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Growing By Shrinking

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Re: Growing By Shrinking

#41

Post by peteforde »

FourthProtocol wrote: post #39
guylhem wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to deceive you but when I see the truth, I can only upvote it. There is a lot of cruft in many businesses - so much inefficiency, that it can hardly be removed by joining in their ride. The software industry is not immune to that. Therefore it just is more logical to do something by yourself. After all, there are only 2 possibles outcomes - you do bring value, which will be rewarded by the market, or you don't…

It's not that simple. My forever project (started in 2004) needs another month or so of polish, but after stripping out many features to ship a version one, is pretty much ready. Build it and they will come doesn't work. I need paying customers, and being the type that works best when writing code (alone!), I'm about to start exploring options to find someone to market this thing for me, and turn my spare time over t…

But did you enjoy building your project? Did you learn from it or benefit in other ways?

It's most likely that you won't recoup on your investment if you only see this in financial terms. If you expand your definition of success it is possible that you have already succeeded.

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#42

Post by GoldenMonkey »

codewright wrote: post #2

I identify with, and am seeking for myself, a lot of things described here. That said, the author is speaking from an intensely privileged point of view. Referring to selling one's time as a programmer as 'whoring' caused me to cringe. I have strong aversion to growth for growth's sake now that I've lived and worked in Silicon Valley and the startups that go with it (I was CTO at a nutrition startup). Things I've don…

To go the micro-ISV route, take Amy Hoy's 30x500 class. Helps one start not with an "idea" and then selling that "idea". But with discovering and solving pains in a niche. Much easier, was a paradigm shift for me, after so many ideas and products that failed.

Here's the 30x500 class: http://unicornfree.com/30x500

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#43

Post by TimLeung »

peteforde wrote: post #11
codewright wrote: post #2

I identify with, and am seeking for myself, a lot of things described here. That said, the author is speaking from an intensely privileged point of view. Referring to selling one's time as a programmer as 'whoring' caused me to cringe. I have strong aversion to growth for growth's sake now that I've lived and worked in Silicon Valley and the startups that go with it (I was CTO at a nutrition startup). Things I've don…

Fair point re: whoring, so far as we might have to agree to disagree. Let me explain differently by saying that when I was young, I wanted nothing more than to get paid to program. I loved to code, and I needed to get paid — professional coding was the obvious answer. The problem was that by my mid-20s I was really sad all of the time, and my work was at the root of it. I was programming and getting paid, yet the mor…

"I get the same joy from coding that a painter gets from painting. A painter that can paint what, when, how, why and where they want is likely happy. A painter that has to paint what other people want on a schedule is often just struggling to pay the rent. They develop a toxic relationship with their art, and that's sad." Love this quote Pete!

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#44

Post by peteforde »

saravk wrote: post #37

Nice. Congrats on your move. I wrote a similar post exactly 2 years earlier when i decided to downshift from my job of about 10 years and go live in the mountains doing photography http://www.kettik.com/go/articles/16 . Reading your post made me go down the memory lane and examine my own journey. Fast forward 2 years and i have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Monetarily its been a complete flop, failing to…

Coincidentally, I also love photography.

What I'm not sure about from your comment is whether you intended to do photography for money or because you loved doing it (or both!)

I made a decision a long time ago that I would never allow myself to be hired to take photographs, for all of the reasons around what we're discussing. I want to keep photography as something I do out of love.

It was a very smart decision to make.

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#45

Post by FourthProtocol »

peteforde wrote: post #41
FourthProtocol wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that simple. My forever project (started in 2004) needs another month or so of polish, but after stripping out many features to ship a version one, is pretty much ready. Build it and they will come doesn't work. I need paying customers, and being the type that works best when writing code (alone!), I'm about to start exploring options to find someone to market this thing for me, and turn my spare time over t…

But did you enjoy building your project? Did you learn from it or benefit in other ways? It's most likely that you won't recoup on your investment if you only see this in financial terms. If you expand your definition of success it is possible that you have already succeeded.

Yes, I've already succeeded. And whether I've learnt from it or not (I have) is secondary to the fun I've had with it.

