21–30 of 74 posts
However, how does this fit into the "fail often, fail quickly" advice I have seen so often in this forum? Does quickly mean 3 years? Just a thought...
i.e. have enough realistic potential numbers to make it happen without having to rely on the hockey stick growth model. "Oh yeah this month we made $300 profit, but with hockey stick growth, we'll be making $50K in 12 months"
I just have a small quibble about the statement "3 years to be exact". Having built several companies over the years, no time line is exact. That doesn't mean it's not a good estimate, just that the cliche may be taken literally. However, how does this fit into the "fail often, fail quickly" advice I have seen so often in this forum? Does quickly mean 3 years? Just a thought...
> Three years. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more.
3 years is pretty quick in terms of success, in terms of failure it is an eternity. It all depends on what you perceive the trend to be. If the trend 'flatlines' then you can draw a negative conclusion much earlier. After a year or less you can probably predict quite accurately what the future will look like.
I just have a small quibble about the statement "3 years to be exact". Having built several companies over the years, no time line is exact. That doesn't mean it's not a good estimate, just that the cliche may be taken literally. However, how does this fit into the "fail often, fail quickly" advice I have seen so often in this forum? Does quickly mean 3 years? Just a thought...
Three years is pretty quick on the scale of a viable business.
In the early days, it is an eternity in terms of strategy when that strategy is failing.
In other words, three years may be an appropriate timeline in which to view overall sunk costs, but that doesn't mean that the business shouldn't be prepared to pivot several times within that period.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll chime in with the others in saying that the morning thing is a great idea. I've been trying to do evening coding for a while but end up just not having the energy. I put in my best hours of the day at work and coming home to work by myself on a project often just doesn't pan out. Switching this around, I can put in time for myself first then head into work and keep going for the remainder of the work day.
Yes mate, my logic was the same as yours ... I got fed up with being tired in the evenings and decided that my startup deserves the best of me, and my day job deserves just "regular" me Evenings are for time off with my partner, we play ps3 together and generally relax ... I also spend the evenings reviewing my own code / doing administration and billing and other non brain intensive things ... makes for a good work/…
Can I ask, was it hard building your application 3 hours at a time? I lived off savings for about 6 months and worked full time, then after the hard parts were done I transitioned into the arrangement above. Even now I get a little frustrated as I just get into the swing of things, then I need to leave for work !
Thanks for posting by the way. I think more people need encouragement that while incubators are great, you don't need necessarily need them to be successful.
I just have a small quibble about the statement "3 years to be exact". Having built several companies over the years, no time line is exact. That doesn't mean it's not a good estimate, just that the cliche may be taken literally. However, how does this fit into the "fail often, fail quickly" advice I have seen so often in this forum? Does quickly mean 3 years? Just a thought...
Welton's rule: for each bit of trite business advice, there is an equal and opposite bit of trite business advice.
People might even consider doing business with you, but nobody wants to be 'first' for fear of being burned.
This can also work in your favor...
It's rare, but sometimes you can find someone who does want to be your first customer. When this happens, it's solid gold and one of your fastest shortcuts. Others call them "champions"; I prefer "sugar daddies".
I have had this happen several times with great success. This is how it usually worked...
Sometimes they knew me, but sometimes I was introduced. In every case, they were desperately looking for something they couldn't find, sometimes for years. They would say, "If you could build this, you'd be my hero." (or something like that). They have offered me office space, access to their people and systems, and often an advance because it was in everyone's best interest that I'd succeed. Sometimes, but not always, they wanted equity. And all of them had peers with similar problems, so Prospects 2 thru x were already lined up.
We should all be building stuff people want. When you find one of them with their checkbook open, take a good hard look. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can save you a lot of runway.
The original guy he's talking about was just freelancing. I'm a freelancer and I made money from day one. A friend of mine quit his job 2 months back. Again, made money from day one. Difference between us and the guy in the story? We had contacts and relationships already built from working a few years.
What I'm saying is that most of this article is way off the mark for freelancing, you won't lose money the first year as long as:
1. You know how to network and get business
2. See 1
I'm not even very good at it and I still make money.
Also my old company's MD loved recounting how they were profitable within 8 months. The way they did this as a software vendor was to land a big juicy enterprise contract and get paid 30% up front. Just as a counterpoint to the 3 years thing.
There are plenty of businesses you can found which can make money very quickly. It all depends on whether that's the company you want to build, larger vision, longer lag.
Great post, Jacques. Thanks for your kind words. People might even consider doing business with you, but nobody wants to be 'first' for fear of being burned. This can also work in your favor... It's rare, but sometimes you can find someone who does want to be your first customer. When this happens, it's solid gold and one of your fastest shortcuts. Others call them "champions"; I prefer "sugar daddies". I have had th…
I think that if you wrote an article detailing your experiences and what you learned/inferred from the experiences, that it could be quite a popular article.
It is basic economics, "build stuff people want", and every time I think about things that I should do for money, I think I should be an auto mechanic, because lots of people have cars that need being fixed (or plumber, or other slightly-skilled-but-not-everyone-does-that-but-everyone-needs-that type profession). While logic may take me there, I am not sure if that is the best way for me to go and while it isn't a glamorous "build the next facebook"-type starting business, it is not even a "build something no one else has" type business.
Thanks,