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Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
221–230 of 264 posts
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#222Earlier 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…
There is a fallacy in over application of the survivorship bias concept. Literal survival for early cultures was often a matter of luck. Agriculture was an innovation that improved the odds. Early cultures that practiced agriculture outperformed those that did not, and were more likely to survive black swan events. All major cultures in existence are now based in agriculture. Should we assume then that because we onl…
We are not in disagreement here. Of course it makes sense to study successes and figure out differences in patterns of behavior making success more likely. Causal or not, that is another matter.
However, it's not black-or-white. Once an aspect that has likely contributed to success is identified, it's often framed as if focusing on that aspect guarantees success. That's an easy mistake to make if all observed cases of success exhibit it. But it's far from a guarantee, other aspects my play a role too. Like luck, for example. That's what I meant by mentioning survivorship bias.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah so with this business model there was minimal impact to existing customers? That's fortunate. Out of curiosity, what kind of transactional product has a substantial production database that would be daunting to re-build in a 4-6 mo window given you still had the source code during that time? And I hope you've taken your wife out for some nice dinners (or whatever she likes). Totally agree that having a supportive…
The business is a car rental platform for niche destinations https://bonjourpaco.com/ At the time I was working with maybe 30 providers and it would be doable to rebuild the server and reconfigure all providers, cars, insurance, etc. Content would probably take longer, but also doable. But at the time I took it as a sign to shift to something else. Glad I didn't and that the project came back from the ashes, literall…
Love the business. Appreciating every market is different… the Greek islands might be interesting to you.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#224Earlier 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…
If he wouldn't he wouldn't have make it. You have to take the risk in your life or you're gonna be stuck where you are. Was he lucky? Perhaps. Would he make it if he wouldn't risk it and put in all the work that he need with nothing to show if he would fail? He would not.
I think we're not in disagreement that both play a role. But maybe not in how much each contributes. My claim is that luck is often heavily underappreciated. That's not surprising - it's hard to measure, and it feels less good to attribute your success to something outside your control like random chance rather than your hard work, dedication, skill, smarts, whatnot. Nobody gets praise for luck, and ultimately success stories are often going after praise if they are honest with themselves. Which is fine, but don't discount the luck factor.
Just being born a white heterosexual male in a developed country somewhere between the 70s and the 2000s puts you so vastly ahead of everybody else that even if you don't tick all those boxes the luck factor is enormous. Few people openly appreciate that.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#225Earlier 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…
There is a fallacy in over application of the survivorship bias concept. Literal survival for early cultures was often a matter of luck. Agriculture was an innovation that improved the odds. Early cultures that practiced agriculture outperformed those that did not, and were more likely to survive black swan events. All major cultures in existence are now based in agriculture. Should we assume then that because we onl…
What's missing from the application of the survivorship bias concept is that it really only applies if failure means death or a total wipeout. Pieter Levels for instance, a known success in the indie hacking scene, has created something like 70 projects and only a handful of them made any money. Presumably he also learned something from each project making the success of the next more likely.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#226I 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…
Tell that to my brain, it's always optimizing what does not exist!
Thanks for the reminder.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#227Earlier 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)…
It’s also entirely possible to make something that just gives you a little extra cash, which can be a huge difference. I imagine an extra $2,000 a month of fun, self-made income feels pretty incredible.
I see it in layers: I can have fun, I can learn something, I can make some extra cash, I can start something big.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#228It looks really good. Would it make much difference that I'm not USA based, (live in the UK). I.e. in terms of tax pensions pensions etc.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
#229Small steps daily, big rewards personally and financially in the long-term. Well-written and speaks for every struggling entrepreneur out there. Congratulations, Kyle and his wonderful team!
thanks! I'm not a fast blog post writer, and sometimes feel guilty taking time away from building to draft updates like this (took me a couple days to write and rewrite this one). glad to hear it turned out to be a decent read.
Those who can write code, can write articles as well. I am not a fast writer either, hopefully we will get better over time.
Re: Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business
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