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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

#71

Post by sixhobbits »

ojbyrne wrote: post #53
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-…

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.”

I know it as 'Being self employed is great, you control your own time and can choose any 80 hours/week to work"

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#72

Post by krageon »

rkuodys wrote: post #68
switz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I always say – the hardest part of my job is that if I don't do it, nothing gets done . That copy error on the website. That minor bug. We take for granted the velocity we get by having colleagues. If I get lazy, everything grinds to a halt. And those little nits add up. But I strongly agree it's all worth it.

Can I ask you if you consider that AI changes anything about that? Since I'm embarking on the same boat, my dream is a team of AI which supports and ensures business continuity while Im on vacation or "OOO" otherwise.

Even Anthropic consistently says their own AI can't help with meaningful work in their own corporation. Any person that tells you it can is overhyping it. Probably to sell you something.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#73

Post by kapimalos »

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.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#74

Post by [deleted] »

rkuodys wrote: post #68
switz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I always say – the hardest part of my job is that if I don't do it, nothing gets done . That copy error on the website. That minor bug. We take for granted the velocity we get by having colleagues. If I get lazy, everything grinds to a halt. And those little nits add up. But I strongly agree it's all worth it.

Can I ask you if you consider that AI changes anything about that? Since I'm embarking on the same boat, my dream is a team of AI which supports and ensures business continuity while Im on vacation or "OOO" otherwise.

[deleted]

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#75

Post by simgt »

hdjrudni wrote: post #69
apparent wrote: post #62

Curious to know how you think AI/vibecoding will affect the solopreneur path. On the one hand, it could make it accessible to many more people, who previously couldn't have built a business alone because they lacked coding skills. On the other hand, it could make it harder to get customers because they can also code their own customized tools, making it less necessary to buy software and some services. There's probab…

I just sold my first solo(ish) business, so I can speak to this a bit. 'ish' because I had a partner, but he was non-technical. AI is a boon. I'm currently finding it works best in apps that have established patterns but aren't enormous. If you lay some groundwork (as I did, because the AI didn't exist when I started), it's quite lovely for migrating heaps of old code and just doing all those annoying little things w…

As a technical person, how does one find a non-technical business partner? ;)

I know about Entrepreneur First, but that's not for bootstrapping and has a too much of the unicorn vibe for me. The obvious is of course luck through one's social network.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#76

Post by jwr »

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-…

> I've found it tough to talk about being a solo bootstrapper though. People don't seem all that interested in it [...]

I think you've hit the nail on the head (solo bootstrapper here): People are not interested because A) it's not about them, it's about you, B) it sounds somewhat scary, C) it sounds completely detached from their reality of corporate jobs, and finally D) it's scary because your life might be "better" than theirs.

I don't tell people about my work anymore, and almost nobody ever asks, except for other entrepreneurs/bootstrappers.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#77

Post by roland35 »

Thanks for sharing, I remember reading about tinypilot back when I was interested in starting my own thing!

I had an idea for a hardware business for years and it was nice to dream, but thinking about it more and reading this story makes it pretty clear that it is way way waaay easier to continue my career at big tech, for better or worse (sad cry emoji)!

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#78

Post by keiferski »

apparent wrote: post #62

Curious to know how you think AI/vibecoding will affect the solopreneur path. On the one hand, it could make it accessible to many more people, who previously couldn't have built a business alone because they lacked coding skills. On the other hand, it could make it harder to get customers because they can also code their own customized tools, making it less necessary to buy software and some services. There's probab…

I work for a SaaS.

Basically I think it depends on your customers. If they’re just regular people, developers, etc. looking for a productivity tool, you should worry.

But if your clients are actual businesses looking for reliable, secure software, I wouldn’t worry too much. A real business isn’t going to trust hacked together, vibe coded solution. At that level it’s better to just pay $100-1,000 a month than deal with unpredictable problems.

Re: My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder

#80

Post by mtlynch »

rkuodys wrote: post #68
switz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I always say – the hardest part of my job is that if I don't do it, nothing gets done . That copy error on the website. That minor bug. We take for granted the velocity we get by having colleagues. If I get lazy, everything grinds to a halt. And those little nits add up. But I strongly agree it's all worth it.

Can I ask you if you consider that AI changes anything about that? Since I'm embarking on the same boat, my dream is a team of AI which supports and ensures business continuity while Im on vacation or "OOO" otherwise.

Sure, answered in another subthread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46967082
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