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One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

datastation.multiprocess.io

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Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#21

Post by ushakov »

Aeolun wrote: post #19
ushakov wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> working a full time job and building WunderGraph at night and on the weekends this is actually a terrible advice, although i'm glad it worked out for you! this type of side-hustling can quickly turn into losing your startup or your job (or both) better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1 profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically

> profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically This kinda feels like saying a small loan of a million dollars increases your chances dramatically. The challenge is in getting to that point.

this is why you should focus on a business offer from get-go and start making money from launch

majority of us cannot afford to retire at home for years not making any income

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#22

Post by ushakov »

krageon wrote: post #20
ushakov wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> working a full time job and building WunderGraph at night and on the weekends this is actually a terrible advice, although i'm glad it worked out for you! this type of side-hustling can quickly turn into losing your startup or your job (or both) better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1 profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically

> become profitable from day 1 "just make some money" is not good advice. It trivialises the entire problem and even worse, it's the core problem of everyone in this space. This reasoning is dismissive of their struggle and doesn't help them move towards where they need to be. There is absolutely no good reason to treat other people like that.

i didn't mean to say that

i'm suggesting to try to make money as soon as you can, else you'll just drown like many others

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#23

Post by jensneuse »

ushakov wrote: post #22
krageon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> become profitable from day 1 "just make some money" is not good advice. It trivialises the entire problem and even worse, it's the core problem of everyone in this space. This reasoning is dismissive of their struggle and doesn't help them move towards where they need to be. There is absolutely no good reason to treat other people like that.

i didn't mean to say that i'm suggesting to try to make money as soon as you can, else you'll just drown like many others

I agree with this. What most developers, like me, love to think is that you can do "one more feature" and they will come, or another refactor, or anything. But I've learned this lesson. Building a startup us very little about coding, and more about all the other things that make up a business. What's your value proposition? How do you sell? How do you acquire users? etc... In the end, I've wasted way too much time on the things that didn't make a difference, but I think I've learned from this.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#24

Post by jasfi »

jensneuse wrote: post #13
jasfi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you find your co-founders?

The marketing guy, I found on YC Startup School Co-Founder Match ( https://www.startupschool.org/ ), the Developer was creating GraphQL Open Source projects that were related to what I was building, so I've got in touch with them. I can definitely recommend Startup School, it helped me build a lot of useful connections.

How did you determine how to split equity?

Edit: I'm not looking for actual %s, just the factors involved.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#25

Post by varispeed »

jensneuse wrote: post #9

Thanks for this writeup, I can relate 100%, especially the part on the supportive spouse. I've built WunderGraph ( https://wundergraph.com/ ) as a solo-dev for multiple years until I reached a similar point like you. It's weird to say, but my wife kind of accepted that I'd work on weekends between 1-3 pm when the kids sleep. What helped me get out of this "solo-time-drain-thing" was to find the right Co-Founders to h…

Having a supportive spouse probably does wonders for mental health. After 5 years in a relationship I decided to spin up my own business and learned about something I didn't know about significant other - she didn't recognise working for oneself as a legitimate work. For her I was "pissing away" my and her time and I should look for a second job if I wanted to make more money. I managed two years of constant berating, being laughed at and threatened. In the hindsight I wish I had ended the relationship the first time she demonstrated the lack of support. My project would have taken less time to get it to MVP and my mental health wouldn't be in a state it was. After my project started making money she was of course sorry and wanted to get back together. But I am not sure if I ever would want to be with someone else, this is not the first time I have been burned, but first time it hurt so bad. I feel so much better alone.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#26

Post by varispeed »

ushakov wrote: post #14
jensneuse wrote: post #9

Thanks for this writeup, I can relate 100%, especially the part on the supportive spouse. I've built WunderGraph ( https://wundergraph.com/ ) as a solo-dev for multiple years until I reached a similar point like you. It's weird to say, but my wife kind of accepted that I'd work on weekends between 1-3 pm when the kids sleep. What helped me get out of this "solo-time-drain-thing" was to find the right Co-Founders to h…

> working a full time job and building WunderGraph at night and on the weekends this is actually a terrible advice, although i'm glad it worked out for you! this type of side-hustling can quickly turn into losing your startup or your job (or both) better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1 profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically

> better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1

In many Western economies, the level of taxation is designed to prevent you from doing that. It would take many years to save enough money to sustain yourself for a year without changing your commitments much. So either way you are in a bad position. I mean it's possible if you don't have a family, share a flat with others so your bills are low and so on, but you may end up just as burnt living in such environment.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#27

Post by jensneuse »

varispeed wrote: post #25
jensneuse wrote: post #9

Thanks for this writeup, I can relate 100%, especially the part on the supportive spouse. I've built WunderGraph ( https://wundergraph.com/ ) as a solo-dev for multiple years until I reached a similar point like you. It's weird to say, but my wife kind of accepted that I'd work on weekends between 1-3 pm when the kids sleep. What helped me get out of this "solo-time-drain-thing" was to find the right Co-Founders to h…

Having a supportive spouse probably does wonders for mental health. After 5 years in a relationship I decided to spin up my own business and learned about something I didn't know about significant other - she didn't recognise working for oneself as a legitimate work. For her I was "pissing away" my and her time and I should look for a second job if I wanted to make more money. I managed two years of constant berating…

I know exactly where you're coming from. My family didn't understand or like what I did for a long time. For them, I've wasted my time on what wasn't really "work", because I didn't get a salary. I'm from Germany, you're expected to have a job here. Being an Entrepreneur seems wrong. Luckily, my wife was very supportive. But there are also limits. Let's say that everyone around me had to suffer to some degree so that I was able to pull this off.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#28

Post by alex_suzuki »

jasfi wrote: post #24
jensneuse wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The marketing guy, I found on YC Startup School Co-Founder Match ( https://www.startupschool.org/ ), the Developer was creating GraphQL Open Source projects that were related to what I was building, so I've got in touch with them. I can definitely recommend Startup School, it helped me build a lot of useful connections.

How did you determine how to split equity? Edit: I'm not looking for actual %s, just the factors involved.

Would like to know as well. This is tricky, as all your assets are probably intellectual property and hard to put a price tag on. Also some people have a hard time accepting that they are eligible for a smaller piece of the cake than you are.

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#29

Post by manceraio »

eatonphil wrote: post #5

Hey this is my story! It's been a genuinely fun year. Looking forward to doing better next time. Datastation/dsq are in a great spot and I'm looking forward to them continuing to grow. Happy for your suggestions and flames.

It looks like your projects resonate with people, and more important, you are capable of putting them in front of many eyes. Which is even harder than writing code. For that reason, don't seek the validation of VCs and figure out a business around it. Let your customers be your VCs.

Congratulations on your work :)

Re: One year as a solo dev building open-source data tools without funding

#30

Post by alex_suzuki »

ushakov wrote: post #8

> They weren't a fan of me being a solo founder and they felt the usage wasn't high enough i don't understand the logic here why would you need YC if you have found a co-founder and have some usage already? can't you just start making money?

Solo founder means bus factor is high. You don’t even have to die. Having a co-founder increases the chances of you being in it for the long run. But having a co-founder can pose a whole set of problems itself…
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