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Pros and cons of solo development

johnjeffers.com

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Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#71

Post by satvikpendem »

johnj-hn wrote: post #70
satvikpendem wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already understand how to use them as a professional engineer myself, so I don't see the benefit especially for the amount of money a salary and benefits cost.

Then maybe you don't need them. Only you can answer that for yourself. That's kind of the point of my post. It seems like you're looking for an argument here, and I don't want to argue. I have no idea whether or not you need a team. Maybe you'd be better off spending money on tokens. I don't know.

I'm not looking for an argument, this is a discussion forum so if you think it's an argument, then that's fine, you do you, but my point is that the cons you listed don't actually seem like cons in this day and age with AI so I am questioning and validating assumptions anyone would have as well; for example my friend whom I talked to recently is also a solo technical founder and he too doesn't think it's worth it to hire people anymore.

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#73

Post by andriy_koval »

satvikpendem wrote: post #68
andriy_koval wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"prompting" is a skill, you pay for that.

Is it worth paying 200k a year for that, especially if I'm already good enough at prompting? That amount gets me a lot of Claude Code licenses instead.

it may not worth to pay you 200k if someone can also do that prompting..

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#74

Post by james_ross »

vadchen wrote: post #25

The sharpest con for me is blind spots: solo you're the author, the reviewer and the QA, and all three share the same wrong assumptions. Same goes for weaknesses: on a team someone covers what you're bad at, solo nobody does. LLMs patch this surprisingly well on the technical side - it's a reviewer that didn't write the code, but much less on marketing, positioning, all the stuff outside the editor.

this issue resonates for me very much, as a one person startup experimenter in 2026 like a whole bunch of other people. I have a day job with lots of human interaction, but I've been trying to find the edges of what's possible as a single person on my fun side project, and I still haven't found them. I built a product in 3 months, and then wondered if I could commercialise it in another three, which I've now done. The unlock for me was an agent framework a friend made that allows me to "hire" collaborators that don't just take orders, but push back, do research and challenge my thinking. I've made a virtual head of product, a virtual head of marketing, a chhief of staff, etc, and can only say I've been blown away by what they've added to my thinking and my capabilities. They totally reframed my approach to building my web site, choosing a commercial back end, and commencing the marketing journey. It's not magic, but it encodes a management philosophy that resonates with me and I still have no idea where the limits are with what I can do alone... https://github.com/normannoble/agent-framework

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#75

Post by chris_fullcycle »

lelanthran wrote: post #14

The rule to remember about solo development: Alone I can go faster, together we can go further! Everything else boils down to this.

The problem is when you have the wrong team. It's way too easy to partner with the wrong person, and not even know until years later.

I'm finding that yes, it takes longer on my own, I can have AI do much of the stuff for me that I don't want to do.

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#76

Post by satvikpendem »

andriy_koval wrote: post #73
satvikpendem wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it worth paying 200k a year for that, especially if I'm already good enough at prompting? That amount gets me a lot of Claude Code licenses instead.

it may not worth to pay you 200k if someone can also do that prompting..

Indeed, that's why I'm a solo founder.

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#77

Post by [deleted] »

scrappy_guy wrote: post #22
t1234s wrote: post #4

Any tips if you have been a solo dev for a very long term (20+ years) for getting hired as part of a team?

Honestly, just applying to positions you're interested in and trying to get interviews. Worst case, you can treat the job interview as practice / learning, best case you pass the interview and get a job offer. Actually getting job interviews can be difficult. It helps to find the email associated with the person hiring, that way you can email them directly to make sure your application actually gets seen.

[deleted]

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#78

Post by satvikpendem »

skydhash wrote: post #47
Kon5ole wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the time it takes me to make a single-node webservice with a CLI POC client I can now have a fully scalable SAAS with clients for iOS, Android, mac, linux, windows and web-based, user documentation in several languages and a suite of unit tests. Surely that's both faster and further? IMO AI agents are like a team of remote consultants that only talk shop and have no sense of humor.

> I can now have a fully scalable SAAS with clients for iOS, Android, mac, linux, windows and web-based, user documentation in several languages and a suite of unit tests. Which you won’t be brave enough to put on the internet.

Many people do however.

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#79

Post by andriy_koval »

satvikpendem wrote: post #76
andriy_koval wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it may not worth to pay you 200k if someone can also do that prompting..

Indeed, that's why I'm a solo founder.

Depending on scale of your products you may find that single person won't be able to cover all aspects. "Prompting" requires some domain knowledge and also quality control and guidance.

Re: Pros and cons of solo development

#80

Post by vadchen »

james_ross wrote: post #74
vadchen wrote: post #25

The sharpest con for me is blind spots: solo you're the author, the reviewer and the QA, and all three share the same wrong assumptions. Same goes for weaknesses: on a team someone covers what you're bad at, solo nobody does. LLMs patch this surprisingly well on the technical side - it's a reviewer that didn't write the code, but much less on marketing, positioning, all the stuff outside the editor.

this issue resonates for me very much, as a one person startup experimenter in 2026 like a whole bunch of other people. I have a day job with lots of human interaction, but I've been trying to find the edges of what's possible as a single person on my fun side project, and I still haven't found them. I built a product in 3 months, and then wondered if I could commercialise it in another three, which I've now done. Th…

Sounds interesting, is it similar to BMAD Method personas?
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