They have the skills and a good idea of what people are prepared to pay for so why do they continue to build bespoke software instead of creating a startup?
Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
1–10 of 39 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#2Some of my consulting work integrates different packages - commercial, academic, and in-house - into a single system. It also needs to understand the local database configuration, the cluster queuing system, the shared filesystem, and other customer-specific configurations.
I have a framework for this project. It takes about a week to write. The other year of work I did for one client were the modules and components to fit their internal requirements. This included porting some of their software from IRIX to Linux. Overall, only a relatively small amount of that development could be shared with another client.
I thought about spinning that part off as a product. I haven't been able to make a viable business plan out of it. The type of people who could build their own components for my framework is the same as the one who could build the framework in the first place - and indeed, other companies have in-house frameworks for the same thing. And while I think mine is better, it's biased towards Python but this sort of software tends to be written by IT staff more interested in C# or Java.
Also, I like working close to the end-users, with frequent iterations to get what they want. Selling software (I work in chemistry, where it's hard to develop web-based apps due to the proprietary nature of the end-user's chemical structures) is one step removed from the users, so I don't have the same feeling of connection.
When consulting it's easier to know that work = income = profit. With a startup or product development, you spend a lot more effort to develop a product before knowing that you'll make profit.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#31) They'd have to quit consulting to be a real startup. It takes a fulltime effort. Otherwise its just a small business.
Most software devs get paid quite a bit to consult, so they'd be taking a huge pay cut.
A lot of people don't like that risk.
2) Most dev shops I know have side projects they release as products
3) Mostly importantly, building products is really hard to do well. To make any significant amount of money from them is even harder, which makes those dev contracts look so much easier and accessible.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#4It takes a while to come to the "product does not suck" stage. People need to be able to eat and survive during the development stage and there are only handful of examples of companies that switched successfully from service to product (Mailchimp, 37 signals and few others come to mind). Starting a startup/new product requires full time commitment. Part time commitment often means part time success so for a lot of people it is better to stick to security they have providing freelance work and services. Just my 2c
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#5I see hybrids of this a lot and, as dalke points out, consulting is an important part of having a solid income while working to spin off in-house tools or new ideas - much like we see developers here offering consulting hours while bootstrapping.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#6Can you give me an example of a development company or freelancer that isn't working on their own products in some capacity?
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#7Some people may simply enjoy the process of development moreso than the process of building a business.
I've been at this crossroads for a a while now, and as a local startup guy in the area has posited, "consulting is like crack". From a financial standpoint, it's pretty hard to give up - even moreso if you're not really passionately on fire for one idea, which I do think you really need to be to focus on that one idea/service/product for a long time (years).
Additionally, just because you've got an idea about what people are willing to pay for because you've done consulting for some clients, doesn't mean that you can (easily). Much of what you've learned working for, say, 3 clients, may need to be validated with a larger group. The few clients you worked with may have extremely focused needs, and what you've built for them has limited value outside of those handful of orgs. Finding the other orgs that could also benefit from a similar service/product may simply be too much work (and it's not guaranteed to find anyone at all).
On top of that, some of what you've built may have been predicated on confidential information/processes which you can't replicate. You can often whiteroom something, but again, is it worth it?
It may surprise you, but many companies are willing to pay a lot of money for a solution that ties in with existing systems and matches their business process 100%, rather than use a genericized system which they'd have to adapt to (and which some of their competition might be using as well).
In my case, I've not yet found an idea that I'm really passionate about pursuing as a full-time venture. Until that time comes, I consult (and do things like indieconf.com - conference for freelancers like myself!), getting to the point where, should an idea strike me, I can self-fund the venture if need be.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#8Can you give me an example of a development company or freelancer that isn't working on their own products in some capacity?
This is a really short-sighted view, there are literally thousands (if not more) of freelancers and development companies who have no wish to work on their own products. It just isn't in some peoples mindsets. They literally just don't care.
Just because in our dimension every development agency, or freelancer writes a blog doesn't mean they're the only guys who exist.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#9Can you give me an example of a development company or freelancer that isn't working on their own products in some capacity?
This is a really short-sighted view, there are literally thousands (if not more) of freelancers and development companies who have no wish to work on their own products. It just isn't in some peoples mindsets. They literally just don't care. Just because in our dimension every development agency, or freelancer writes a blog doesn't mean they're the only guys who exist.
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Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?
#10Can you give me an example of a development company or freelancer that isn't working on their own products in some capacity?
This is a really short-sighted view, there are literally thousands (if not more) of freelancers and development companies who have no wish to work on their own products. It just isn't in some peoples mindsets. They literally just don't care. Just because in our dimension every development agency, or freelancer writes a blog doesn't mean they're the only guys who exist.
> there are literally thousands (if not more)
Like who?