181–190 of 243 posts
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> My company is bootstrapped. It isn't growing fast enough to fit PG's definition of a startup, but it's 5 years old and makes 7 figures. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing! Is this https://interviewcake.com ?
Yep
To anybody looking to switch jobs in a computer science field, I will strongly recommend interview cake. It's insanely good.
Serial single founder here. Start building and start selling. If you can’t deliver a product to a paying customer solo then you’re not cut out to be a sole founder.
Solo founder here. Same advice with the caveat that 98% of people should never be solo founders - you must be able to code and sell - but even if you can you should still get a partner if they double your speed.
The few solo founders I have personally dealt with have fit that description exactly.
You don't have to have superpowers. You just have to have some product sense, some engineering chops, and the ability to take 6 months off (not everyone can afford this, and that sucks) to build the thing and see if you can get people to look at it and buy it. You'll learn all the other stuff along the way (taxes, marketing, and eventually: hiring). Just give it a shot. If you run out of savings and have to go back t…
I've had the exact same experience with "sell first" on various user applications. Pitch something to people and they're lukewarm. Make the product, in my case first and foremost for myself, and they end up gushing over it in practice. Always brings me back to Henry Ford: - "If I'd ask people what they want, they'd have said faster horses." - "The customer can have their car painted any color, as long as it's black."…
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I agree with this except switch the order. First, start selling. Then start building. It is so easy to waste so much time building something nobody wants, and you won't know until it's too late if you try to sell it afterward. Selling first will inform your decisions on what to build.
Can I ask an honest question respectfully? I don’t have a company or a startup. But I’ve always wanted to start one. So I’m always curious when I see a response like yours. How do you sell first? There isn’t a product to show. How do you find Customers? Is it the philosophy that the customer doesn’t know better and you have to tell them what they need, all the while understanding what your capabilities are. Like unde…
It won’t magically get easy to sell the product when it’s ready, so it’s possible eliminate bad ideas which are hard for you to sell early, even if you let the sale fall through towards the end.
I am solo founder and developer of Sciter Engine : https://sciter.com The project got first customers in 2005 so it is afloat 13 years so far. Until 2014 it was a side project. Since then I am working on it full time as a solo founder and developer. Initial version was pretty simple so I was able to do it after official work hours and at weekends. Thus I didn't need any funding at that time. The project has definitel…
Did you build first then sell? Can you elaborate on minimal product in not more than 9 months?
The question was on different angle: can single person compete with the whole IE team at MS to achieve anything viable. And that required the engine to be present to try by others.
Initial version was very basic HTML renderer named HTMLayout that time. Made site for it and published couple of articles about it. These allowed me to gather requirements and estimate interest/market for it.
After that modules of HTMLayout were assembled into Sciter, with additions of CSS and scripting.
As of 9 months...
I've participated in many projects, successful ones took 9 months from first PRD to alpha/beta stage. Longer projects, as a rule, were less successful. Team lost the steam, etc.
YMMV of course, but 9 months to create something, seems like is embedded into human nature. I cannot provide any formal proof, just a feeling supported by 30 years of experience in the business.
You don't have to have superpowers. You just have to have some product sense, some engineering chops, and the ability to take 6 months off (not everyone can afford this, and that sucks) to build the thing and see if you can get people to look at it and buy it. You'll learn all the other stuff along the way (taxes, marketing, and eventually: hiring). Just give it a shot. If you run out of savings and have to go back t…
May I ask, how old were you when you attempted this and at what stage of your personal/professional life? I like the idea of taking 6 months off, but for persons in their 40s or later, it might be a serious risk, especially when mortgages run.
You don't have to have superpowers. You just have to have some product sense, some engineering chops, and the ability to take 6 months off (not everyone can afford this, and that sucks) to build the thing and see if you can get people to look at it and buy it. You'll learn all the other stuff along the way (taxes, marketing, and eventually: hiring). Just give it a shot. If you run out of savings and have to go back t…
Agree with everything except that. I've founded multiple companies while being employed full time, albeit not "startups."
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No they’re not. You can’t even patent or copyright business ideas. The only justification for a business idea is a customer, so GP is correct: no business has value without sales.
Properly explored idea is basically a business plan backed by a market research. Clearly as worthless as a random morning coffee brainfart.
Investors don't give people money for plans and research because they don't mean anything. It's easy to make a plan or find a hypothetical market.
The only people who get money without customers are founders with huge exits on their resume already.
It is very hard to honestly evaluate your own idea, because it's, well, your idea. You get to tell about it to someone. And when you tell and ask for feedback and help - voila, you are not a pure solo founder anymore.
Not sure I agree. Most revolutionary ideas are unappealing when first presented. The world thought Walt Disney was crazy for making a feature cartoon (Snow White) that went on to be one of the most profitable movies in history. Even after that, they thought he was nuts for starting a theme park. Henry Ford once quipped, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said, 'A faster horse.'"