Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 119 posts

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#11

Post by rl3 »

anovikov wrote: post #5

I know one guy who actually succeeded. He ran a hard-mode outsourcing shop for like, 15 years, for many years making 100-150K/month net in his pocket, but with AI, it went to zero by about end of 2024, so he was left with no income and lost all his (rather large) team. He started experimenting with products and after about 3-4 failed tries, landed a successful one which nearly replicates his old income, it is a mixed…

>... it is a mixed (live women and AI) porn webcam app.

>... various scam niches ...

>... and much more ethical line of business than outsourcing.

Wild.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#14

Post by pixel_popping »

rl3 wrote: post #11
anovikov wrote: post #5

I know one guy who actually succeeded. He ran a hard-mode outsourcing shop for like, 15 years, for many years making 100-150K/month net in his pocket, but with AI, it went to zero by about end of 2024, so he was left with no income and lost all his (rather large) team. He started experimenting with products and after about 3-4 failed tries, landed a successful one which nearly replicates his old income, it is a mixed…

> ... it is a mixed (live women and AI) porn webcam app. > ... various scam niches ... > ... and much more ethical line of business than outsourcing. Wild.

Morality aside: To be fair, having ran many legitimate businesses and knowing few people that did the opposite, I must admit that the difficulty level in running "elaborated grey activity" is actually quite complex, people have this belief that it's actually "easier" but I doubt it's the case, many many more guardrails (accounts, anonymity, money where it goes, how can it be sustained...)

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#15

Post by remyp »

I'm attempting to solve this cold start problem by pooling money with other operators to buy an existing business. We're currently closing on our first acquisition and plan to do more if the experiment goes well[0].

Please feel free to reach out (contact in profile) if you're curious about the approach, I'm happy to answer any questions.

[0] https://www.notion.so/notventurescale/Wild-Built-Incubator-2...

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#16

Post by anovikov »

pixel_popping wrote: post #14
rl3 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... it is a mixed (live women and AI) porn webcam app. > ... various scam niches ... > ... and much more ethical line of business than outsourcing. Wild.

Morality aside: To be fair, having ran many legitimate businesses and knowing few people that did the opposite, I must admit that the difficulty level in running "elaborated grey activity" is actually quite complex, people have this belief that it's actually "easier" but I doubt it's the case, many many more guardrails (accounts, anonymity, money where it goes, how can it be sustained...)

That's right. That shit is hard. But it's the only possible niche for someone who's an outsider and doesn't have a Valley network: do something legit companies can't do for regulatory reasons. Otherwise, well-funded companies with deeply networked founders where both funding and actual sales are done between people who knew each other from school or are relatives, they will just eat your market and will never even notice you.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#17

Post by dzonga »

go to the Harvard MBA for Bootstrappers i.e https://longform.asmartbear.com

one of the recommended posts: https://longform.asmartbear.com/problem/ which goes to the heart of what you're experiencing.

play in large markets, very large in absolute numbers i.e B2B but small enough not to attract major VC companies - again play in large markets - don't listen to indie-hacker influencers that are making stuff for other indie hackers.

luckily everyone is running into A.I now - so there's plenty of things to be solved. not sexy, you've to look hard, screen hard (cz some opportunities look credible till you do the math i.e is there a large number of people, what is the willingness of those people to pay)

most of your work will be in marketing (marketing not selling) i.e researching to find out which problem will people actually pay for - what are the market dynamics - then only will you code a product.

tip: for a solo business - you've to be in an ecosystem kinda place.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#18

Post by aristofun »

> This leads me to believe that most people either get lucky and then apply a framework in retrospect to justify their luck

Yes, congratulations on finding the truth.

This is the pattern 95% of business, psychology and other pseudoscience is built upon.

The 2 main system reasons behind it: 1) any complex system cannot be really calculated farther in the future than a very short timeframe 2) natural human brain tendency to organize the observed universe into patterns.

The good news is that if you keep buying lottery tickets your chances of winning at least once also grow.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#19

Post by dzonga »

dzonga wrote: post #17

go to the Harvard MBA for Bootstrappers i.e https://longform.asmartbear.com one of the recommended posts: https://longform.asmartbear.com/problem/ which goes to the heart of what you're experiencing. play in large markets, very large in absolute numbers i.e B2B but small enough not to attract major VC companies - again play in large markets - don't listen to indie-hacker influencers that are making stuff for other in…

just to add - you've to work the marketing problem from reverse.

how much money do you want to make - have an absolute cap on the annual amount e.g in 5 years you want to make 2m|5m|10m a year.

then choose your markets based on whether they can support that amount.

Re: Ask HN: Building a solo business is impossible?

#20

Post by anovikov »

rl3 wrote: post #11
anovikov wrote: post #5

I know one guy who actually succeeded. He ran a hard-mode outsourcing shop for like, 15 years, for many years making 100-150K/month net in his pocket, but with AI, it went to zero by about end of 2024, so he was left with no income and lost all his (rather large) team. He started experimenting with products and after about 3-4 failed tries, landed a successful one which nearly replicates his old income, it is a mixed…

> ... it is a mixed (live women and AI) porn webcam app. > ... various scam niches ... > ... and much more ethical line of business than outsourcing. Wild.

Yes, people who never did outsourcing don't know how dirty it is.
Post reply on HN