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The side hustle from hell

blog.jacobstechtavern.com

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Re: The side hustle from hell

#111

Post by cafard »

bityard wrote: post #110
harshaw wrote: post #105

This isn't so much about the Author's story but the space. He is correct that marketplaces are hell, and especially auto repair market places. I was one of the several devs that went through trying to make Openbay work (a US based market place for auto repair). We actually did have service providers signed up and we did have a way to acquire customers who wanted auto repair. So you had the illusion of product market…

> Ultimately people tend to have a fairly personal relationship with their local mechanic. This is the money line. And it goes for all skilled trade work. Mechanics, plumbers, building contractors, roofers. Most of the people doing this work are just surprisingly bad at it, especially for how much they charge for it. It takes a LOT of time and effort to find someone good. I'd even lump doctors and dentists into this.…

> Most of the people doing this work are just surprisingly bad at it, especially for how much they charge for it.

A friend quotes a sometime co-worker of his: This is C+ world, and if you can do a solid B- you won't starve.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#112

Post by thr0w »

Aurornis wrote: post #6

This is the classic dead-end startup story from beginning to end. It checks all the boxes: - 3 non-technical cofounders - Flurry of activity for everything other than acquiring customers - Attempt to outsource development followed by disappointment - Relentless scope creep - Zero go to market plan, just an incessant belief that more features in the app will solve all problems There is also one less obvious point that…

> - Relentless scope creep

I'm in tears reading this, I've never seen it worded so perfectly. Have we all experienced that founder who has zero vision for what they're building and is so brutally relentless with ancillary asks?

Re: The side hustle from hell

#114

Post by generationP »

jakey_bakey wrote: post #84
generationP wrote: post #77

So an app that would probably serve a real need fails because the team is unable to bootstrap the two-sided market. The best dev moves to a bullshit "green habits" app that doesn't suffer from such problems because... it doesn't really do much in the first place. Not the greatest outcome for the world.

Hey man, don't knock 2020/2021 ZIRP era projects Don't you remember before inflation when we were able to focus on climate change! But you totally got us there, the startup failed because we were a vitamin (and because our on-the-fence seed round was scuppered by Putin cooling some feet)

Yeah, not so much harping on you as on the whole ecosystem. You seem to have done your part well.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#116

Post by scarface_74 »

In the later part of my career, I’ve had all sorts of “opportunities” to be a “technical cofounder” or a “CTO” (which was barely a glorified overworked tech lead).

My motto is “FYPM”: https://youtu.be/3XGAmPRxV48?si=zSXRVQibvli1QTk1

Cash not illiquid equity at my market rate:

“You’re getting in on the ground floor of something huge.”

“We can’t offer big salaries yet, but the upside potential is enormous.”

“You’ll have massive impact here — way more than at a big company.”

“We’re looking for people who are mission-driven, not just here for the money.”

“Everyone is making sacrifices right now.”

“Once we close the next funding round, we’ll revisit compensation.”

“The real reward is in the equity, not the salary.”

Re: The side hustle from hell

#117

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

dabinat wrote: post #82

This article reminded me of the time a guy wanted to pitch his startup idea for me to develop. He wanted me to sign an NDA before telling me, as the idea was so great that I would obviously steal it, which I refused. So all he would tell me is that it was “the next Twitter”, and from what I could gather, he would retain the majority of the equity and I would do all of the work, while he lobbed ideas at me from on hig…

I used to get these “opportunities,” on a weekly basis.

As soon as someone hears what I do, and that I’m retired, and doing it for the fun, I hear cha-ching! in the background, somewhere, and their eyes light up.

But yeah, we’re a dime a dozen.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#118

Post by selimthegrim »

jakey_bakey wrote: post #83
constantcrying wrote: post #72

Having non-technical founders who failed to even outsource their project is an enormous red flag. Nobody there knew how to make the product a reality and if it is you who is doing 100% of the work, then you obviously deserve 100% of the equity. "Having an idea" is not worth equity. If you thought the idea was great, there was an obvious golden opportunity for you, none of the people there are going to make this into…

I certainly should have spotted this as soon as they offered me a contract that was a clumsily-reworded version of the contract for the awful overseas contractors

Oh hi! Are you me?

Re: The side hustle from hell

#119

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

bityard wrote: post #107
dabinat wrote: post #82

This article reminded me of the time a guy wanted to pitch his startup idea for me to develop. He wanted me to sign an NDA before telling me, as the idea was so great that I would obviously steal it, which I refused. So all he would tell me is that it was “the next Twitter”, and from what I could gather, he would retain the majority of the equity and I would do all of the work, while he lobbed ideas at me from on hig…

This needs to be highlighted: Everyone who does anything at all in the realm of business or tech should basically never sign an NDA unless it is already positively guaranteed they are getting something out of it. You might be required to sign an NDA once you have been hired at a W-2 job if the company handles sensitive data. Or if you have already been offered a contract. Event then, make sure it is actually necessar…

Reminds me of this classic bit: https://www.davar.net/HUMOR/STORIES/MS-CUISN.HTM

Re: The side hustle from hell

#120

Post by bruce511 »

jakey_bakey wrote: post #70
skeeter2020 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But maybe he can compress someone else's terrible experience down to 6 or 3 months, or stop them from sinking their own money (or that of family/friends) into an obvious faliure. There's another failures to go around; we don't all need to life every one of them.

Yeah honestly I’m not sure what someone is meant to take out of this. The experience is really useful. But if me and Gus worked this out after 3 months, we could have cofounded our own thing!

Yes, and no. Sure you might have figured it out sooner. But there's a lot you learned in the other 8 months which you shouldn't negate.

You could have taken Gus' dad's advice - and you'd have saved some lot of time, but equally missed out on so much learning.

Look, most opportunities are bad, or at the very least risky. But if you wanted safe and secure you can just go get a job. Some risks are worth taking on, even if they look risky, and even if they fail.

Experience helps you at least identify the risk. Both in product and in people. Some products will just never work (), some people aren't worth working with.

() your mechanic program was likely doomed because "that's not how cars work". I was never going to be a customer because I have a mechanic who's been looking after my cars for 30 years. He always seems to have cars to work on, do I guess he's not a customer either. If I buy a car new it comes with a service plan, so I'm out that loop.

In other words I suspect your app solved a problem that's only a problem to fresh grads with their first car. And they just ask their mates, or their dad.

As you discovered you can't feature your way out of the "no market" problem. You discovered that finding a market is more important than building a product. All excellent lessons.

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