The money, any money is just a logical next step to a project that will never die, regardless of it's commercial success or failure.

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#46

Post by DenisM »

codewright wrote: post #2

I identify with, and am seeking for myself, a lot of things described here. That said, the author is speaking from an intensely privileged point of view. Referring to selling one's time as a programmer as 'whoring' caused me to cringe. I have strong aversion to growth for growth's sake now that I've lived and worked in Silicon Valley and the startups that go with it (I was CTO at a nutrition startup). Things I've don…

Make friends with someone who has visibility into a good market. It's much more fruitful than the other way around - you are good at writing software so solve a known problem, not at solving unknown problem with software you already wrote.

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#47

Post by dchuk »

codewright wrote: post #2

I identify with, and am seeking for myself, a lot of things described here. That said, the author is speaking from an intensely privileged point of view. Referring to selling one's time as a programmer as 'whoring' caused me to cringe. I have strong aversion to growth for growth's sake now that I've lived and worked in Silicon Valley and the startups that go with it (I was CTO at a nutrition startup). Things I've don…

In reply to your question about stuff micro ISVs need to know to get profitable, I'm currently expanding this post: http://www.layeredthoughts.com/startups/12-rules-for-buildin... into a full book with an essay per rule (and some extra rules) I'm about halfway done and hope to have it done by summer.

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#48

Post by seivan »

FourthProtocol wrote: post #39
guylhem wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to deceive you but when I see the truth, I can only upvote it. There is a lot of cruft in many businesses - so much inefficiency, that it can hardly be removed by joining in their ride. The software industry is not immune to that. Therefore it just is more logical to do something by yourself. After all, there are only 2 possibles outcomes - you do bring value, which will be rewarded by the market, or you don't…

It's not that simple. My forever project (started in 2004) needs another month or so of polish, but after stripping out many features to ship a version one, is pretty much ready. Build it and they will come doesn't work. I need paying customers, and being the type that works best when writing code (alone!), I'm about to start exploring options to find someone to market this thing for me, and turn my spare time over t…

I can't find your product from your Profile. So you're doing a shit work of getting the word out. Honestly. Marketing is EASY. It's Incredibly easy. You've just been scammed thinking it's hard.

Getting the word out is easy, getting paying customer is based on the value you offer. You failed #1, you won't get paying customers.

Of course they won't come. They don't know of you, but that's easy to fix. People just assume it's hard.

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#49

Post by lindenr »

peteforde wrote: post #20
lindenr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? In the original it was written in all caps as well.

Disclaimer: I'm not a type expert. It's technically not written in all caps, the font that my blog theme uses for bolding renders as capital letters. My personal jury is out on whether this is okay or not. Your comment leans me towards "no".

It does seem a bit more forceful than bold to me; maybe you could have a separate 'bold' font and a 'really really bold' font?

Re: Growing By Shrinking

#50

Post by saravk »

peteforde wrote: post #44
saravk wrote: post #37

Nice. Congrats on your move. I wrote a similar post exactly 2 years earlier when i decided to downshift from my job of about 10 years and go live in the mountains doing photography http://www.kettik.com/go/articles/16 . Reading your post made me go down the memory lane and examine my own journey. Fast forward 2 years and i have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Monetarily its been a complete flop, failing to…

Coincidentally, I also love photography. What I'm not sure about from your comment is whether you intended to do photography for money or because you loved doing it (or both!) I made a decision a long time ago that I would never allow myself to be hired to take photographs, for all of the reasons around what we're discussing. I want to keep photography as something I do out of love. It was a very smart decision to ma…

I intended to do photography so that i could make a living doing something i loved. It seemed a great idea at that time.

But while i loved the process of taking the photos (i do mostly landscapes, which basically involves patiently waiting for something magical to happen http://saravk.kettik.com/go/photos), i didn't quite enjoy the process of turning that hobby into an income generating endeavour. So i guess i finally came to the same realization as you did. To keep my passion and profession separate.

I also realised that i didn't lose my love for coding, especially when working on my own projects. So i'am now working on a solution for my original problem. To find a way to help travellers create, share and monetize their content.

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