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My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

mtlynch.io

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Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#111

Post by aristofun »

apparent wrote: post #106
aristofun wrote: post #85

This example once again shows me that being “pure” indie solo hacker is not sustainable. You have to be first and foremost indie entrepreneur and indie salesman and only then you can afford free hacking if you have time left.

It doesn't prove the model won't work for anyone. It just shows that for this one person, it hasn't worked out awesome. I think there are some folks who end up doing quite well as solopreneurs, but they tend not to talk about it on the internet, lest their niche become more visible, which could erode their margins.

Did you notice how you used the word “solopreneur” thus supporting my point.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#112

Post by apparent »

aristofun wrote: post #111
apparent wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't prove the model won't work for anyone. It just shows that for this one person, it hasn't worked out awesome. I think there are some folks who end up doing quite well as solopreneurs, but they tend not to talk about it on the internet, lest their niche become more visible, which could erode their margins.

Did you notice how you used the word “solopreneur” thus supporting my point.

I don't think I understood the distinction between being a "pure indie solo hacker" and "indie entrepreneur"/"indie salesman".

Are you saying that one cannot make a living just hacking around?

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#113

Post by aristofun »

apparent wrote: post #112
aristofun wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you notice how you used the word “solopreneur” thus supporting my point.

I don't think I understood the distinction between being a "pure indie solo hacker" and "indie entrepreneur"/"indie salesman". Are you saying that one cannot make a living just hacking around?

> Are you saying that one cannot make a living just hacking around?

You probably can survive, but not come even close to the salary you'd get being hired by some well established company.

The distinction is what you put first - business (and make hacking constraint by it) or hacking.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#116

Post by pinter69 »

kapimalos wrote: post #73

Thanks for posting. It’s great to learn about it from so many angles. Business, family etc. Do you have advice on finding first clients? Especially in B2C? Throwing money on ads seems tempting because it’s such an easy way to reach clients but I’m not sure about “quality” off the clients.

1000 true fans and Seth Godin's approach to marketing - that you should focus on the smallest group of people in your market and amaze them

These concepts helped me a lot with marketing to consumers and SMBs

Also, follow @mtlynch's content - even though he says he's not an expert, I feel that atleast regarding marketing to devs and builders - he is one of the best out there

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#117

Post by txredking »

aristofun wrote: post #85

This example once again shows me that being “pure” indie solo hacker is not sustainable. You have to be first and foremost indie entrepreneur and indie salesman and only then you can afford free hacking if you have time left.

What does a "pure" indie solo hacker do? What does sustainable mean to you?

Not to assume your definitions but in my experience I often get the impression that "pure" means one just gets to code and not worry about anything else.

"indie" means one gets to pick what to code, how to code, when to code, why to code, etc.

"solo" means not having to deal with anyone one doesn't want to deal with.

"hacker" means standards, processes, tests, commits to main, etc. are only necessary when and if one wants them to be.

"sustainable" means at an equivalent or more income and less or similar costs as a job where someone else handles the marketing, sales, legal, design, anything one doesn't want/like to do as well as absorbing most of the downside risks of market shifts, loss of customers, competitor moves, etc. Additionally, one can go on vacation whenever they want and the income keeps coming.

All of this for as long as one wants the situation to last.

Sounds great to many I'm sure as it basically describes being a wealthy gentleman inventor/scientist/artist in 1880s England.

Most activities are hobbies until someone other than the participant is paying for it. Most everyone has a status of amateur until they get paid then convert to professional.

There are a lot of nuances in above statements and hobby and amateur are not reflective of lack of quality or expertise. There are I'm sure many hobbyists building wood chairs of finer quality than anyone can buy anywhere. It's up to them if they want to get paid for it.

May sound harsh to the person wanting their hobbies to be paid for unconditionally but if you're the one doing the paying it's reasonable to expect something out of the deal.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#118

Post by lelele »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #29
switz wrote: post #12

Thanks for being so transparent. As a fellow solo bootstrapper, I think the thing people most often misunderstand is the relative inconsistency (income, "wins", the camaraderie, etc.) so it's nice for you to bare all. That being said, you do get the consistency of independence and autonomy. As I watch my peers deal with crappy work environments, losing their jobs, and other bullshit, I just keep chugging along: self-…

Most people start side-businesses for tax reasons, and those that seek others to solve their problems for them... usually don't last long in business. I've witnessed many firms run the gauntlet with varying levels of success, and would suggest the following: 1. sell what the customer already wants, as people with loss aversion stick with what they already know. 2. sell what makes customers feel good buying, and rewar…

Thanks for sharing. Would you mind expanding on a few points?

> 2. sell what makes customers feel good buying

What did you have in mind? What would make a purchase feel good or bad for a customer?

> 3. Never compete, focus on service with a novel niche product. Stupid people by their nature destroy everything around them regardless of long term benefit.

I'm not sure how the second sentence connects to the first - could you clarify what you mean there?

> 9. Stay quiet (especially online in a sea of cons), and only talk about the distant past when people try to goad you into telling them how you make revenue

You mean staying quiet about the specifics of your current products and strategy, as opposed to sharing general advice like here, right?

> Never let technical staff talk with the customers, or vendors.

Could you elaborate on the reasoning behind this?

Thanks again.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#119

Post by lelele »

bavell wrote: post #87
ojbyrne wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concerning independence and autonomy, I ruefully recall hearing the saying “You get to work your own hours … as long as it’s all of them.”

Be self-employed and be your own boss! Ooops, now you have multiple bosses (each client).

With the crucial difference that now you have some leeway in firing one/some of your bosses.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#120

Post by Joel_Mckay »

lelele wrote: post #118
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people start side-businesses for tax reasons, and those that seek others to solve their problems for them... usually don't last long in business. I've witnessed many firms run the gauntlet with varying levels of success, and would suggest the following: 1. sell what the customer already wants, as people with loss aversion stick with what they already know. 2. sell what makes customers feel good buying, and rewar…

Thanks for sharing. Would you mind expanding on a few points? > 2. sell what makes customers feel good buying What did you have in mind? What would make a purchase feel good or bad for a customer? > 3. Never compete, focus on service with a novel niche product. Stupid people by their nature destroy everything around them regardless of long term benefit. I'm not sure how the second sentence connects to the first - cou…

>What did you have in mind?

Whether computational efficiency for traditional problems on a bizarre Neuromorphic computing architecture would remain feasible.

>What would make a purchase feel good or bad for a customer?

An intangible asset heavily associated with brand reputation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_(accounting)

The business reasons deal with pricing fluctuations and human behavior.

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_the_surprising_science...

>could you clarify what you mean there?

Difficult to put a thesis on a road sign, but in general people make mistakes when building a business:

i. desperately grasping at low hanging fruit in a fragmented market. Where people burn enormous amounts of cash to bid down their own sectors perceived value.

ii. trying to innovate their way out of a bad business plan, instead of studying the market for what folks actually wanted.

iii. cognitive offloading, and premature labor cost-minimization using LLM isomorphic plagiarism to poison public discourse

https://harmful.cat-v.org/people/basic-laws-of-human-stupidi...

>You mean staying quiet about the specifics of your current products

One wants to limit contact with potential competitors/cloners, and focus on paying customers in a sales context.

>Could you elaborate on the reasoning behind this?

Flagging a "liability" is part of managing good workmanship standards:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/26184-h/26184-h.htm

Some people are ignorant, some are evil, and some are naive... One can't afford to make a distinction when restructuring divisions. =3

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