It takes three years to build a business • Hacker News Board

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#71

Post by namityadav » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 12:02 AM UTC

Periodic wrote: post #53

A post like this makes me question myself. How do I know when it's right to declare a business failed? I joined another person on a startup about six months ago. We have one client and it might start expanding, but then again, we are two months past our expected initial launch and at our current rate we won't be launching until January. He has been getting more excited, but I have been getting less excited. I'm prett…

Don't quit this business because you can declare it "failed" .. quit it because you aren't having fun at it (based on your comment)

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#72

Post by ido » Sat, Oct 15, 2011, 8:20 AM UTC

dendory wrote: post #54

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…

How are you making money freelancing from day 1? Chances are you went in the same field you already worked in, had contacts, knew how to get clients, etc. When starting freelancing in a new domain, or starting a business, it takes a lot longer to start making money. Also, making money and being viable is two thing. I myself am trying to survive in the world of freelance. I've been going for a few months now and I mak…

I don't think you can find a universal answer, everyone's experiences are different.

The take-away point here is that you should know it might take a while to make money & don't count on it being quick.

I started making money within 1 month of quitting my day job to work on my project (product, not freelancing), and just about now (~8 months in) it's starting to look like it's making enough money to live off of in the long term (I was living on savings before that point).

Another thing to take into account is how much money you need to support you working full time.

I'm 28 without dependents & living in Vienna, so for me that sum is a paltry (relative to someone living in SF or NYC) $25k/year.

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#73

Post by Confusion » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:48 PM UTC

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.

In my experience, though I haven't achieved it myself yet, a black belt is more like training 4 hours a week for about 10 years.

Re: It takes three years to build a business

#74

Post by white_devil » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:33 PM UTC

malux85 wrote: post #67

white_devil wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 throu…

Hey sorry for the late reply.

Asking people what their biggest problem is sounds like a good idea! I should do that too.

Have you tried telephone sales, by the way?