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I spent two years launching tiny projects

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Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#161

Post by marban »

cgg1 wrote: post #126
marban wrote: post #46

I started my professional life ~25y ago with a side project that by 2022 led to roughly 50 more side projects — The vast majority failed, some turned into 200 employee businesses, some others got acquired. In essence, I make a living out of side projects. Side projects are life.

How do you decide whether a side project/idea is worth pursuing? You mentioned in another comment that you don’t “do the MVP stuff” and go full blown from the beginning. That seems like a big time sink without a rigorous way of validating whether users want what you’re building.

Yes it is a time sink and I can't claim having a specific methodology but if you look at all the conflicting theories, literature and endless blog posts that have been written about validation, you might as well just trust your gut.

My amateurish approach is to jot down every idea in a single line of a text file, then walk away. If the same idea or topic strikes me again, I give it a separate text file and write some copy that might go on the product page, together with links to related stuff, screenshots, etc. Then, after another few weeks and only if I still believe in the idea I come up with more details, perhaps do some light coding, brand ideas, register domains, etc. Then (You guessed it), I wait another few weeks or even months and if it passes my still-relevant check I start working on it on the side of my existing, well, side project. The challenge these days is when to pull the plug or go all-in since the market, interests and attention shifts so quickly that it's tough to adapt without losing temper. Doesn't get easier as you get I older.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#162

Post by nsbr »

herodoturtle wrote: post #96
marban wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I would never do something that requires a single employee ever again. I sold my first company because soon enough, all you get to do is manage politics and not the thing you signed up for — Sounds infantile but at some point you have to stay true to yourself no matter the benefits. If you're more of a team-player, there are obviously better options today (remote, etc.) — The only thing I would recommen…

Doesn't sound infantile at all. I strongly resonate with everything you're saying. A little over a year ago I submitted this Ask HN, which helps shed light on my situation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27039701 It is now a year later and I'm still wondering the same thing as I was back then (as in, I haven't changed up my work setup at all / haven't hired people). I do rely on contractors here and there, but…

Thank you for posting this and previous year's Ask HN. Knowing that it's possible to run some successful && semi-passive && one-person && work/life-balancing SaaS businesses for such a long time is inspiring.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#163

Post by jjeaff »

mediaman wrote: post #139
marban wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think first and foremost is bringing yourself into a position that gets you enough runway (time and money) to be able to take things seriously — even if that sounds like the opposite of a side project. For me it was skipping university and having kids in favour of starting a web agency in the dotcom days. Also, I don't believe in working on something you love — you just need to hate it a little less than the other…

I just wanted to say that I love your phrasing of working on something that "you hate a little less". In general I believe the idea of "work on what you love" to be awful advice; I have found that I get deep satisfaction out of working on something that someone is willing to pay for, even if that means that sometimes it is a headache and I hate doing some of the things that need to be done. Once you accept that those…

I prefer to try to learn to love something that you believe can bring you success. It is very difficult to do something day in and day out that you don't love some part of. You just have to figure out your angle. I don't love my current business, but I love business in general and I love building things that people like to use.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#164

Post by mapmap »

vmception wrote: post #91
dcchambers wrote: post #23

Does anyone let the tax implications of launching (several) tiny projects prevent them from even starting? I know LLCs allow for pass-through taxation and you don't have to file as a business, but I get frozen by the idea that generating a few hundred dollars in revenue from some silly side project means I have to spend hours/days of my time the next Spring figuring out how to properly pay taxes on it.

Thats a dumb reason to get frozen. Just in case you needed that perspective. All your costs are tax deductions, whether you incorporate or not. The incorporation cost is negligible and you can ignore everything about a local/foreign llc registration simply because the consequences are improbable and inconsequential, just make the llc in the best states. If your employer is withholding any taxes, you’ll get so much mo…

What are the best states for an LLC?

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#165

Post by heywoodlh »

marban wrote: post #46

I started my professional life ~25y ago with a side project that by 2022 led to roughly 50 more side projects — The vast majority failed, some turned into 200 employee businesses, some others got acquired. In essence, I make a living out of side projects. Side projects are life.

I deeply appreciate this perspective (and the similar perspective in this HN submission). Thanks for sharing -- it feels so permissive for me to hear these kinds of perspectives and just get to work on side stuff.

I feel like I often hang up on if something should be done or if it is something that will be "successful". So it's cool to hear stories where the goal isn't the financial success of X project -- the goal is the journey and it's a bonus if it's financially beneficial.

Thanks again, know that it helped me to read this comment!

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#167

Post by p5v »

twox2 wrote: post #19
p5v wrote: post #13

Same here, and one of them made it into an actual business: https://murmel.social One of these days, I need to sit down and write th origin story of Murmel, and how I came to it. Cheers!

How many people pay for this?

More than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. Including a few businesses that we've created tailor-made solutions for: https://blog.murmel.social/tailor-made-murmel-experience-for...

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#168

Post by bjord »

mapmap wrote: post #164
vmception wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats a dumb reason to get frozen. Just in case you needed that perspective. All your costs are tax deductions, whether you incorporate or not. The incorporation cost is negligible and you can ignore everything about a local/foreign llc registration simply because the consequences are improbable and inconsequential, just make the llc in the best states. If your employer is withholding any taxes, you’ll get so much mo…

What are the best states for an LLC?

I believe Delaware is one of the best tax-wise, but unless you're bringing in lots of revenue, the additional hassle of getting a (representative? agent? can't remember the term for the entity that allows you to set up in a different state) might not be worth the additional complication (in comparison to just setting up everything in your home state). As far as I know, that's something you can change later, anyway...I think the most important thing is not getting hung up on the technicalities and just going ahead and getting started.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#169

Post by imetatroll »

danielvaughn wrote: post #92
marban wrote: post #46

I started my professional life ~25y ago with a side project that by 2022 led to roughly 50 more side projects — The vast majority failed, some turned into 200 employee businesses, some others got acquired. In essence, I make a living out of side projects. Side projects are life.

Your career is what I aspired to when I started in this industry over a decade ago. But what ended up happening was that I (a) worked full-time while dabbling on nights and weekends, (b) spent several years trying to decide which project I wanted to really pursue in earnest, and then (c) after picking the project, obsessing over it so much that I never felt it was ready to release. So it's...not going well so far lol…

I launched my one and only three years ago and it still doesn't pay its own bills. I work on it when I can, but at this point I feel rather resigned to it never being something I can really be proud of.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#170

Post by ngshiheng »

sagarpatil wrote: post #166

I’m interested in finding out how did you come up the ideas? I’m trying to come up with ideas and drawing a blank.

The author mentioned it in the conclusion:”If you're stuck for ideas, I recommend just building something; anything; even if it's terrible, and I guarantee a better idea will pop into your brain shortly after.”
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