Go work for a company in another time zone
Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#22Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, quit your job and do it full-time.
Self-sacrifice is admirable when family and dependents don't suffer from it. Realistically, most startups fail and it's negligent to place one's family on the line given the odds of failure. Even for the sake of accumulating debt, it may not be wise (who knows when you'll need to take a loan for groceries, tuition, etc.) I really hate how this attitude is so abundant, and rarely comes from somebody who knows what it…
Thank you. Not to mention you'll lose your health insurance for your family if you quit your job (at least in the US).
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#23Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, quit your job and do it full-time.
Self-sacrifice is admirable when family and dependents don't suffer from it. Realistically, most startups fail and it's negligent to place one's family on the line given the odds of failure. Even for the sake of accumulating debt, it may not be wise (who knows when you'll need to take a loan for groceries, tuition, etc.) I really hate how this attitude is so abundant, and rarely comes from somebody who knows what it…
I agree 100%. No kids do what you gotta do, but kids changes the game.
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#24Contrarian view: don't spend time automating things. Spend any extra time you have selling and building the product people need. If someone needs your product, they'll probably be fine with an invoice.
Spend the early mornings before work prospecting and reaching out to potential customers. If you're on the west coast, even better because you can conduct sales calls with east coast people who are already at work.
After work, you can check-in and see if anyone got back to you.
Track it all in a Trello board or spreadsheet.
I highly recommend reading Predictable Revenue and putting as many of its practices in place as you can.
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#25Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, quit your job and do it full-time.
Ironic considering the username. In most people's instances, I wouldn't consider this a good idea. At least until you've shown good traction for a few months of adding new customers.
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#26Don't, until you've gone over it with your current employer and had them sign off on your ownership of the project and its potential intellectual property.
If they won't, you'll need to keep it as a side project while you're working for them, unless you're okay with relinquishing some rights to it.
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#27B2B Sales can mean a lot of things... from very low-touch to involving a lot of in-person time. To help you better, we'd need to know more about your product and your market.
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#28B2B Sales can mean a lot of things... from very low-touch to involving a lot of in-person time. To help you better, we'd need to know more about your product and your market.
K-12 schools and universities to be specific. My app is a bubble sheet grader that grades multiple choice questions and captures free response-style answers. Much like Scantron, but with automated data entry:
https://swiftgrades.com
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#29I'm just beginning to push my product (it's been around for 6 years) and have certainly noticed the customer requests increasing.
I agree with a lot of the advice here and in particular I've just started building out the knowledge base in Intercom to mitigate some of the support queries.
Sales is tough but can be worth it. I've spent lunch hours walking round the business park where I work on the phone and those calls have led to multiple other leads where I've been working with a consultant rather than the end client. Putting the time in does help.
One thing I would say: be honest that the app is a side project whilst you grow it. I've found customers very understanding and willing to accommodate calls at specific times or accepting of slight delays in support queries.
Good luck.
Re: Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time?
#30Don't, until you've gone over it with your current employer and had them sign off on your ownership of the project and its potential intellectual property. If they won't, you'll need to keep it as a side project while you're working for them, unless you're okay with relinquishing some rights to it.
This advice is highly dependent on where you live. Look at the laws that govern your locale.