{"slug": "3-side-hustles-in-a-trench-coat", "title": "3 Side Hustles In a Trench Coat", "summary": "Investor and writer Paul Graham-style pitch critic observes that many startup pitches, particularly new AI-driven software for tradespeople like plumbers, are actually \"3 side hustles in a trench coat\" — a single company claiming to be accounting software, scheduling, payroll, marketing, websites, sales tracking, and a CRM at once. The observation highlights a recurring pattern in which B2B companies tack on unrelated B2C features or promise to do everything, rather than focusing on one business.", "body_md": "So, I listen to a lot of pitches. One thing that I notice frequently is that there are pitches that are a business, and pitches that are 3 side hustles in a trench coat. This is a little hard to describe, but you know it when you see it. It’s the B2B company that nonetheless has a B2C social media application tacked on. Or the product that does everything.\n\nLately I’ve been seeing this archetype a lot with software for the trades - I suppose in part because that demographic is underserved, and a number of AI juiced founders are trying to serve it now. The pitch goes like “We’re accounting software for X (let’s say plumbers)! Also, we do scheduling, and payroll, and marketing, and websites, and sales tracking, and we’re a CRM.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/3-side-hustles-in-a-trench-coat", "canonical_source": "https://huntersoftwareconsulting.com/posts/2026-09-13-3-businesses-in-a-trench-coat/", "published_at": "2026-09-06 12:46:43+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-13 18:22:30.684279+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-startups"], "entities": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/3-side-hustles-in-a-trench-coat", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/3-side-hustles-in-a-trench-coat.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/3-side-hustles-in-a-trench-coat.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/3-side-hustles-in-a-trench-coat.jsonld"}}