Try contract work. There's a lot of "downtime" where you're looking for contract work that you can work on side projects and as your project picks up you can adjust the amount of contracting to fill the gaps.
Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
41–50 of 59 posts
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#42I haven’t done it, but I have known some who are good at what they do to go contracting 3 days a week (or however many) making higher day rates and spend their spare days building their startup.. would that help you ramp up quicker without taking on debt?
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#43Very similar position to you, apart from I'm in the UK and have a b2b app.
To start with, unless you already know people, raising money can be a full-time job in itself, everyone wants to offer advice and no one wants to cut a cheque.
I took a massively risk-averse approach instead of aiming for $1m ARR I started with building a self-sustaining app that pays the mortgage/rent, then all the bills, then matches your salary.
Smaller more achievable goals will stave off burnout because you won't feel like you're failing everyday you're not making $1m ARR.
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#44I did this. I grew my project, Buttondown [ https://buttondown.email ] from high three figures to low five figures while doing it as a nights-and-weekends thing at Stripe and then quit to work on it full time. It was a great decision and I'm happy I did it! (I also did it, frankly, with significant runway in the bank if I needed it, and no dependents besides my wife so the tail risk of "this goes to zero and/or I hat…
not meaning to be a hater, I'm sure the service itself is great, but what stack are you using to make the web page scroll so unresposive? And the source is just , is it flutter?
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#45[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#46I did this. I grew my project, Buttondown [ https://buttondown.email ] from high three figures to low five figures while doing it as a nights-and-weekends thing at Stripe and then quit to work on it full time. It was a great decision and I'm happy I did it! (I also did it, frankly, with significant runway in the bank if I needed it, and no dependents besides my wife so the tail risk of "this goes to zero and/or I hat…
not meaning to be a hater, I'm sure the service itself is great, but what stack are you using to make the web page scroll so unresposive? And the source is just , is it flutter?
No offense taken, but that's odd to hear! There's nothing really fancy happening on the marketing pages: it's built in Next, but like you said it's all pretty much just divs with no scroll-jacking. Mind emailing me (justin@buttondown.email) details so I can try and repro?
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#47The question for me is, what are you going to use the capital for? Hire devs to accelerate progress? Marketing? If it’s strictly to pay yourself, I’d probably just keep plugging away or move over to contract work to supplement.
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#48My best advice is know thyself.
Most of the "successful" entrepreneurs I know are self motivated and share a burning desire to succeed beyond the confines of corporate slavery.
Some people find corporate life comfortable. They show up every day and wait for their marching orders --- no need to think or act independently. At the end of the day, they shutdown and go home
If you like the "comfort" of corporate life, you are probably not meant to be an entrepreneur.
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#49Business Attorney Here. I would speak to an attorney to see your next steps both in terms of setting up your business for success as well as making sure there are no issues with your current employment.
Indeed. Check your employment contract and get legal advice. Your employer might not be thrilled to find out about your side project.
Or worse, they may become thrilled and want a share of the $1M/year revenue since OP developed it while being employed by them.
Re: Ask HN: Advice for turning my side project into a real business
#50600 a month is not a strong enough signal. Keep trying.