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Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

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Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#51

Post by Cafey »

brilliantcode wrote: post #39

I was you only a few years ago. I spent a year building a really complex SaaS in my bedroom. Then I tried to sell it the next year and a half with dismal results. 1) Validate first by talking with potential customers before building. 2) If the MVP takes longer than 3 month to build, you are barking up the wrong tree. a) problem/product fit is too high for a lone developer. b) your lack of experience & skill may be a…

>If the MVP takes longer than 3 month to build, you are barking up the wrong tree.

It doesn't necessarily mean the product isn't fit or you lack skills. It may just mean that you need to split the product into smaller releases/sprints.

Say your idea can ultimately lead to a really big software. You should sit down and spend some time planning which features are required and which ones can be released at a later time. Doing this will help take some of the pressure off if the product is not "perfect" or doesn't do everything you had planned for it.

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#52

Post by kohanz »

throw9322 wrote: post #4
kohanz wrote: post #2

That doesn't sound like pressure as much as it sounds like unsupportive friends and family. If they don't bring other things to the table (other than negativity), i would reevaluate some relationships. That said, honest feedback is important. You should have a small group of trusted advisors/mentors that you can trust to tell you how you are really doing, but in a constructive way.

I totally agree about the importance of honest feedback! Truthfully, it's something I'm not getting now and should work on.

Do a Show HN or share some of your work on Ask HN!

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#53

Post by atlih »

I understand what you are going through, went through it myself when I was younger. The mistake I made regarding this was being defensive, don't lump all your family and friends into one pot and bark defensively at it. Never be defensive about this. Be proud of your product, ask them if they see any obvious errors with it, you might learn something because they are invested in helping you. They mostly care about you and don't know anything about putting a product to market. But anyway something might come out of it. And then for those in the bunch who are trying to make themselves look good on your account, just ask them if they plan to waste their entire life as their bosses bitch.

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#54

Post by bdavisx »

>According to my family, programmers are just "coder monkeys," people you hire to make your grand idea and that's how it's done.

Yes, tell that to the coder monkeys who started Google, Facebook, etc.

I don't know the statistics (and I'm not sure where to find them), but I'm guessing that the majority of successful tech companies had a "coder monkey" as one or more of the founders. I used to work for a private company that was started by 3 COBOL coder monkeys (yes COBOL - not that I'm a fan) that went on to be a $100+ million dollar a year operation (lrs.com). All bootstrapped, NEVER took a loan that I'm aware of.

Don't listen to them.

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#55

Post by brilliantcode »

Cafey wrote: post #51
brilliantcode wrote: post #39

I was you only a few years ago. I spent a year building a really complex SaaS in my bedroom. Then I tried to sell it the next year and a half with dismal results. 1) Validate first by talking with potential customers before building. 2) If the MVP takes longer than 3 month to build, you are barking up the wrong tree. a) problem/product fit is too high for a lone developer. b) your lack of experience & skill may be a…

>If the MVP takes longer than 3 month to build, you are barking up the wrong tree. It doesn't necessarily mean the product isn't fit or you lack skills. It may just mean that you need to split the product into smaller releases/sprints. Say your idea can ultimately lead to a really big software. You should sit down and spend some time planning which features are required and which ones can be released at a later time.…

I'm factoring in those agile/lean/scrum/4letterword frameworks.

What I mean is to be wary of minimum number of features that you need to sell. Obviously if you were building a database to rival MySQL or OrientDB, the bar is that much higher.

Likewise, I think that if the MVP takes longer than 3 month for OP, it's wise to say that more resources are going to be required for that niche which OP may not have.

An MVP will signal whether the pain your customers is experiencing is urgent enough. If they start complaining why X doesn't work when Y has it then you've essentially created a vitamin solution, nice to have but nothing close to solving real pain points.

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#56

Post by idlewords »

throw9322 wrote: post #30
idlewords wrote: post #7

Managing stress and anxiety is a big part of working solo. If you're not doing so already, may I suggest you carve time out for yourself that is inviolate (for example, on Sundays you close the computer). Remember that your first job is to keep yourself from burning out, or else all the other stuff you do will not matter. And try to notice patterns in your anxiety, and anything that is effective at keeping it down. T…

Thanks, Maciej! (Current customer of Pinboard here). BTW, you're one of the people in tech I look up to most. Not because you're the richest or have the biggest company (SV dick measuring), but because I think you've figured out how to live best.

Thank you, and good luck to you!

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#57

Post by fillskills »

codegeek wrote: post #37

It is simple. Stop defending yourself. Don't talk to people about what you do unless you really think that there is a need or you know for a fact that they are the right audience. Family and friends are usually not the right audience for this. Tell them something vague like "Trying to do a few things of my own" and keep it to that. Overall, don't sweat it. 99% of people don't get this whole bootstrapper thing. They a…

I don't have direct advice, but this is what worked for me. Most of my family and friends all were very disappointed when I wanted to work on my idea. Some were unsupportive, some didn't understand why I didn't want a high paying job with security. But my mind was pretty set that I wanted to do it and I had enough buffer monetarily for a while so I was able to ignore their sentiments. Plus my explanations were not helping.

After about 1 year into it, I finally was able to explain my thinking to the close ones as :"I am risking that if I work on this for a while, there is a chance that I might become rich enough for us to not worry about money for a decade. If it doesn't work, we will go back to where we already are". That clicked for almost everyone in my close relations.

Re: Ask HN: As a single bootstrapper, how do you deal with the pressure?

#60

Post by dang »

allfou wrote: post #26

Go get a job you're not an entrepreneur. People will constantly tell you - what you do sucks. It's rule number one in the wannabe-entrepreneur world. If you can't handle that part I'd suggest to go get a job. Otherwise, move one to step #2 - focus.

I'm sure your remark was well-intentioned, like an overly-hard slap on the back, but subtleties like that are lost on the public internet and just look like personal attacks. So please don't comment like that here, or at least add enough information to disambiguate. Intent doesn't communicate itself, so the burden is on the commenter to do that.
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