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It takes three years to build a business

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: It takes three years to build a business

#61

Post by csomar »

When I started (3 years ago) I didn't know this. But I was decided: I must make it. And I didn't really care. I saw/read/knew people who made it, I didn't know how much time/work/effort they put to get to such point, but they made it anyway.

I pointed a goal, and I realized that my mental abilities can get me there. Since there are people who did it, why can't I?

I started in my dorm room, living with my family, and having no income for more than 2 years. Well, I knew little about programming at that time, so it's fair that it took me lot of time.

Now things started to move, I'm renting my own flat, purchasing my own Laptops, screens, hardward... I have one full year of savings, so I'm going to work on projects of my own.

TL;DR: Don't give up. You'll get there. Don't worry. Make sure you don't get broke and you have enough savings. Leave your job or plan to. Be Happy.

(Anyone has an idea how to have a good GF? I failed in this)

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#62

Post by [deleted] »

kragen wrote: post #57
mattmanser wrote: post #28

I thought he'd stopped reading HN? 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…

> The original guy he's talking about was just freelancing. I'm a freelancer and I made money from day one. … We had contacts and relationships already built from working a few years. Yeah, a thing about that is, it's hard to have those contacts and relationships in place when you're 20. A few people manage it, but most build up those networks over a period of years. Another thing, which I didn't realize when I was 2…

[deleted]

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#63

Post by billpaetzke »

asmithmd1 wrote: post #34
edw519 wrote: post #27

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…

Your original sugar daddy did not mind that you sold the solution that he helped develop to other companies? That is the situation I am in. I have developed solutions to problems for the US's 4th largest company in a space with hundreds of other competitors. I own the technology but they would certainly take a dim view of me selling it to their competitors - and stop using me thus cutting off my only source of income…

A company that I worked at did this:

Started as a consulting company. Made one-off web apps for businesses in a particular industry. Realized a pattern in what these businesses wanted. Built a generic web app product. Sold the product to (and migrated) the old customers. Flourished as a product business.

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#64

Post by malux85 »

megablast wrote: post #32
malux85 wrote: post #2

You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…

Just a quick question, what time do you go to bed? I usually break up the day with the run. The great thing about being an iPhone developer is so easy to break even. In my first 2 weeks I broke even, it helped getting a mac for work. I continued to work for the next 15 months, until I had some savings, and was sure I could survive if things turned bad for a while.

Bed time is 9pm, and I try to be strict on it :)

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#65

Post by malux85 »

exit wrote: post #31
malux85 wrote: post #2

You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…

when do you go to sleep? 4am - 8 hours?

Try to get to bed at 9pm :) +- 30 mins

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#66

Post by todojunkie »

edw519 wrote: post #27

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'll follow this up by saying I've had my early adopters very happy to be "getting in on the ground floor" (as they put it). I believe some will find this as the leverage they need to become successful, or at the very least have one up on their competition.

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#67

Post by malux85 »

white_devil wrote: post #42
malux85 wrote: post #2

You're right, and this doesn't just apply to I.T. Startups. My step father (who is 70 years old, and still on the board of 6 companies) used to always say to us kids it takes "2 years" to start a company. In the article it says you break even somewhere through year two, which I think is what my father was referring to. My own experience this seems likely too, I started my own startup about 6 months ago,( solo founder…

How do you find customers? Are all methods guaranteed to take 2 - 3 years to break even?

For the example projects I gave the sales prediction one is growing the fastest, followed by the mechanical failure predictor. The sales prediction software should be 1.5 years to break even, the mechanical failure one probably a little longer. The other ones will fund my next TV / Macbooks / Holidays etc ...

My customers are usually start as friends / acquaintances / random business people I meet, then spreads through word of mouth.

Sorry if it's vague, let me be give my most recent example (The sales prediction software). I have a friend who is a manager of a small supermarket chain in New Zealand, I ask virtually every business owner I meet (anyone anywhere, including random people I meet on the train), a list of questions, one of which is "What is the biggest problem in your business at the moment" ... he said "Inventory Management". We got talking about his purchasing process, how he orders, what determines the levels he orders, all those sorts of things. I tell them to treat me like an idiot, this gets us to the root cause of the problem faster and also builds a good dynamic if I 'admit' I'm dumb ... I become less intimidating.

I then build MVP, iterate rapidly based on their feedback. MVP (v2) is always quite different to MVP (which is why I dont spend a lot of time on MVP)

Quickly my supermarket buddy is talking to his supermarket buddies saying "you have to use this software" ... so I make my customers do the selling for me. Kind of cheeky I know, but hey, it works.

I'm by no means a pro ... I have build a good 20 other projects that have all failed miserably. But leant from them all, and as I said in an earlier post, I have the sheer bloody minded determination that means failure can punch me right in the face and I will always get up again (haha)

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#68

Post by FollowSteph3 »

I concur, it takes much more than 6 months. That's barely enough time to build the product/service, nevermind trying to build a customer base.

I recently posted my companies revenue chart over the last 8 years, and if you'll notice in the first 3 years even if there was growth (year 3 was almost double year 1), it still took a while to really get some good growth: http://www.followsteph.com/2011/08/23/landlordmax-2010-best-...

I'd say if you can do it in less than 3 years, that's amazing. Trying to do it in 6 months is unrealistic, you'd need way too much luck to achieve that.

The good news, as you can see from my revenue graph, is that once you get momentum behind you, it makes all the difference. After some time you learn what works and what doesn't, you start to get systems in place, you have a network of customers, and so on.

Btw, 6 months is barely enough time to even just do split testing on a website, nevermind trying to implement what you find and test it again. Any marketing effort takes at least a few months to really get the hang of.

I salute you for being brave enough to share your failure, that's a major step. As someone else said, you will most likely succeed in the future because you can see and admit your mistakes. But please do expect it to take more time. I agree that 3 years is a pretty standard timeframe to get a business going...

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#69

Post by techiferous »

mattmanser wrote: post #28

I thought he'd stopped reading HN? 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…

> I thought he'd stopped reading HN?

Apparently HN still reads him.

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#70

Post by barry-cotter »

Hitchhiker wrote: post #9
brador wrote: post #5

I think it was freakonomics that said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert...which is pretty much 3 years full time. Could this be a universal law?

Think you meant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29 .. at appx 40 hours per week, that's more like 5 years.. which is same as a PhD, black-belt etc.

Four hours a day is about the maximum amount of dedicated practice possible. Three is more usual.
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