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Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

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Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#81

Post by icedchai »

anovikov wrote: post #67
icedchai wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work with a company that outsources to a foreign IT firm. They are slow, expensive, and the quality of work is poor. They often hire subcontractors that are kids just out of school, now doing everything with AI. I've seen their prompts and often they are little more than "fix the tests." They charge $200+ hour or more for this in some cases. Insane.

And here's the trick: they use insiders to negotiate these deals, give massive kickbacks, and sometimes literally take over and destroy their victim (and i literally heard this term for a 'client' in outsourcer chats - 'victim')

Yep. I'm pretty sure the people who negotiated this "deal" did it for their own self interest, since they later went to work for the contractor directly. Too bad. We could've hired some solid independent developers.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#82

Post by philipnee »

here's my take - the hardest part isn't doing more computer programming, it is context switching between technical and sales. It has been done, so it is possible, but it is very difficult as people said.

very few computer programmers have good business insight. we know how to build cool stuff, but most of the cool stuff are either - unable to directly bring values to people or cool but no one cares. that's why we need a cofounder, ideally, a person closer to product/sales, who can help you to make connection, understand what people want, shapes product... all the non computer programming stuff.

also - we tend to work in isolation when being the only founder. at least for myself, i sometimes live in my own head, which can be very far from reality...

despite that - i share the same sentiment with you and will not give up trying to found a business :)

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#83

Post by dx-800 »

philipnee wrote: post #82

here's my take - the hardest part isn't doing more computer programming, it is context switching between technical and sales. It has been done, so it is possible, but it is very difficult as people said. very few computer programmers have good business insight. we know how to build cool stuff, but most of the cool stuff are either - unable to directly bring values to people or cool but no one cares. that's why we nee…

Yes, switching between development and sales/marketing is probably the hardest aspect for me.

Most years I have a booth at an industry trade show. For a couple of weeks preparing for it, the week during the show, and a couple of weeks after that, following up with potential customers I met at there, I find it virtually impossible to get an development done.

Also, onboarding new customers with my software is usually labor-intensive. So that also takes time from development.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#84

Post by sminchev »

Sometimes, people just have luck in the beginning. They have the idea, they implement it in the right moment, they find their clients fast, by luck. And those success stories stick, because people proudly talk about them. And there are people that work somewhere, see where the problem is find their customers there, and just continue by their own, providing better service.

But most people don't talk about their failures, because, maybe they are ashamed. In order to make a good product , the software development is just one peace of the cake. But in the technical universities, nobody teaches us marketing, and entrepreneurship, at least not in mine. ;) Those are the subject they explain about success stories, journeys, personas, financial aspects, support, marketing campaigns, specifics in other countries, laws, etc. You can easily see that the development is only a small part of the whole process.

You need a lot of time, a lot of books to read, and a lot of people to talk about: clients, partners, concurrents, etc.

And don't just use AI to give you answer. I tried to do a marketing campaign the way AI suggested, and I failed, because I did not have the proper basis to make the right decisions ;)

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#85

Post by ItsClo688 »

You mentioned that people might be applying frameworks in retrospect to justify luck. There’s definitely truth in that, but the "framework" that actually works is narrowing the information gap between you and the user.

Instead of trying to find a "niche" like accounting for plumbers from thin air, go to where the "plumbers" (or whoever your target is) are actually venting. Reddit is a goldmine for this because people are surprisingly honest when they are frustrated.

I’ve found that spending two weeks just reading subreddits related to a specific industry—and looking for the most upvoted "pain" posts—is worth more than six months of SEO and "calibrating" a product no one asked for. The goal is to find a problem that is currently being solved badly. If you build the "not-bad" version of that solution, you don't need a massive marketing budget; you just need to show up where the complaining is happening.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#86

Post by mooreds »

> Anyone got something helpful to share in that regard?

If you can afford it, go work in a non-software domain for a while (maybe a year or two). You'll see all kinds of problems wherever you are, and you'll learn about the domain and other solutions.

Make a note of the ones connected to revenue.

Leave and go start your own thing, selling it back to wherever you worked (first customer problem solved).

Of course, it's not that easy, but I think digging in deep to a non-software domain is a great way to learn how to build a solo business.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#89

Post by BrunoBernardino »

This has been talked about before and in here as well, but to try and keep it short, it's not impossible but very difficult, and you need to really work hard to find your first customer(s).

Then, continuously keep in touch to ensure you're building and tweaking the product according to their needs, not what _you think_ is important.

It's mostly customer support and business development work, not as much development/engineering, which is what most software engineers believe and hope it to be.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#90

Post by ramon156 »

mooreds wrote: post #86

> Anyone got something helpful to share in that regard? If you can afford it, go work in a non-software domain for a while (maybe a year or two). You'll see all kinds of problems wherever you are, and you'll learn about the domain and other solutions. Make a note of the ones connected to revenue. Leave and go start your own thing, selling it back to wherever you worked (first customer problem solved). Of course, it's…

I'm in this step. I joined a company in March and I just hate it. I do not see myself doing this for two years (they're behind on a lot of technology, and we have government customers that just do whatever. Its slow and boring. Some say its amazing, but you're losing your precious time sitting behind a screen.)

I'm genuinely thinking of taking up a skill, and then applying it to a new job. The pay is going to suck, though, but I'm not sure if I can spend my time behind a Monitor doing things I hate.

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