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Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

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Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#51

Post by janetacarr »

Start smaller. You have to walk before you can run. I might be biased because I've tried and failed at a few startups, but this is what I'm doing:

Try building smaller / easier businesses first. Try freelancing or try selling something, anything, like a course. I think there's a very strong correlation between who can make it as freelance and those who can make it with a startup. The market is validated, and you'll get experience in selling, branding, marketing, etc.

Unless you live in Thailand or Bali, I don't see much option for mitigating risk here. Having a freelance/consulting business is going to do wonders for your entrepreneurship career. It'll give you more control over your work schedule, so you can keep making bigger and bigger bets. Just make sure you get high-value clients so you can make margin. Otherwise you'll be hunting for work all the time.

Last piece of advice: don't listen other people (LOL). Everyone has an opinion on how to be an entrepreneur and what 'true' entrepreneurship is. Focus on yourself and where you want to be and how to build a life where you can keep taking shots at the goal.

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#52

Post by [deleted] »

sb8244 wrote: post #15

There's a dangerous line of thinking around "my business isn't producing revenue because I'm not full-time focused on it." I've fallen into this trap and learned the hard way that full-time focus was not the issue. You have a team for in-house mobile apps, but you don't have any revenue. Why is that? How will you fix it?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#53

Post by ravelantunes »

sb8244 wrote: post #15

There's a dangerous line of thinking around "my business isn't producing revenue because I'm not full-time focused on it." I've fallen into this trap and learned the hard way that full-time focus was not the issue. You have a team for in-house mobile apps, but you don't have any revenue. Why is that? How will you fix it?

I think this is a very valuable insight, especially in the consumer and small/medium size business. I have fallen into this trap before.

One area where I would say that full-time matters more is if your product's target is big enterprise customers. Those are a bit harder to sell bootstrapping/moonlighting.

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#54

Post by vinay_ys »

Your definition of 'safer': Is it about financial security, flexibility, or control over decision-making?

Your risk tolerance: Be honest about how much uncertainty you can handle, both financially and emotionally.

Support system: Do you have people who can offer support (even practical help) on either path?

Before you decide to go full-time: Analyze your current startup's potential, your financial runway, and have a fallback plan for the worst-case scenario.

Before you decide to go part-time: Be realistic about limitations as a part-time entrepreneur.

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#56

Post by sb8244 »

ravelantunes wrote: post #53
sb8244 wrote: post #15

There's a dangerous line of thinking around "my business isn't producing revenue because I'm not full-time focused on it." I've fallen into this trap and learned the hard way that full-time focus was not the issue. You have a team for in-house mobile apps, but you don't have any revenue. Why is that? How will you fix it?

I think this is a very valuable insight, especially in the consumer and small/medium size business. I have fallen into this trap before. One area where I would say that full-time matters more is if your product's target is big enterprise customers. Those are a bit harder to sell bootstrapping/moonlighting.

For sure. Big challenge with those companies—that I found—is that they want a lot of credentials + proof that are simply outside of the reach of small businesses. So even if you're full-time, it may be a "good luck" scenario.

Although SOC2 is fairly easy to get, it's expensive for bootstrapped founders (maybe $30-45k all in.)

It wasn't enterprise, but the 600 person company (that I knew very well) simply wouldn't work with us in the end because we were too small (2 of us.) It sucked, a lot, because the deal cycle took about 18 months to get to a firm no. Since then, everyone involved has left the company

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#57

Post by itronitron »

sb8244 wrote: post #32
brianwawok wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s always product market fit. If the product is right it will find users.

Nah, that's not the right answer. It puts focus on the product rather than the founders. You do NOT need PMF to get 1-5 sales. If you can't even get there, it's bigger problems. PMF is needed to turn 2k MRR into 50k MRR. In my case, it heavily stemmed from our inability to do sales (at all). We had feedback early about how this was an $XXXXX product (and we were in sales process for that) and it put blinders on us. W…

>> Why we couldn't do sales is something I'm not going to put on the internet because it affects people other than me.

I can appreciate that but I am wondering if you can share what you think are core skills, habits, or personality traits that are critical in order to make sales happen for a new business/product.

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#58

Post by sb8244 »

itronitron wrote: post #57
sb8244 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, that's not the right answer. It puts focus on the product rather than the founders. You do NOT need PMF to get 1-5 sales. If you can't even get there, it's bigger problems. PMF is needed to turn 2k MRR into 50k MRR. In my case, it heavily stemmed from our inability to do sales (at all). We had feedback early about how this was an $XXXXX product (and we were in sales process for that) and it put blinders on us. W…

>> Why we couldn't do sales is something I'm not going to put on the internet because it affects people other than me. I can appreciate that but I am wondering if you can share what you think are core skills, habits, or personality traits that are critical in order to make sales happen for a new business/product.

Sure, I can do that. This isn't an exhaustive list, of course:

  * Don't be afraid to ask for the sale
  * Be comfortable "closed lost"-ing a deal instead of having non-productive conversations (SOGOTP)
  * Recap all meetings with prospects or customers (email sent to them with information such as about your product, your call with them, their painpoints, next steps, etc.)
  * Leave meetings with a tangible next step. Someone not wanting to schedule another meeting is a huge red flag
  * You don't need a sales process or methodology, but you might if you're not able to effectively manage your deals.
  * Be comfortable living in the present and future, as you want early prospects to help shape the future with you.

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#59

Post by xetplan »

agubelu wrote: post #47
mmaunder wrote: post #12

Everyone wants to not work for someone else and be the decision maker and lead a team. Entrepreneurship starts with being a builder.

I think there's some kind of echo chamber or distortion field among entrepreneurs, which makes them believe everyone's goal in life is entrepreneurship, "being your own boss" and some nebulous idea of "success". It's really not. I'd much rather minimize the amount of stress and working hours in my life, thank you very much.

I think many are just delusional.

For me, the risk/reward of 9-5 is so much better than going into business for myself that it isn't even close.

The utility of a 10x-100x increase in the payoff over 9-5 is just not worth the sure bet of 9-5 for me.

This is even more true when so many want to be in business for themselves.

Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options

#60

Post by windexh8er »

sb8244 wrote: post #48
windexh8er wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems as though a lot of startup founders and product managers succumb to this illness. I've worked for a number of startups that have always had a number of people who were building things for nobody but themselves. These features, and in one case - product, were not anything any customers were willing to pay for. Instead a lot of these founders think it's their sellers and double down on ineffective solutions li…

Founders should be doing sales (not leading it, doing it) until at least 1M ARR. That solves a lot of that issue. Maybe it's a difference between bootstrapped mindset and VC-fueled one.

I would argue there's a soft spot at around $10M ARR where founders turned full time CXO lose focus and touch with their product. They turn it over to folks who don't seem to carry the customer focus but instead have a focus on building their version. It doesn't seem to play out well and I'm curious why this seems to keep happening.
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