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Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

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Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#41

Post by _448 »

muzani wrote: post #20

None. The company has trouble staying alive with me alive. It will be gone when I'm dead. Heck, the one that got acquired died even with me in an advisory position. There will always be competitors. Some may spawn or be inspired later. Someone eventually does the same thing but better. It's probably overengineering to try to keep a company alive longer than me. The primary responsibility is keeping my kids alive shou…

> Heck, the one that got acquired died even with me in an advisory position.

:) There is an interesting advice on this topic in a book "Make a million before lunch". It states that your job as a founder should be to make yourself redundant as soon as possible. It helps a lot strategically in the long-run.

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#42

Post by blitzar »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #34
marc_io wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most think that for a minute and then simply move on with their lives.

Really? There are people who are vitually LARP:ing the man to this date, turtleneck and all.

Case and point - the greatest something of a generation: legacy - wearing a turtleneck.

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#43

Post by marginalia_nu »

blitzar wrote: post #42
marginalia_nu wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? There are people who are vitually LARP:ing the man to this date, turtleneck and all.

Case and point - the greatest something of a generation: legacy - wearing a turtleneck.

Sure. I even started out by noting that Cicero has been reduced to "Lorem ipsum".

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#44

Post by blitzar »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #43
blitzar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Case and point - the greatest something of a generation: legacy - wearing a turtleneck.

Sure. I even started out by noting that Cicero has been reduced to "Lorem ipsum".

McClintock first published his discovery in a 1994 letter to the editor of Before & After magazine, contesting the editor's earlier claim that Lorem ipsum held no meaning. [1]

I had no idea that they origin had to be rediscovered after nearly 100 years.

[1] https://www.straightdope.com/21343427/what-does-the-filler-t...

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#45

Post by mateusfreira »

herodoturtle wrote: post #40
mateusfreira wrote: post #21

Open-source it. I don't really advise running any business 100% solo, but I have done it for a while until my company has grown a bit. At that time and now (with my current new project), my strategy is to open-source it if something happens to me. Then, any customer or close person can take it from where I left it.

Interesting answer - makes a lot of sense. I’m on (what sounds like) a similar path to yours - in that the SaaS is growing nicely (and will one day afford a team and hopefully scale sustainably) but currently there is significant key-man risk. My main concern is for my customers, so your open source idea sounds very practical. How did you set this up? Do you have a private GitHub repo for example? With a Will / proce…

Yes, I have private repositories on GitHub with my SaaS products, and I add close friends as read-only contributors (usually to exchange ideas or show something I have done in the project).

These friends are also coders tho. They don't have interests (neither do I at the moment) into became part of the business. I told them openly in case I died, they could open-source the project or take over the project. Passwords I keep with my wife / direct relatives so they can contact them to just take control of the project.

However, open-sourcing would probably be enough for some of my customers to run the system by themselves. With the code and getting the access by contacting my relatives, these friends can potentially take the project and continue supporting my current customers.

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#46

Post by XCSme »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #7
Tretioh wrote: post #5

Why? I don't think you would be in any relevant position at all to care about a startup which is run by you in case you die. Your family can't run it, others can't just take it over and you are 6 feet under. Get life insurance and stop worrying about this if you haven't brought the company far enough yet.

Once we are dead, our legacy is what is left of us. Since it all amounts to nothing, might as well try to make a dent in history. Maybe we'll be one of the ones people are still quoting two thousand years later without even realizing it ([... do]lorem ipsum dolor sit amet).

I always think that in 300 years (probably even less) nothing that you did mattered and no one will remember who you were and what you did. Also, trying to do something "big" and change the world might lead to the opposite of what you tried to achieve, so trying to do something that will benefit the world in 1000 years for now doesn't really make any sense.

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#47

Post by epc »

A friend and I review each other’s “in case I’m dead” documents on a ~yearly basis. He runs a small MSP (~200 clients), I run a variety of small income producing things. The point of the documents isn’t to run the business perfectly, it’s to capture the day one…thirty issues for the survivors to either shut the business(es) down cleanly, or sell off. Even a simply "if I’m dead, this is what you should do” document is incredibly helpful to your heirs or whoever administers your estate.

The reason for a solo founder to at least think about these things is, sure, if you’re dead, you’re dead. But if you have any family they will inherit the mess left behind when you die. Even if your intent is the business should die with you there’s paperwork and pissed off clients/customers. If you run a sloppy LLC or C corp (minimal paperwork to keep up the corporate veil) your family will absolutely love to learn that you’ve dumped this pile of crap on them after your death.

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#49

Post by deserted »

muzani wrote: post #37
fragmede wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond life insurance, what have you done to ensure your descendants future?

Life insurance is one thing, but it has to be managed well. My will puts it into a fund that distributes it at a monthly rate until they're a certain age, so it doesn't get used up all at once. The rate is a little higher for college aged and some conditions let them cover college fee directly from the pool. There's also named guardians in case my wife dies too, and they get a caregivers stipend. There's also a lot o…

The separate lump sum life insurance is brilliant. Assuming all goes well, it will be a nice initial boost to handle one off 'start of new setup' expenses and ensure a buffer of savings beyond the monthly stipend. Worst case, it can be stretched and used for critical things instead of safety and comfort.

Re: Ask HN: Solo founders, what’s your got-hit-by-a-bus strategy?

#50

Post by deserted »

ezekg wrote: post #17
rozenmd wrote: post #12

I run a business that entitely runs itself on cron. I guess the customers that ask for support would just churn, but the stable set of customers that know what they're doing would keep enough cash in the accounts to keep the lights on until AWS permanently shuts down.

Or until your credit card expires and AWS switches your account off.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2...

Amazon allows ACH / direct debit payment methods with more longevity than a credit card.

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