71–80 of 199 posts
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 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.
Incredible comment overall but this line was particularly Woah!
What advice would have for solo founders of a side project (that later becomes a full time day job) in terms of evolving to a large team?
First hire(s), things to look out for, etc.
I’d find this insight incredible! Hope I’m not asking too much. But such an incredible story you have.
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.
> some turned into 200 employee businesses Incredible comment overall but this line was particularly Woah! What advice would have for solo founders of a side project (that later becomes a full time day job) in terms of evolving to a large team? First hire(s), things to look out for, etc. I’d find this insight incredible! Hope I’m not asking too much. But such an incredible story you have.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I built the first Android Twitter client, sold that to Idealab* and given our huge market share (~40% IIRC ) pitched them the idea to build our own Twitter clone in order to move those users over. Twitter took notice and locked all our apps which eventually kicked off the anti-third-party tendency that we see today. Good times. * https://bgr.com/general/tweetup-acquires-twidroid-renaming-a...
Another time I turned my private news aggregator into a public service (Popurls) which kicked off thousands of clones and was at one time the number one traffic referrer to Digg and Reddit. A year later Guy Kawasaki cloned it, and I find myself invited to a Ramen lunch with Kevin Kelly who blogged about it as being his favorite website. 15 years later, I got funding from Mark Cuban for building a successor. All from…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another time I turned my private news aggregator into a public service (Popurls) which kicked off thousands of clones and was at one time the number one traffic referrer to Digg and Reddit. A year later Guy Kawasaki cloned it, and I find myself invited to a Ramen lunch with Kevin Kelly who blogged about it as being his favorite website. 15 years later, I got funding from Mark Cuban for building a successor. All from…
How I loved the original popurls!!
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I feel like this quote is why I can't have a removable battery, a headphone jack and an sd card in a new phone.
Perhaps. I always assumed it had more to do with offering better waterproofing, but maybe that's naive.
that advanced waterproofing is awesome.
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 stay motivated? what's your stack? do you talk it out with someone?
That was actually a pleasant read. I especially like the conclusion to which I can relate. > 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. I have been working on a long project for a few years now and it will not be finished before another few years and I envy the speed at which the author gets fee…
> Switch from team “I will one day write something good” to team “I have no choice but to write a piece of shit” and then take off your “bad writer” hat and replace it with a “petty critic” hat and go to town on that poor hack’s draft and that’s your second draft.
https://www.vulture.com/2016/11/read-dan-harmons-excellent-a...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That conclusion is really applicable to just about everything. Want to start woodworking? Start building something. Want to become a runner? Start running. Want to be a musician? Start making some songs. A lot of the initial tries will be terrible but it only gets better from there.
When I lived in an apartment building, a guy in the next building decided he wanted to learn to play the saxophone and practiced on his balcony everyday. I hate the advice "just start playing" :)