Most problems in a Startup are product or distribution.
Most people who look down on lifestyle businesses often have the lifestyle to begin with, or are their… yet to be accomplished followers. It’s koolaid that can lose a decade of so many peoples lives. Anyone who looks down on lifestyle businesses should introspect on where it came from that it’s ok for them to look down kn another’s choices and personal formula. Not everyone has a safety net and building one for yourself let’s you really swing for the fences if you wanted. Or not.
Lots of business skills transfer from small business to big things.
All big things consist of small things.
Getting really good at small things is what makes you really good at big things instead of having the details to others.
Learning enough business skills before you need them means you can self fund though paid customer discoveries but being a well paid enough consultant. But that takes years to get really good at, and many times we don’t really consider if we’re going to love an area for the rest of our lives it’s going to be decades and not years. Having 5 figure monthly skills puts you on a very different and equal footing with investors who buy the time of people in their 20s like a toy. Others are much more conscientious. Anyone who wants to help you investment or not needs to bring more tot he table than money, specifically relationships that are meaningful to you.
How small, is there not just as much innovation and vision required to make an atom work compared to a molecule or something bigger?
Lots of things must be learned by learning to sit stand and walk before running. Entrepreneurship is a pretty harsh self development mirror.
Entrepreneurship is a marathon, as much as people feel it’s a sprint.
If founders take vc money save for angels, founders are almost guaranteed to be replaced as founder by a corporate type one day because founders usually don’t have or develop the business skills quickly enough.
Investment is not for the many, it is for the few. Most startups in all sectors are self funded. I feel this is one of the biggest sleights of hand for our time. Investment isn’t success either, it’s just a different kind of pressure to grow at any cost even if it’s not the right one or the one you might have picked had you waited a few months extra.
If you don’t want any investor to tell you when to go home, it’s often valuable to learn the difference between freelancing -> contracting -> consulting —> product. Lots of transferable skills the least of which is understanding jobs to be done.
You can benefit from a natural relentless curiousity and resourcefulness. Otherwise building a startup falls to being about tech and not learning how to build distribution.
Customers don’t care what you code in. Spending more time hanging around hanging out in online communities vs with customers and their pains is a red flag. Indiehackers is a great read, product hunt is nice too but none will replace doing the work that is hitting the streets and talking to elope face to face even if on video.
To the OP: It’s ok to go build other skills and often they will shed a more positive light on this time. You will discover you certainly have picked up a lot of valuable skills that others will pay for. That experience can uncover lots of needs that have no solution. Or, you may find something that you can do, and consider with a different perspective. You have value. You will add value. You will create value. You will continue becoming more well rounded.