4. This post is getting some traction. Now is a perfect opportunity to tell people what it is! Maybe you'll get some interest or at least some useful feedback. Don't worry if it is still a bit rough around the edges.
Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
71–80 of 83 posts
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#72Something 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…
Yeah, I didn't say they set out to screw them, just that it does happen.
I had a corporate job. People have trouble seeing big companies as having the same cash flow issues etc they have. They imagine they are sitting on a fortune, not that a lot of those assets are needed to just run the company.
I remember reading one story about a small company waiting to get paid by BigCo and BigCo ran into issues and then tried to stiff them on payments by saying something like "This is for the latest thing we ordered and we no longer owe you those old payments cuz (legal loophole)" and the small company updated its language to counter such claims and insist "Payment is for the oldest thing we did for you...etc"
They probably weren't trying to kill the small company. They were just trying to survive their own financial downturn.
It's why I used to think "I should collect such stories when I see them." Small businesses tend to be "The new kid" who learns this the hard way and may not survive the lesson. I would like this issue to get more publicity so small businesses get better at managing such things realistically.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "what happens if you get hit by a bus?" This is actually a weasel sentence for "you are too poor" and it's kind of patronising. What do they expect to happen if solo entrepreneur get hit by a bus? That he or she has like a dead man switch that will send over all the business secrets, IP, passwords etc to a trusted person to ensure continuity? In reality the rich look for business run by someone with generational we…
> "what happens if you get hit by a bus?" or b) create a product for customers to whom that doesn't matter. I simply read this as "what guarantee do I (the customer) have that you'll be around tomorrow?" I don't see where investors come in to this piece of advice. If a big company takes a risk in locking in to your product, they want some assurances (I've seen them ask for stuff like business continuity plans, code e…
This is assuming someone looking for funding doesn't want to use to money to ensure the business is going to be around tomorrow and it kind of feeds into the prejudice.
I mean, what else someone would be looking to get investment for?
To get the money bags and run?
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#74Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#75Check out https://indiehackers.com, a community for "solopreneurs".
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
Take a look at the second chat at https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-176-annual-return-of-a.... The vast majority of returns for YC are for the companies at the tippy top of that chart (Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox and a few others).
YC certainly provides a nice package to founders. But they are definitely in the unicorn business.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks! I am selling B2B. However I guess it is more like Figma or Notion or some of these apps, where anyone can use it (individuals or companies).
Solo founder works for B2C2B, and I think that's what you're looking to do based on what your examples. Notion is actually the poster child for the strategy: you target a group of people who have the job title that'd use your product, but build something that appeals to them on personal level as consumers . You don't bother with typical B2B messaging, no enterprise-y sales pitches, and you lean into community buildin…
For further context, this strategy is known as Product Led Growth (PLG).
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#781. Just be yourself, proudly. Some people _will_ hate it, others will love it. Getting product market fit is so damned hard, you are way better off looking for a smaller number of people that love you. 2. I'd shoot for 5 reference customers (paying list price, using it as you'd expect and genuinely delighted). Along the way I'd track who you try to sell to in a spreadsheet (including those that just drag on and never…
> Absolutely not. I've more than 40K customers at my startup and I live in a village no one has heard of in the UK.
Haha this made me check your profile — don't know if it's quite fair to say PostHog is proof that you don't need to be in SV to succeed given that you guys went through YC and also started in a remote-first (mid-pandemic) world.
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Solo founder works for B2C2B, and I think that's what you're looking to do based on what your examples. Notion is actually the poster child for the strategy: you target a group of people who have the job title that'd use your product, but build something that appeals to them on personal level as consumers . You don't bother with typical B2B messaging, no enterprise-y sales pitches, and you lean into community buildin…
For further context, this strategy is known as Product Led Growth (PLG).
Technically I'm advising them to go more towards Community Led Growth, but it's rooted in a similar place as Product Led Growth
https://www.amity.co/blog/duolingo-figma-notion-and-hubspot-...
Re: Ask HN: Tips for Solopreneur?
#801. Just be yourself, proudly. Some people _will_ hate it, others will love it. Getting product market fit is so damned hard, you are way better off looking for a smaller number of people that love you. 2. I'd shoot for 5 reference customers (paying list price, using it as you'd expect and genuinely delighted). Along the way I'd track who you try to sell to in a spreadsheet (including those that just drag on and never…
> Absolutely not. I've more than 40K customers at my startup and I live in a village no one has heard of in the UK. Haha this made me check your profile — don't know if it's quite fair to say PostHog is proof that you don't need to be in SV to succeed given that you guys went through YC and also started in a remote-first (mid-pandemic) world.
ok that is fair - going to SF frequently but not living there is something i should have been clearer on!
my cofounder and i go 3-4 x a year now, for 1 week at a time. it acts like an offsite - get out of usual routine, meet interesting people, do lots of meetings (we'd normally avoid this sort of thing), get ideas and up our ambition, then go home and build stuff for 3 months quietly. repeat!
in the early days, if you fundraise, then at least SF based firms are way better to deal with in general, of course with many exceptions