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Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

projectionlab.com

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Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#191

Post by bruce511 »

immibis wrote: post #172
teiferer wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's so, so , so hard to walk the line between persistence (which leads to glory) and stubbornness (which leads to more time following already wasted time.) > Congratulations for walking this line correctly. As much as I like to agree with this message ... isn't there a big portion of luck involved here that makes the difference between the two sides of this line? In other words, aren't we seeing huge survivorship…

It's hugely about luck. We can look back on any success story and identify what made it successful (sometimes) but it only has a little predictive power. Success in startupping ultimately comes from either trying a lot of things (amplifying your luck until it approaches 100%) or survivorship bias when you get lucky on your first try and then write about how smart you are. It helps to have an idea of what might succee…

Luck plays a huge part.

But it's not the only part. All the luck in the world won't win me an Olympic medal. Yes, luck plays a part. But it also takes the right work, learning the correct skills, having the discipline and so on.

Working on the right thing, at the right time, in the right way are all crucial ingredients. All the luck in the world though can't help you if you're playing the wrong game.

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#192

Post by scubakid »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #138
scubakid wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you define PMF? I keep hearing conflicting definitions. Seems like any time someone declares they've found it, there's another who jumps in to explain why they technically haven't yet.

To me this is a wild success story but to someone else this may be meh that isn't much. I think 1M ARR shows you are on to something and getting sales off the bat is a good indicator. Not an expert but I feel PMF is a rear view mirror thing.

lol so have we gone from "wicked PMF" to just being "onto something"?

the rear-view thing sounds kinda like "you'll know it when you see it"... which I'm sure is true for some people, but idk if I would know when to declare PMF without a more precise definition.

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#193

Post by scubakid »

conductr wrote: post #190
scubakid wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you define PMF? I keep hearing conflicting definitions. Seems like any time someone declares they've found it, there's another who jumps in to explain why they technically haven't yet.

The question is really just how big of a market does this serve? You've made it to the point where anyone entering the FIRE market will likely stumble upon your product as a top recommended tool (just judging by the praise here). Maybe it can tap into the larger, but more generic, financial/retirement planning market. To me, it seems well on it's path to be a YNAB which has a high amount of word of mouth recommendati…

one of the nice things about being lean and bootstrapped is there's less pressure to chase the mass market.

so we need to worry less than a venture-backed company probably would about just how far outside of the FIRE community this has a lot of appeal.

that being said, there are certainly a lot of people who would benefit from having a long-term financial plan. here's to hoping your ynab comparison turns out to be apt!

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#194

Post by vlod »

themdonuts wrote: post #141
teiferer wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, a lesson is: If you keep chugging along on your idea then you might get lucky and be the one out of 10,000 for whom this single-entrepreneur-bootstrap project works out, you get to be your own boss, have a big payroll and it ends up as a success story on HN. Without that luck, you are among the other 9,999 where it just died. But without trying, you are guaranteed failure (though with less frustration perhaps)…

Yeah, this resonates with me. My side project for 6 years was generating very, very little. Enough for a few pints a month. Fun fact: The project survived a total destruction of the datacenter where it was hosted (remember the ovh incident?) which took it offline for maybe 4 months (no backups at the time). Luckily the server it was on didn't get melted. Also at some point I started questioning why was I still workin…

Can't help thinking that your business is somehow tied to your username. Now I'm intrigued! :)

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#196

Post by RonSkufca »

scubakid wrote: post #189
RonSkufca wrote: post #186

Congratulations. I will be checking it out as I am a big fan of FIRE. Also my daughter has 2 cockatiels one for each shoulder. But they usually end up on one as they like to hang out together.

oh neat! I was surprised how long their lifespan is -- my fiancé has had ours for over 20 years... although for some reason his allegiance flipped a few years ago, and now he only flies to me, not her.

Yes bird ownership can be a multi decade responsibility.

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#197

Post by scubakid »

TrackerFF wrote: post #195

I haven’t used the tool, but what’s the most against AI/LLM models? I ask, because I’ve used ChatGPT for similar, and it spits out decent answers. More so, the more data you feed to it.

GPT is not bad at high-level guesstimates, but there's a LOT that goes on under the hood to make a detailed, accurate, responsive, and tax-aware long-term planning system with a good UX for nuanced scenario comparisons and what-ifs. At current capability levels, AI tools aren't a great replacement for that in my experience. But we'll see if that changes as they continue to evolve...

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#198

Post by Nifty3929 »

teiferer wrote: post #114
44za12 wrote: post #107

I love how these stories always start with “I just wanted to scratch my own itch” and end with “...and now I’m running a company with a payroll bigger than my old day job.” It’s inspiring, but also a little bit intimidating. Makes you wonder how many potential seven-figure ideas are just sitting in people’s “maybe someday” folders. The real lesson here? Ship something, even if it’s ugly. You can’t optimize what doesn…

To me, a lesson is: If you keep chugging along on your idea then you might get lucky and be the one out of 10,000 for whom this single-entrepreneur-bootstrap project works out, you get to be your own boss, have a big payroll and it ends up as a success story on HN. Without that luck, you are among the other 9,999 where it just died. But without trying, you are guaranteed failure (though with less frustration perhaps)…

"But without trying, you are guaranteed failure" >> But without trying you are limited to a relatively safe and certain affluent paycheck from your day job.

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#199

Post by jonkuipers »

RonSkufca wrote: post #196
scubakid wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh neat! I was surprised how long their lifespan is -- my fiancé has had ours for over 20 years... although for some reason his allegiance flipped a few years ago, and now he only flies to me, not her.

Yes bird ownership can be a multi decade responsibility.

so can a great bootstrapped business ;)

Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

#200

Post by scarface_74 »

bruce511 wrote: post #19

It's so, so , so hard to walk the line between persistence (which leads to glory) and stubbornness (which leads to more time following already wasted time.) Congratulations for walking this line correctly. I agree that some sort of market validation is necessary to at least pretend you are on the former not the latter. Those early usage spikes are helpful reminders that there is a business here somewhere. I'll also m…

> It's so, so , so hard to walk the line between persistence (which leads to glory) and stubbornness (which leads to more time following already wasted time.)

“Courage is knowing it might hurt and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same thing.

And that’s why life is hard.”

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