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My Second Year as a Solo Developer

mtlynch.io

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Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#181

Post by enraged_camel »

disiplus wrote: post #167
enraged_camel wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is usually at the start of the funnel. Most solo developers, especially those who have just quit their cushy FAANG jobs, are not positioned to personally know a lot of business owners (especially not outside of tech, where all the low-hanging fruit exist). So simply saying "go meet many business owners" doesn't help, unless you can also explain the how . To give a counter-example, I did consulting for a d…

but how many of those are interesting to work on, i too have been freelancimg and know some of problems, but when i think about them i dont reality want to work on them more them i have to.

Boring is good. Makes it a lot less likely that you’ll have competition. ;)

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#182

Post by usr42 »

mtlynch wrote: post #122
ingend88 wrote: post #65

@mtlynch what tech stack do you use?

Different things for different projects. I'm trying to move toward mostly Go + Vue stuff. * Zestful: Python + Docker + CRF++ * Is It Keto: Flask + AppEngine * What Got Done: Go + Vue + AppEngine ( https://github.com/mtlynch/whatgotdone ) * WanderJest: Go + Vue + AppEngine * mtlynch.io: Hugo ( https://github.com/mtlynch/mtlynch.io )

@mtlynch I've directly recognized the coder theme you use for the blog. I like it pretty much. How do you host it? Do you use github pages?

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#183

Post by mtlynch »

cushychicken wrote: post #170
mtlynch wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for reading, Patrick! I'm a big fan of your work, and your Indie Hackers interview was one of the big motivators that sent me down the solo developer path. > You could probably talk to business owners with problems, launch an (appropriately priced; hundreds to thousands of dollars per year) product against those problems, build contingent on getting 10 commits to buy, and be at +/- $100k in 12 to 18 months. Ma…

In 2019, I tried to do this with stone quarries[1], sheet metal shops[2], and email copywriters[3], but the first two mostly wouldn't talk to me and the latter didn't seem to have enough opportunity for a niche business. I don't think any of these businesses would pay for What Got Done, but I think there are a zillion businesses very geographically close to you that would. I note in several of your posts that you liv…

I don't think any of these businesses would pay for What Got Done, but I think there are a zillion businesses very geographically close to you that would.

Oh, to clarify, I wasn't trying to sell What Got Done to these industries. I was trying to understand their businesses to see what new thing I could create for them.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#184

Post by mtlynch »

senderista wrote: post #178

If you're netting at best a few grand a year and need to survive on savings anyway, why not just drop the business pretense and work for free on stuff you actually find interesting? A popular open-source project could yield more long-term value for one's career than an unprofitable or barely profitable "lifestyle business".

Thanks for reading!

The plan is for my income to increase over time. The benefit of launching businesses is that each time, I learn skills to increase my chances of success in the next attempt.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#185

Post by aosaigh »

mtlynch wrote: post #148
patio11 wrote: post #79

Two cents offered because this post really strikes a chord with me, and I also spent some time chasing down rabbit holes early in my software business: These products do not appear obviously commercializable and multiple years invested into them without materially improving the businesses does not decrease my confidence in that snap judgment. You could probably talk to business owners with problems, launch an (approp…

Thanks for reading, Patrick! I'm a big fan of your work, and your Indie Hackers interview was one of the big motivators that sent me down the solo developer path. > You could probably talk to business owners with problems, launch an (appropriately priced; hundreds to thousands of dollars per year) product against those problems, build contingent on getting 10 commits to buy, and be at +/- $100k in 12 to 18 months. Ma…

Just a friendly passing comment, but I'm not sure you have the correct take-aways from speaking with business owners.

With the quarry example, you couldn't get them on the phone. How about conferences, meetups, trade shows etc? Furthermore you probably need to search for companies that might _want_ to speak to you: younger owners, companies with less to lose etc.

In the sheet metal example, it sounds like you had already decided what you wanted to build for them before even meeting them (an improved software solution for their shop management apps). Maybe trying to just speak more generally about their processes and difficulties would tease out problems you might not have considered.

