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Exactly. I started building stuff at 17 and found "the one" (doing over 1 mil/year) at 27. I can't count how many failed projects I had.
How did you identify your ultimately successful niche, and what do you feel was different about it than your previous attempts?
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Personally, I have a problem with the term lifestyle business. Without plenty of VC money, building and running a business is hard . VC backed up start-ups fit the "lifestyle" business definition a lot better, IMHO. One can play CxO, or chief engineer or whatever fancy title one wants to hold without putting the effort and years in, without actually worrying about those nasty things like profitability, cash flow or a…
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with a life style business to begin with, the negative stigma is there only because certain VCs feel that you are a horrible person for not cutting them in on the action so they can diversify their portfolios.
I sometimes explain to customers that if my business were VC-funded, it would grow and be developed much faster, but in the end there would need to be an exit and there is no exit scenario that is good for the customers. Think about it: there could be an IPO, in which case the business would need to start addressing a huge audience and increase growth (which always hurts existing customers), there could be a strategic acquisition or an acquihire, very few of which go right (this usually results in shutting down the service within 2-3 years), or the VCs could decide to fold the company, stopping the service outright. There is simply no good scenario.
A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…
> A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. This is not true! I have seen successful business built from scratch by people who had no connections, no money and no privileged background (and no VC money). And I will say this for sure, i…
Why do "indiehackers" want attention from and create products for other "indiehackers"? As a group they seem the people with the least amount of money to spend on products, and are some of the most cheapskate people on the planet. Here's some advice: if you want to make money selling a software product, sell to people who are able and willing to spend money on it.
> Why do "indiehackers" want attention from and create products for other "indiehackers"? Two things come to my mind: 1) "indie hackers" are way easier to get a relation started with than companies or even start-ups. And forget about big enterprise if you don't have an angel investor or some other experienced and well-connected guidance. 2) With smaller users, you're more likely to get better testing and feedback. In…
I think the conclusion was that you probably had something like a low single digit percentage chance of building something that's profitable but makes If you're building something you love then by all means do it, but as someone who's been in your position and who has seen several of my colleagues and friends in your position at this point I tend to recommend people against trying to create a tech startup. It's almost always a waste of time, money and more stress than it's worth. Plus it's not like we get paid bad for working a regular job in tech.
Imo there's just way better ways to make money. Tech is weird in that you're competing against a lot of very smart people, the barriers to building a tech product are very low, and the competition is global. In contrast if you open a used car lot you'll typically be competing with few average business men in the area who had the capital to start the company. Your chances of success are astronomically higher even if it's capped.
If you really want to start a company at least leverage the high income you make as a tech worker to start something with some barrier to entry. It might not make you a multimillionaire, but I've seen way more people successfully go from a tech job into opening a restaurant or into real estate.
Anyway, sending you love man. I hope you're doing okay. I know how hard it can be accepting that your dreams will never materialise. I wanted to be an a tech entrepreneur since I was young teen. I wasted most of my best years behind a keyboard and monitor building stuff when I should have been having fun with friends. When I realised in my mid twenties that I wasted a decade of my life aspiring to something that would never happen it took something like 2-3 years for me to get over that feeling of being lost in life.
>3 x failed attempts => spending time institutionalized >anyone can do it with the right mindset Those are contradictory, I would guess the right mindset is one where failure doesn't destroy you to the point you get institutionalized. Here is my stupid advice (won't work, it's a case of someone who knows less giving advice to someone who knows more, I have never started a company or anything, but as Gandalf said "Why…
Also you failed, maybe you're just 5 feet 6 and can never ever become a professional basketball player no matter how hard you try Muggsy Bogues is 5'3" and played 14 seasons in the NBA. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muggsy_Bogues
A. You are trying to highlight that the poster is technically incorrect, so that they learn a new fact. That is mostly fine, but it doesn't add a lot to the conversation, and distracts from the point that they are trying to make.
or
B. You are making a point that some people succeed despite handicaps, essentially that there are often exceptions and hard work can make up for lack of talent. This is true, but it's a mindset that I think should not be encouraged in the OP. They are clearly having problems with how hard they work, which had lead to them being institutionalized. Telling them that they could have succeeded if they tried harder is not what we should do here.
A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…
> A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. This is not true! I have seen successful business built from scratch by people who had no connections, no money and no privileged background (and no VC money). And I will say this for sure, i…
As many people on this thread have said, this stuff is hard, and mainly about luck and of course all the stories that we hear are about success.
I wouldn't discourage people to try though, if enough of us try one of us will make it. Just know that you'll probably fail, and as the op says, protect your mental health.
This mindset not only means you'll not put your last savings into a venture that is very likely to fail, but also that you remain sane.
Also, sometimes one just needs a break. If you can, take a year off. If you have to work to support yourself, try to take it easy.