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Idea threads

Is this a viable business idea?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 66.7%
  • No

    Votes: 4 33.3%

  • Total voters
    12

airwalk111

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After much deliberation and thought, a close friend and I feel we have come across a hidden gold mine.

Have you ever seen the TV show Tanked? If no, then the whole show is about these entrepreneurs who go around the USA designing fully fish tanks, that are insanely custom for big buyers. No two tanks they create are a like, and each one has its own special flare.

So long story short, my friend and I want to take this same concept and adapt it to custom PCs. For those of you who are not aware custom PCs in the gaming world are a huge business. Many of these PCs are very creative, and completely unique. Take this photo for instance:
pc-gaming-setup-guide-header-image.jpg

Creative people spend big bucks building their own PC builds only to discover its a lot harder than they originally envisioned.

This business could adapt to so much more than just the computers themselves, and expand it into entire custom gaming setups for high-end buyers. So just out of curiosity from those who have actually started their own businesses, does this sound like a viable idea?

PS: Feel free to ask any questions, and I will answer them ASAP. Thank you.
 
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wade1mil

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I definitely think there is a market for it. The main issue I see is it's only a matter of time before personal desktop computers are a thing of the past. Things are going mobile/voice. I still think the high end market exists right now, and a few builds that blow peoples' minds could jump start your brand.
 

Jeff Noel

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The problem here would be starting capital. You need several specialized machines to cut materials, polish bent or molded aluminum, etc. Would you be ready to offer X year warranty for custom liquid-cooling loops risking to fry most of the components if it goes south ?

Making a custom case is tens if not hundreds of hours.

If you look at competitors in this field, even though it's not 100% customised cases, you have monsters like digitalstorm.com, originpc.com, CyberPowerPC, iBuyPower... These guys offer 100% guaranteed stable 24/7 overclocks with their liquid cooling solutions.

You must not only think about the beauty of the build: have you thought about measuring airflow for non water-cooled components, checking each component's thermal readings with external tools for X hours for every build, optimizing hot air exhaust, etc.

This is a highly specialized niche, far from simply buying a case, putting stuff in it and selling it for 15% over its value.

The market is pretty good, the margins are huge ($4-5K starting price for serious enthusiast builds).
 
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Fastlane Liam

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The problem here would be starting capital. You need several specialized machines to cut materials, polish bent or molded aluminum, etc. Would you be ready to offer X year warranty for custom liquid-cooling loops risking to fry most of the components if it goes south ?

Making a custom case is tens if not hundreds of hours.

If you look at competitors in this field, even though it's not 100% customised cases, you have monsters like digitalstorm.com, originpc.com, CyberPowerPC, iBuyPower... These guys offer 100% guaranteed stable 24/7 overclocks with their liquid cooling solutions.

You must not only think about the beauty of the build: have you thought about measuring airflow for non water-cooled components, checking each component's thermal readings with external tools for X hours for every build, optimizing hot air exhaust, etc.

This is a highly specialized niche, far from simply buying a case, putting stuff in it and selling it for 15% over its value.

The market is pretty good, the margins are huge ($4-5K starting price for serious enthusiast builds).
Some good considerations here. But not complete failure as they can be used as barriers for entry to less serious players
 

Jeff Noel

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Some good considerations here. But not complete failure as they can be used as barriers for entry to less serious players
Totally ! My goal is not to discourage anyone, I'm just exposing some facts ;)
 

NickC

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Jayztwocents does this for famous people on youtube. Maybe im wrong but i feel like the average person enjoys building their own pc. I'm sure there's a market just a small high end one
 
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airwalk111

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So after some discussion amongst my friend and I who are interested in starting this idea. Our original idea has evolved a little bit.

Going off of our original idea, with custom gaming PCs, but rather a company that comes in HGTV style and customizes a whole room into a gaming room. Obviously this would still stay in the high end market, but could give our business a lot more capability to a wider audience, other than just the PC gaming crowd.
 

sparechange

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Go out and get some customers & see if people actually want to give you money for this

Pretty simple, ha! easier said than done :D

Marketing to pc gamers is probably one of the easiest things since they are on the computer all the time anyways
 

Zcott

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I've no input for how you would go about it, but I know people would spend money on this.

From reading your post it made me think of a friend who'd probably buy one. That's one referral for you already. ;)
 
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Kak

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After much deliberation and thought, a close friend and I feel we have come across a hidden gold mine.

Have you ever seen the TV show Tanked? If no, then the whole show is about these entrepreneurs who go around the USA designing fully fish tanks, that are insanely custom for big buyers. No two tanks they create are a like, and each one has its own special flare.

