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Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

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Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#41

Post by nostrademons »

garply wrote: post #21

I appreciate the point that running a software business is only 10% development and 90% business. "If you want to spend your time writing code, go work for Google." This hits close to home as I am gradually learning that I provide far more value to the world by using my knowledge to have others do technical implementation than if I were doing it myself. For someone who loves code, it's a painful transition. But I thi…

That's a complicated statement. The depth of your own technical knowledge sets a ceiling on the depth of the people willing to do technical implementation for you. After all, most people are unwilling to do grunt work for people dumber than themselves. The main thing your workers get out of it is a learning experience and the chance to be mentored by others more experienced than themselves, so if you're not more experienced, why should they work for you?

So yeah, you get more leverage by using your knowledge to mentor others to do the development for you. But you could end up getting stuck as CEO of a startup that's in a backwater corner of the industry, rather than as a developer in a company that's doing interesting world-changing stuff that you can then leverage when you start your company later.

Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#42

Post by tptacek »

sachinag wrote: post #39
tptacek wrote: post #22

(Aside: I know many Americans consider the last option shockingly irresponsible. My ability to prevail over my employer — a major multinational — in a lawsuit is effectively nil. A contract is just a formalization of a promise. In Japan, the ongoing relationship with my bosses is the part of the agreement that provides security, not the piece of paper.) This is one of the more important bits of advice I've seen Patri…

This is a large part of why I advocate waiting to incorporate until you can do it right. The instacorp LLC won't really protect you when you need it most.

I think that's pretty misleading. What protects you when you've incorporated is that your contracts are between your company and your customers, vendors, or partners. It's not the nature of the contracts themselves. Consolidated Gypsum can put your company out of business by dragging you through a lawsuit until you BK. It can't take your house.

The reason contracts don't protect businesses is that they cost too much to enforce. When you're not in the same league as your adversary, they will simply outlast you. The same dynamics do not apply to an attempt by Consolidated Gypsum to make themselves whole on a debt by trying to take your house.

Incorporate early. There's no good reason not to.

Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#43

Post by jseliger »

dangrossman wrote: post #38

Works for me too. I often spend less than 5 hours a week working, and I have a 6 figure income. My web applications compete directly with Google and Microsoft, among others, so the "no competition" argument is out. I generally buckle down for a few weeks of hard coding (meaning 4 hours a day for 3 or 4 days a week), once or twice a year, and the rest of the year I'm just doing customer service, system administration…

Works for me too. I often spend less than 5 hours a week working, and I have a 6 figure income. My web applications compete directly with Google and Microsoft, among others, so the "no competition" argument is out.

I realize that HN doesn't encourage heavy self-promotion, but what is this business? Where is its website? Your story sounds wildly implausible, though it obviously isn't impossible.

Still, it reminds me of the comments I got on my post about "You’re Not Going to be a Professional Blogger, Regardless of What the Wall Street Journal Tells You:" http://blog.seliger.com/2009/06/17/youre-not-going-to-be-a-p... . People would say things like, "I run a group of online entrepreneurs, and am a member of another, and between the two groups there are well over 200 people, a majority of whom are pulling down 6 to 7 figure incomes based primarily on the advertising on their blogs, not by “selling ancillary services.”" But they wouldn't link to the sites in question! To me, such claims smell bad.

Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#44

Post by bricestacey »

jseliger wrote: post #43
dangrossman wrote: post #38

Works for me too. I often spend less than 5 hours a week working, and I have a 6 figure income. My web applications compete directly with Google and Microsoft, among others, so the "no competition" argument is out. I generally buckle down for a few weeks of hard coding (meaning 4 hours a day for 3 or 4 days a week), once or twice a year, and the rest of the year I'm just doing customer service, system administration…

Works for me too. I often spend less than 5 hours a week working, and I have a 6 figure income. My web applications compete directly with Google and Microsoft, among others, so the "no competition" argument is out. I realize that HN doesn't encourage heavy self-promotion, but what is this business? Where is its website? Your story sounds wildly implausible, though it obviously isn't impossible. Still, it reminds me o…

The link in Dan's profile answers your question. Web analytics and other webmaster services.

Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#45

Post by dangrossman »

jseliger wrote: post #43
dangrossman wrote: post #38

Works for me too. I often spend less than 5 hours a week working, and I have a 6 figure income. My web applications compete directly with Google and Microsoft, among others, so the "no competition" argument is out. I generally buckle down for a few weeks of hard coding (meaning 4 hours a day for 3 or 4 days a week), once or twice a year, and the rest of the year I'm just doing customer service, system administration…

Works for me too. I often spend less than 5 hours a week working, and I have a 6 figure income. My web applications compete directly with Google and Microsoft, among others, so the "no competition" argument is out. I realize that HN doesn't encourage heavy self-promotion, but what is this business? Where is its website? Your story sounds wildly implausible, though it obviously isn't impossible. Still, it reminds me o…

http://www.awio.com or http://www.dangrossman.info/folio/ if you'd like to take a look.

I'm extremely open about my business. I've thought about writing this type of article to share on HN before, but it always comes across as bragging instead of sharing so I can the idea soon after starting.

This is not an overnight success story. I earned my first paycheck on the internet when I was 15 or so, 10 years ago. I've had a long time to build my skill at development and marketing, try ideas, and build up my user base across the websites.

Some of the sites took a year or two to break even on up front costs and hardware. But since I build services that require almost no ongoing development or support beyond basic "how do I sign up, where do I find feature X" questions, each customer added in the following years is almost pure profit.

Very incremental, steady growth, and sometimes a leveling off. A bigger business wouldn't want a site to level off at a couple thousand a month in revenue, but if it's only supporting and supported by one person, a couple of those and yes, you hit 6 figure annual profit.

I also sell websites from time to time, if they level off and it seems like it'll require more work than I'm willing to put in to reverse that trend. Here's a site I sold on Flippa for $90,000 earlier this month. It generated over $200,000 in sales in the 18 months leading up:

http://flippa.com/auctions/84185/11000month-Revenue-No--1-In...

Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#47

Post by mds »

Erwin wrote: post #30

I find it incredible that he's a Japanese Salaryman having recently read another such peron's Q&A on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/bewof/iama_salaryman_僕... Seems like once you've finished working 10 hours every day for your lifetime employer, there's not much to do than the obligatory heavy drinking!

See also patio11's own IAMA Salaryman: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9g79p/i_am_a_japanese_...

Re: Running a Software Business on 5 Hours A Week

#48

Post by patio11 »

dimarco wrote: post #36
tsally wrote: post #16

In our periodic bouts of crunch time, such as the last three months, I end up sleeping at a hotel next to the office (about 25 times this calendar year). Oh man. Maybe it's just me being an ignorant American, but doing that for anything but a company you founded is just crazy. I can't believe that's the norm in Japan.

It Japan, as far as I know, it's not "periodic bouts of crunch time" that brings salarymen to small hotels instead of home, but "nightly bouts of alcohol".

I do not drink. Most of the engineers in my company go straight home to their wives and children when they leave the office. (Our salesmen appear to have the more traditional salaryman attitude.)
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