I'd return to this approach/phase and give it another go to find a market fit for the ideas before you start doing a line of code.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#186

Post by cushychicken »

mtlynch wrote: post #183
cushychicken wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2019, I tried to do this with stone quarries[1], sheet metal shops[2], and email copywriters[3], but the first two mostly wouldn't talk to me and the latter didn't seem to have enough opportunity for a niche business. I don't think any of these businesses would pay for What Got Done, but I think there are a zillion businesses very geographically close to you that would. I note in several of your posts that you liv…

I don't think any of these businesses would pay for What Got Done, but I think there are a zillion businesses very geographically close to you that would. Oh, to clarify, I wasn't trying to sell What Got Done to these industries. I was trying to understand their businesses to see what new thing I could create for them.

I was trying to understand their businesses to see what new thing I could create for them.

That's legit.

I guess the core of my original point was that there's a big regional hub of businesses whose operations you do understand (i.e. SW businesses) that's right at your doorstep. (I'm assuming from your other blog posts you don't know a ton about sheet metal bending, whereas you do know enough to be dangerous with software, but I've been wrong before!)

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#187

Post by mtlynch »

cdiddy2 wrote: post #172

Are health insurance costs included in your current $2k monthly expenses? Did you buy the house outright?

Yep and yep. Health insurance in MA is $250/month for a high deductible plan (I was paying $500 in NY). This year, my insurance is only $40/month because I qualified for a subsidized plan based on my 2019 income (or lack thereof).

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#188

Post by redisman »

heipei wrote: post #131
epicgiga wrote: post #116

Very illustrative warning to other devs. Just because you're coding and building things, doesn't mean you're doing work, or that you're going to make any money. Most devs are salarymen because that's the best role they can play in society. Their employer plugs them into what the market actually wants. 99% of them are inequipped to perform any that business aspect themselves. They just want to build stuff. Like this d…

Part of the problem that I have with some of these accounts is that they so often focus on tiny and mundane problems that individuals have. I don't know if this is a conscious decision or just an unintended consequence of the fact that B2C ideas are easy to find (you just watch your own daily routines) and are more shiny since everyone knows about customer-facing products but fewer people know all the gears that powe…

Seems like the author didn't have any financial pressure due to years at Google so it's hard to judge how serious he was about making money. I think if he didn't have money for rent this month (my experience as a "solo-dev" back in the day) then he would've done consulting/contracting or more profit driving ideas. Making $5000 a year is not realistic for most of us so this just seems like a long vacation with some coding.

But yes B2B is very underrated among younger devs especially. They have huge problems in scale and complexity and most of the money is in there.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#189

Post by mtlynch »

bkinnard wrote: post #90

Reading the post makes me most curious about how you live so cheaply? Halfing your burn rate doubles your time to death which more than doubles your chances of success

Thanks for reading!

>Reading the post makes me most curious about how you live so cheaply?

90% of it is just location.

When I was in Manhattan, I was spending ~$7k/month. Part of that was higher cost of my apartment and health insurance, but another big part is just the culture. In NYC, it wouldn't be unusual for me to go out to a $80/person dinner, spend $25 on drinks afterwards, another $25 on Ubers, then another $20 on brunch in the morning.

In Western Mass, I do make efforts to live cheaply, but so much of it is just the ease of not spending money when nobody in your social circle spends like that.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#190

Post by say_it_as_it_is »

epicgiga wrote: post #116

Very illustrative warning to other devs. Just because you're coding and building things, doesn't mean you're doing work, or that you're going to make any money. Most devs are salarymen because that's the best role they can play in society. Their employer plugs them into what the market actually wants. 99% of them are inequipped to perform any that business aspect themselves. They just want to build stuff. Like this d…

OP shares his struggles with the world and this is the best you can come up with? The illustrative warning here is for anyone in OP's position to not post personal nor professional difficulties with randoms on Hacker News.

Share wisdom, not criticism.

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