Ask HN: How did you start your business? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#121

Post by scrapeworm » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 7:24 PM UTC

I was 14 when I really got into minecraft. I played a lot with my brother. After a year, I thought it would be fun making minecraft videos. I had a bit of experience in motion design so my videos looked better than average. I started getting requests to design logos, intros and websites. On the day I turned 16, the legal age to start a company in France, I launched a design agency for other minecraft youtubers. [1]

It was a side project and it stayed a part-time gig. It paid well for a 16 years old, I was able to buy all the things I wanted(!) But then I had a sort of epiphany: buying things didn't make me happier, the youtube views and twitter followers lost their meaning. So I stopped.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/user/dispensir

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#122

Post by pharaohgeek » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 8:15 PM UTC

stevesearer wrote: post #99

Office Snapshots ( https://officesnapshots.com ) was started ~11 years ago as a side project while I was teaching middle and high school history. It got fairly popular immediately due to early viral sharing on Twitter and Digg. I just kept going at posting to it for the next several years. Eventually I decided to stop teaching, and my wife and I moved to a new city, and decided to do something else for a career. Thro…

I check out your site every few weeks. I really enjoy looking at the design and layouts in offices around the world. No real reason for it. It’s just a nice distraction sometimes. (Especially in boring meetings!) Keep up the good work!

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#123

Post by greysteil » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 8:17 PM UTC

k1ns wrote: post #118

greysteil wrote: post #5

I left my job, took some time out, and then started building my business ( https://dependabot.com ). Financially, it's been tough - after 10 months Dependabot makes $2,100 a month (although that's now growing quite fast). I know I'm the kind of personality that couldn't have started it at the same time as working a full time job, though - I need to be really focussed on one thing at a time.

From what channels did you gain the most initial traction? After reading your other comments, I assume you didn't do "traditional" sales such as cold calling/emailing, so I'm curious as to how you built up a user base. I'm currently struggling to do that exact thing with my own business right now. I started selling (cold calling/emailing, demoing, PH/HN/IH posts, etc.) Jan. 1 2018 and I feel like there's something I'…

I did an interview for Indie Hackers with some detail (https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/dependabot) but the short answer is cold sales was how I got started, followed by piggybacking off of GitHub's new marketplace.

I can't stress enough how valuable (from a learning perspective) sales was for Dependabot, but only after I started targeting the right people. For Dependabot that was commenting on open-source dependency update PRs (that people had created manually).

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#124

Post by imhoguy » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 9:54 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #2

I have had some side projects make a little bit of money, but never enough to make any sort of headway toward replacing my full-time job. My current effort is also a side business while I continue to work my FT job. It is definitely detrimental to the business to continue to devote 40+ hours per week to something else, but I need to feed my family (if I was young and single with no other financial obligations, I woul…

As one with family but also safety cushion I would also recommend a middle option for those in fear: negotiate part-time switch. Start with 4/5 days job to heal burn-out and spend Fridays on some own side experiments.

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#125

Post by imhoguy » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 9:59 PM UTC

ibz wrote: post #52

sreyaNotfilc wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what, I've never thought about that possibility at all. Usually, when you hear about starting a business while working, you're just working extra hours on top of your 9-5. Maybe I can try that with the leave I have saved up and then ease my way into a part-time gig. Well, after I start making money on the side business. Thanks for the insight.

1st step, going from 5 days / week to 4 days / week is pretty much a no brainer. You get 50% more free time for 20% less money. I did that 2 years ago and never looked back. Sometimes I switch to 3 days / week, then back to 4 days, depending on how I feel. But I would never consider a "full time job" more than 4 days / week. But sure, I am getting shit done, so I don't have a problem asking for that.

Well said! Just for a statistical curiosity, which weekdays do you work? :)

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#126

Post by assafmo » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

haggenballs wrote: post #110

I decided to quit my full-time job in Feb and go 100% start-up. Two of the largest risks I considered before taking the plunge was career risk, and financial risk. For financial risk, I’m from Waterloo Canada, which is a relatively low-cost area. I’m doing some part-time contracting to pay off the bills just to break even. I am okay to lose out on the opportunity cost of earning more money at a full-time job. I treat…

This looks interesting! I love the idea of crypto currencies index fund.

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#127

Post by OtterCoder » Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 11:20 PM UTC

k1ns wrote: post #119

nickjj wrote: post #33

I started freelancing just under 20 years ago and have worked as a solo developer ever since. Maybe this isn't the best advice but I think we're capable of doing pretty extraordinary things when you're thrown into the deep end. You'd be surprised at how things start to work out once you're 100% out of your comfort zone. I'm not saying quit your job immediately while still in debt or whatever. I just think that if you…

> I think we're capable of doing pretty extraordinary things when you're thrown into the deep end This resonates with me as I've been there once already in my life and felt the same thing. A very sudden life-changing situation popped up unexpectedly and I just had to dig my heels in and push forward. You really find out what you're made of when failure is not an option. It turned out great and got me a job at a Fortu…

Grit, I think. It's not a static trait, the way some people talk about it. More something you discover when you need it.

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#128

Post by hndamien » Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 12:43 AM UTC

Fradow wrote: post #21

Neither. After getting my degree, I continued a student project for 1 year that went nowhere. Eventually, I realized it wasn't going anywhere, so I decided to look for a job. I went to a hackathon, summarily said I was looking for a job on stage at the end. Instead, someone I already knew came talk to me about their startup idea (which had PoC already live, a solid business plan and good proofs the project could be v…

Thanks for the honesty about the cushion. Often these tidbits get left out. It is really interesting to understand all the puzzle pieces and the mentality of those that made it.

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#129

Post by bitcoinmoney » Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 1:52 AM UTC

altharaz wrote: post #87

I started a first company with some friend. I was in charge of the IT, he was in charge on Sales. However, things were catastrophic as I was selling more than him. A huge conflict occurred and I closed the company. => I lost some money in the process, but I learnt a lot. Then, a friend from Engineering school just graduated. We had previously worked together on side-projects, and we had a common passion for cybersecu…

I'm curious what does a cyber security company do? Do you do pen testing for other companies? Consulting? Also what is your background? Thanks

Re: Ask HN: How did you start your business?

#130

Post by lpaone » Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 6:20 AM UTC

My first startup attempt was a indie game right out of university. In hindsight, I was too inexperienced, and as the only programmer on the game; it failed.

I got a job and worked there for ~3 years to gain experience, learn, and make some money. About 2 years into that, I started working on a side project with my lead and we left about a year later to work on it full time.

https://www.stroom.live started out as a live streaming video "social network for local happenings". Shortly before we launched, Facebook Live/Meerkat/Periscope were launched, and we could not gather any traction. We took our base tech and pivoted, turning it into a low cost, high quality (allowing the user to plug their professional camera into a cell phone) professional live streaming platform for video and broadcast professionals. After 2 years, we are finally starting to gain traction and customers.

My founder and I were able to pay for it through savings, me sucking it up and living at home, side contracts, and a Canadian government research program IRAP.