Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 83 posts

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#61

Post by user_7832 »

chadash wrote: post #45
ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VC can be a great way to break into markets that just have inherently large moats or barriers to entry. Stripe is an example: you can code all you like but you literally can't move money without going through a ton of very annoying (to devs, anyway) footwork to get cozy with the existing financial institutions. The connections your VCs give you can matter as much as the money. They can also literally kill your compan…

> They can also literally kill your company. VCs have a very specific strategy: they give some money to 1000 companies knowing that 990 of them will return 0% in the hopes that of the remaining ten, 9 of them return %X000 and one returns %X0000. +1 to this. There are definitely different models for VCs, but in general, the big "brand name" VCs are in the unicorn business. This tweet [1] does a succinct job of explain…

> There are definitely different models for VCs, but in general, the big "brand name" VCs are in the unicorn business.

Slightly naive question, but does this include YC? The wording on their page makes it sound like joining YC would help most startups but is that just for show? Or does this apply much more when the VC owns >50% of the company?

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#62

Post by dmuso »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #14

Something that seems to be not well known by the general public: Landing a big contract with a big company early on can be very problematic. They have a history of screwing small companies. Small companies often seem to imagine this will solve all their problems. It seems to be the business equivalent of the fantasy of winning the lottery and then having it made in the shade. In reality, winning the lottery frequentl…

Yeah this happened to me and it killed my business. I didn’t have enough time to expand the business and I didn’t charge the first customer enough to scale it up with employees.

It was really the stress that killed it. Being in that situation was not fun and I ended up burning out and telling my big customer to go jump. They threatened to sue me and I was done so I just said “give it your best shot”. Nothing came of the threat in the end. The experience has left a lot of scars and after 15 years not all of them have healed.

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#63

Post by quadcore »

Some people have asked me about my team and I told them it was just me. I got the feeling that it may have turned them off

Repeat after me: emotional intelligence and situational awareness. You've been asked that question not for the answer but to see how you'd respond to it. He knows you're alone. So he asks. Will you loose your shit? Will you understand what he's trully doing? Have you prepared for it? How come you let such an obvious hole in your defense?

Dont ever ever make the mistake to think people are dumb. They play dumb. Most people are engineers just like you. Except they dont do the same engineering than you do. They do emotional engineering. People love it. They crave for it.

Do you get it? If you're not sure, then you dont get it. So get it. People dont trust an emotionally dumb person. Period. Trust me I know.

Thats your answers to all your questions but the product. You will sell once you're emotionally smart because of the strong effect it has on people.

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#65

Post by soneca »

quadcore wrote: post #63

Some people have asked me about my team and I told them it was just me. I got the feeling that it may have turned them off Repeat after me: emotional intelligence and situational awareness. You've been asked that question not for the answer but to see how you'd respond to it. He knows you're alone. So he asks. Will you loose your shit? Will you understand what he's trully doing? Have you prepared for it? How come you…

What? This comment feels like an intro to sell a “be emotionally smart” on-line course.

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#66

Post by el_benhameen »

richardw wrote: post #28

Spend some time around Rob’s universe: https://robwalling.com/ There are a lot of people like you. You don’t need to move and you don’t need to hire anyone unless you want to. You need product market fit and the ability to learn. Find others to speak to, maybe go to microconf.

I’ll second this advice, and add that he recently released a new book, “The SaaS Playbook”. It has a lot of concrete advice for the kinds of issues OP is asking about. Never met Rob and not getting anything out of the recommendation; I just really enjoyed the book.

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#67

Post by alien13 »

soneca wrote: post #65
quadcore wrote: post #63

Some people have asked me about my team and I told them it was just me. I got the feeling that it may have turned them off Repeat after me: emotional intelligence and situational awareness. You've been asked that question not for the answer but to see how you'd respond to it. He knows you're alone. So he asks. Will you loose your shit? Will you understand what he's trully doing? Have you prepared for it? How come you…

What? This comment feels like an intro to sell a “be emotionally smart” on-line course.

Interesting

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#69

Post by hermitcrab »

1. There are plenty of 1 person businesses. I have run basically a 1 person software product business for 18 years (with a bit of help from my wife with admin). I never lie about it being just me, but I don't shout about it either. A lot of my customers seem to assume that I am a team of people in an office in the US.

2. Just concentrate on getting those first few sales. It may never happen.

3. It depends. If you want to raise funds and recruit lots of people, you should probably be in a big city. If it is just you, you can be anywhere.

4. Big topic. It isn't enough to do stuff, you need to also tell people about it (marketing). The best marketing channels vary a lot depending on your product, goals, personality, budget etc.

5. Big topic. I prefer not to deal with investors and bootstrapped my business with my own savings. Venture capital allows you to launch bigger and faster, but with a lot of strings attached. I suggest bootstrapping, at least to start with, You can always try to raise money later, if you have some customers.

I have written various stuff about marketing and running a small software business over the years. You might find some of this useful: https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?

#70

Post by hermitcrab »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #14

Something that seems to be not well known by the general public: Landing a big contract with a big company early on can be very problematic. They have a history of screwing small companies. Small companies often seem to imagine this will solve all their problems. It seems to be the business equivalent of the fantasy of winning the lottery and then having it made in the shade. In reality, winning the lottery frequentl…

In my experience it's not so much that they are out to screw you. It is just there is a mismatch when a big company buys from a small company. Big Co has long sales cycles, needs a lot of paperwork done, wants training, may need consultants onsite etc. Small companies are not generally well set up for this. Also your income is more predictable if you average 1000 customers paying $100 per year, than if you average 10 customers paying $10,000 per year. Also a few big paying customers can push you around in a way that lots of smaller customers can't.
Post reply on HN