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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

#221

Post by gwbas1c »

eugenekolo wrote: post #158
gwbas1c wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like this guy is trying to run a lifestyle business, and his investments pay enough interest that he can coast for a long, long time. To be quite honest: He's spending all day playing . That's a position I envy quite a bit.

How many years of work do you have in the tech industry? It seems in the current market (not even assuming SF salaries), and without kids/other dependents, it's fairly easy to reach that point. Just curious, because a lot of people have this mentality that they need to work forever and ever, but it often is just a mindset. You can easily amass 500k-1M and just coast on 40k/year in expenses for a long time. If it's so…

Or get used to the money and comfort and camaraderie of a salaried job

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#222

Post by sealthedeal »

love it! If my two cents matter to you... I did a similar thing for a few years, and it wasnt until I went all in on one product/problem did I finally start to see some great returns.

With that said, I have a friends dad who owns like 10 different businesses and he has people manage all of them, while he sits back and collects. These are not software businesses they are more brick and mortar like long term storage, etc, but maybe you can build the same model with online businesses! :)

Good luck, and thanks for posting, really enjoy reading the content!

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#223

Post by roland35 »

willj wrote: post #203

Naive question by someone who’s never started a business: when bootstrapping companies while keeping your day job, how do you deal with intellectual property clauses in employment contracts, such that your employer owns the “inventions” you create in your free time, on your own equipment, unrelated to the business area you work in? I know laws vary by state, but I would find it especially disheartening if you spent y…

Another important thing to keep in mind is to not use company resources in any capacity - your work laptop, work 3d printer, work time. This actually came up in the first season of silicon valley!

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#224

Post by rickitan »

I see a lot of comments criticizing your path and progress. Making remarks like "why didn't you stay at Google".

I applaud your decision, effort, and perseverance. I admire your risk taking and having skin in the game. Trying to make it out on your own.

People forget the journey is not just about the money. It's about learning, growing and bringing your ideas to life. Being an artist, and expressing yourself through products.

Keep on going my friend. There's no doubt you'll get there.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#225

Post by dangero »

cs02rm0 wrote: post #120
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…

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 I don't doubt that you're absolutely right, but this bit strikes me as hard . I've struggled to find one business owner with a problem they perceive, let alone 10 with commitments to buying a solution for the…

I like this idea and would use it if it existed

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#226

Post by riku_iki »

m_ke wrote: post #59
aty268 wrote: post #34

These businesses all seem like something that very well could make you money, but would never scale into a growth startup. And it seems the time it takes to build one of these or a growth startup isn't going to be too different. I might even say that you similar chances of making a similar amount of money from either. So why not shoot for the larger moon?

Ingredient line parsing is a really small market and something that sounds like a fun project to work on but is probably not a business venture that has room to grow. The number of companies that have enough recipes to justify automation, profits to justify paying for it and nobody inhouse who can implement it is really small. There's no viable price point for a product like this when you factor in the cost of custom…

> Ingredient line parsing

if he can scale his tech to more general cases, it can be very strong proposition.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#227

Post by tempsy »

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…

This is appropriate advice for someone who actually wants to be a solo founder.

Even if he's not explicit about it, every lifestyle decision I'm getting from these blog posts is that OP has effectively F.I.R.E'd and these projects are mostly for fun.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#228

Post by tempsy »

eugenekolo wrote: post #158
gwbas1c wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like this guy is trying to run a lifestyle business, and his investments pay enough interest that he can coast for a long, long time. To be quite honest: He's spending all day playing . That's a position I envy quite a bit.

How many years of work do you have in the tech industry? It seems in the current market (not even assuming SF salaries), and without kids/other dependents, it's fairly easy to reach that point. Just curious, because a lot of people have this mentality that they need to work forever and ever, but it often is just a mindset. You can easily amass 500k-1M and just coast on 40k/year in expenses for a long time. If it's so…

Right...making $40K in dividends from $1M is very easy.

Harder if you're in a higher cost location but you can definitely live off $60K even in SF if you're single.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#229

Post by tempsy »

gwbas1c wrote: post #150
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…

Looks like this guy is trying to run a lifestyle business, and his investments pay enough interest that he can coast for a long, long time. To be quite honest: He's spending all day playing . That's a position I envy quite a bit.

Make $300K a year for 10 years while keeping expenses low and investing most of that in a bull market makes it pretty easy to do.

Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer

#230

Post by cdiddy2 »

mtlynch wrote: post #187
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).

Interesting. I am in MA as well and it seems health insurance would be 500 a month for me(1 person). Maybe thats the higher end plans though.
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