in the modern business world, as long as you're growing, you're survivable. Cash influxes (loans, investment) can support a business for years - Amazon did it. You just need to convince investors that you have a story.


That's an anecdotal example. Amazon is different in that Bezos has enough room to dial back reinvestment and generate more cash or turn up reinvestment to reduce apparent profit.

Profit doesn't just magically appear, costs and pricing have to eventually face reality. Sooner, the better.

Spending more money does not necessarily make a business any better. That's like these noob business people that buy stock before they sell any of it... An example of a horrible waste of cash.

Without profit, it's not a business, it's an idea-guy dream.


No that's just an 'example'. Many startups fit this model. I'm in one that's in the 5th year, still growing, still with financial backing. Many are in this mode until bought out (or of course until they fail).


Was the idea really validated? Is their business model "get on the front page of HN daily"? If not, absolutely nothing was validated.


They didn't just get a lot of people to their page. They also got a large chunk of their visitors to pay them. The first part might not be sustainable - and it seems they weren't planning for it to be as this was a one time offer - but it definitely validated something, and also put them in touch with a lot of customers.




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