FYI: on isitketo.org/cream-cheese, the link to "keto dessert recipes" is broken (it's an internal link). Looks like it's being prefixed with the domain and the url ends up having two http segments.
My Second Year as a Solo Developer
251–260 of 387 posts
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#252Naive 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…
>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? By not signing those things, plain and simple. I have never signed an employment contract and I never will.
Does that mean you never worked for a company (in an IP-related job), or actually managed to find companies who hired you without signing a contract? If the latter, what kind of companies do that?
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#253So awesome seeing your posts at the top of HN! >> I've also noticed that readers are less interested in business lessons unless the story involves thousands of dollars — earning or losing large sums both seem to work. I would love to read more about the mundane, small business lessons, because that's where I am. And I'm positive I'm not the only one. Keep writing about the smaller day-to-day struggles, you got reader…
Hey Dhruv, thanks for reading! Always fun to hear from you again.
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#254If 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".
> A popular open-source project could yield more long-term value for one's career than an unprofitable or barely profitable "lifestyle business".
Only as a launchpad for another job or consulting gigs, no? What if he wants to work solo?
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the suggestions! I think that's sound advice. The strategy I had in mind was courting industries that were physically close to me. I wasn't just calling the businesses, I was showing up at their offices to ask for meetings. My hypothesis was that there are probably plenty of profitable businesses nearby that are disconnected from the tech world, so other software companies aren't approaching them. To clari…
It's wild how you've done exactly what the priests of entrepreneurship preach, and it hasn't worked for you, and people cannot accept that . You must have done something else! You must have done something wrong!
[deleted]
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
Boring is good. Makes it a lot less likely that you’ll have competition. ;)
Agreed. If you have to be working on some exciting, disruptive project, doing solo development work that generates good income by working with run of the mill businesses with run of the mill problems is not going to be a good fit. Personally, I find boring to be quite exciting - but perhaps not if the only thing you're looking at is the technical solution. Building a small business involves figuring out how to solve…
That's me in my dad's company rn. I know the tech but not the business and it's something I'm trying to get out of, but don't really know how.
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#257I 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…
Thanks for reading and the kind words!
I think you and I see it similarly that there's satisfaction in growing and learning even if the money part hasn't fallen into place.
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#258Very 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…
> If you can't pick up a phone and talk to businesses...
This is not required by any means.
It helps if you can communicate well and be generally not afraid of or annoyed by people, but being an energetic extrovert is absolutely NOT required. Not at all.
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#259Earlier 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.
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.
> Make $300K A year
You make it sound easy! How do I do that outside of not just SF, but the US?
Re: My Second Year as a Solo Developer
#260Naive 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…
Agree with what has already been said (dont use company resources like a work laptop, dont work on it during typical work hours, dont build a product that might in any way compete with your employer, etc.)
As far as work contract goes, (I am NOT a lawyer, just based on experience), it's worth reading over and seeing what the language is around IP. Most states protect your right to build stuff on your own time (enables innovation, also you aren't the property of your company) making some more draconian contracts unenforceable. But it is always better to be proactive, rather than assuming a court battle will be unlikely because 1) who knows and 2) court is never cheap.
If you want to work on something and you are worried about the language in your contract, talk to your employer about the project and getting some form of written exception for it. Side projects generally make for more capable, satisfied employees, so if a company made a massive stink about literally owning anything you make anywhere in your life, I'd be very very wary, as that mindset is a scary sign.