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Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

marclou.beehiiv.com

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Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#11

Post by TheLastSultan »

marclou wrote: post #10
TheLastSultan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I see it for you Marc, you spent 6 years building an audience on Twitter. Shipfa.st has a very short shelf life. The audience and trust of startup founders/lovers in the ecosystem has lasting value. Any ideas on how to capitalize on that?

Good point. Either I'll build an audience on YouTube And/Or I'll build new startups Also, my Twitter is really small so there's much more work to do there. Any thoughts? Note: I've been building an audience there for 2 years (the first 4 years was me building in the dark)

I think if you can focus on making informative content for YT at the same quality as your commercials it will be a smashing success. The key is focus. You have an eccentric charm that devs like myself enjoy. Your Twitter following will help you get from 0 to 1 there, but you should still be prepared for a steep curve before it generates revenue.

I do have a radical idea that I am keen to share with you in particular.

I am the Founder of RocketDevs.com. The 'amazing' thing about us is that we can ethically and reliably source GREAT developers and rent them out for $6/hr or $980/mo. This entry point is cheap for USD earners, but stil a fortune in some regions.

The market opportunity here is early startups. People have ideas, but they can't spend $7k/mo on Turing. Fivver is shit. Upwork is avg $28/hr for mid-devs. With no affordable help, non-technical founders will scramble to find a 'technical' founder. You taught yourself how to code but few are that committed. Technical founders will reliably start a project and burn out quickly due to 0 help.

Our audiences intersect strongly. My radical idea is that we work together. I use my deep technical experience to source great devs. You use your following so I can conveniently focus on the product and avoid the pain of 'building an audience' just to get the word out. Stable income for you and we're helping folks build their dreams.

Look me up at linkedin.com/in/thelastsultan if you're keen. I think im in your inbox already.

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#12

Post by marclou »

TheLastSultan wrote: post #11
marclou wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Either I'll build an audience on YouTube And/Or I'll build new startups Also, my Twitter is really small so there's much more work to do there. Any thoughts? Note: I've been building an audience there for 2 years (the first 4 years was me building in the dark)

I think if you can focus on making informative content for YT at the same quality as your commercials it will be a smashing success. The key is focus. You have an eccentric charm that devs like myself enjoy. Your Twitter following will help you get from 0 to 1 there, but you should still be prepared for a steep curve before it generates revenue. I do have a radical idea that I am keen to share with you in particular.…

[dead]

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#13

Post by aleph_minus_one »

marclou wrote: post #8
arjonagelhout wrote: post #5

I admire your work ethic and perseverance. One thing I personally learned from trying to build a startup this way, is that the problems you’re building a solution for become very narrow as your main source of inspiration becomes startup culture and digital SaaS products. I made the decision to first get real work experience in a relevant industry, learn the problems there and only then start building a product. This…

100% with you. It's so hard to find real problems if you spend 90% of your time finding problems. Having a job is a great fix. Building side projects with no purpose works too. For instance, you can sell a boilerplate to make it faster, or get feedback from users and build for them. Although it's much harder to start, and hard to navigate life without $ for months (years in my case)

> It's so hard to find real problems if you spend 90% of your time finding problems.

> Having a job is a great fix.

My experience differs: it is very easy to find real problems, and it is possible to implement a decent solution for at least some of them. But: many of the problems that various industries have are in my opinion self-inflicted because of their structures. What is hard is convincing potential customers that your solution would help them.

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#14

Post by mattgreenrocks »

marclou wrote: post #2

OP here. I call my products startups because I need to believe each will make $ at some point, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to grind for 6 years. Some are actual startups with decent userbase and recurring revenue, and some are just free logo makers.

6 years, wow! Admire your ability to keep at it.

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#15

Post by mattgreenrocks »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #13
marclou wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% with you. It's so hard to find real problems if you spend 90% of your time finding problems. Having a job is a great fix. Building side projects with no purpose works too. For instance, you can sell a boilerplate to make it faster, or get feedback from users and build for them. Although it's much harder to start, and hard to navigate life without $ for months (years in my case)

> It's so hard to find real problems if you spend 90% of your time finding problems. > Having a job is a great fix. My experience differs: it is very easy to find real problems, and it is possible to implement a decent solution for at least some of them. But: many of the problems that various industries have are in my opinion self-inflicted because of their structures. What is hard is convincing potential customers t…

Once it hurts enough, people pull out their wallets.

What's that threshold? Well, that's the hard part. :)

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#16

Post by iamleppert »

TheLastSultan wrote: post #11
marclou wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Either I'll build an audience on YouTube And/Or I'll build new startups Also, my Twitter is really small so there's much more work to do there. Any thoughts? Note: I've been building an audience there for 2 years (the first 4 years was me building in the dark)

I think if you can focus on making informative content for YT at the same quality as your commercials it will be a smashing success. The key is focus. You have an eccentric charm that devs like myself enjoy. Your Twitter following will help you get from 0 to 1 there, but you should still be prepared for a steep curve before it generates revenue. I do have a radical idea that I am keen to share with you in particular.…

How do you find developers for $6/hr and what do you mean you rent them out?

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#17

Post by wharvle »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #13
marclou wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% with you. It's so hard to find real problems if you spend 90% of your time finding problems. Having a job is a great fix. Building side projects with no purpose works too. For instance, you can sell a boilerplate to make it faster, or get feedback from users and build for them. Although it's much harder to start, and hard to navigate life without $ for months (years in my case)

> It's so hard to find real problems if you spend 90% of your time finding problems. > Having a job is a great fix. My experience differs: it is very easy to find real problems, and it is possible to implement a decent solution for at least some of them. But: many of the problems that various industries have are in my opinion self-inflicted because of their structures. What is hard is convincing potential customers t…

Example: the entire software industry (to include, and perhaps especially, companies that develop software but aren’t exactly software companies) seems to have a problem with splitting tools across a bunch of vendors, many of which have heavily overlapping functionality. It adds friction to everything and makes it harder to see what’s going on, burning god knows how much productivity.

But you can’t fix it by making another multifunctional tool, because you’ll just get people using one or two of your five feature-areas, and two or three other tools for the rest, same as now.

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#18

Post by darod »

marclou wrote: post #2

OP here. I call my products startups because I need to believe each will make $ at some point, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to grind for 6 years. Some are actual startups with decent userbase and recurring revenue, and some are just free logo makers.

I appreciate the grit but don't align with the definition. One could argue that you made 1 startup with several products and the most successful one would be what you pivot to.

Re: Lessons from building nine startups in 2023

#20

Post by jb1991 »

StreetChief wrote: post #19

I'm curious if the author has ever been in therapy. I would never say food + sleep + exercise is a substitute for professional medical advice.

It’s obviously hyperbole. It makes a point about how to improve your mental health by taking care of your physical health.
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