So long story short, my friend and I want to take this same concept and adapt it to custom PCs. For those of you who are not aware custom PCs in the gaming world are a huge business. Many of these PCs are very creative, and completely unique. Take this photo for instance:
pc-gaming-setup-guide-header-image.jpg

Creative people spend big bucks building their own PC builds only to discover its a lot harder than they originally envisioned.

This business could adapt to so much more than just the computers themselves, and expand it into entire custom gaming setups for high-end buyers. So just out of curiosity from those who have actually started their own businesses, does this sound like a viable idea?

PS: Feel free to ask any questions, and I will answer them ASAP. Thank you.

I think it is viable. Do gamers, in general as a demographic, have a lot of money for say a $10k computer build? Or is it an allocation thing? They are so deep into the hobby that they don't spend money on much else?

How would would scale? That is the question. There is a reason dell, apple, hp, samsung, acer, asus don't make custom computers.
 

GPM

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I am your target audience, and I don't hardly even game. I love PC's. I love high end components. I love bright and wacky colors. I love LED's on my stuff.

There is a picture of my setup on the "post your desktop" thread. I currently have 3 monitors. 2 4k running vertical, and a 34" ultrawide in the middle. I have always built my own custom computers, and love the look of a clear side with lots of crap shoved inside with red lights on it. I'm running 1080ti cards in SLI (I got them used for literally 50% of new value)

If I could have an awesome stand-up desk with lots of awesome storage space in it, and have it see-through at parts and shove it full of components that look futuristic and bad-a$$, I would be all over that!

I play about two hours of PUBG a month these days, but when I do decide to play, I want the best. I play a bit of couch co-op with my brother, but funny enough I use my old laptop for that and some ps4 remotes.

There are probably a ton of nerds out there who would buy awesome custom rigs. There is a certain income threshold that I need to hit, but once I hit that I wouldn't bat an eye at spending $10-15,000 on a desk/PC combo.
 

ALC

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There's a market for high end computers / custom computers and it's been 5 years now that i custom mine, but i don't think it will be the case in the future, however you have an open window of 5 - 8 years to make something of it, nobody said that you had to keep a business for 10 years.

By high-end clients you could target tech'startup CEO's / Team that sometime around all this noise are searching for minimalism.
Think here all the components in a wood - modern desk with just a beautiful curved screen and a lovely flour beside and nothing else, no case, no cables..

I could totally see it be done but it's not very much a gold mine as i already see this in France, Canada and USA.
 
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Timmy C

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After much deliberation and thought, a close friend and I feel we have come across a hidden gold mine.

Have you ever seen the TV show Tanked? If no, then the whole show is about these entrepreneurs who go around the USA designing fully fish tanks, that are insanely custom for big buyers. No two tanks they create are a like, and each one has its own special flare.

So long story short, my friend and I want to take this same concept and adapt it to custom PCs. For those of you who are not aware custom PCs in the gaming world are a huge business. Many of these PCs are very creative, and completely unique. Take this photo for instance:
pc-gaming-setup-guide-header-image.jpg

Creative people spend big bucks building their own PC builds only to discover its a lot harder than they originally envisioned.

This business could adapt to so much more than just the computers themselves, and expand it into entire custom gaming setups for high-end buyers. So just out of curiosity from those who have actually started their own businesses, does this sound like a viable idea?

PS: Feel free to ask any questions, and I will answer them ASAP. Thank you.


100% there is a market for it.

Do it.
 

spraybottle

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I hear a lot of "I this" "I that" "I enjoy this." While it's great to really understand your own desires and wants, you may find that projecting that to your market may result in a completely different outcome.

What you want to do when you start your service/product is to really gauge your audience and see what THEY are looking for. Common sense tells us that there definitely is a niche for people who are looking for high end gaming setups. However, that is only a superficial layer and your time is best served really digging deep into your niche and see what they're REALLY willing to pay money for.

For example, what if a lot of these people really enjoy the DIY aspect of designing their own gaming rig and would fork up $20 all day for an ebook that tells them how to build one from scratch and making sure all the components are compatible and the best resources to get the cheapest parts?

What if the majority of your audience love looking at these computer stations, but most can't actually afford it themselves and only have ~$1,000 to work with? Then it would make more sense to come up with a low-mid level rig that tries to emulate the best looking stations at an affordable cost.

These are all questions you really need to dig deep and discover, and you can only do this by physically talking to them and hearing their responses. PM them on reddit, ask peeps on facebook, tell them you're looking to get into this space but you don't really know what they're looking for and would appreciate some opinions. Would you buy this? Is this something you'd actually pay for? What are you looking for?

Building a business/service based on assumptions and "they would probably like this" is not a good foundation to build your business on. Would love to hear you take action reaching out to these people and see what they end up saying.
 

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