Congratulations Patrick | Hacker News Reader

Congratulations Patrick

400 pointsJacobAldridge61 comments

If previous blog posts and memory serve me, today is a milestone day for patio11 (aka Patrick McKenzie) - his last day as a Japanese salaryman before stepping full time into his 'MicroISV on a Shoestring'.

There are others in the HN community that have been there before, or built much larger businesses, or taken the plunge without first having built a successful side project. But since patio11 is a valuable member on this site, and a contributor I greatly admire, I felt it was worth noting and creating a space for others who might also want to pass on their best wishes.

So Congrats Patrick. I wish you every success. If the adage 'Give and ye shall Receive' were ever to hold true, then you will be the recipient of much happiness.

(And if you don't know patio11, I recommend his blog http://www.kalzumeus.com/)

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Of all the start-ups on HN, yours is the one that I easily admire the most. No funding, no bullshit, just endless iteration on perfecting a simple thing and minting that.

It's the epitome of entrepreneurship, far more so than some 'feature' that gets funded and a quick exit.

If you ever decide to do this on a larger scale I don't doubt that you'll be very successful, it's the attitude and the time put in that matter, not so much the product.

It's one of the very few business I've seen where luck has been completely (or at least, almost completely) eradicated and the whole thing is turned in to a science.

The next big question is: Can you scale it ?

I think you can, please keep us informed of your new adventures!

well said. pinboard is another startup in the same vein.

re: "The next big question is: Can you scale it ?"

I would like to suggest a potentially more interesting question (or set of questions) :

_Should_ he scale it? If so, why? Why would so many HNers assume the next step to be scaling it? Might he not instead tend to his business like a garden, to ensure that it continues to be healthy, and use his remaining time to enjoy semi-retirement?

I think a lot of HNers could do with considering the above kinds of questions a bit more often. Why are you _really_ doing your start-ups? What are you _really_ looking to get out of them? Is it just to hear the 'ding!' of the cash register more frequently? I hope you're looking for more/different than that.

Because having just one stream of income, no matter how reliable it seems is a huge risk. Before you know it you can be back in the treadmill again.

I may have accidentally implied the semi-retirement angle more strongly than my point regarding tending to the first business as if a garden instead of trying to scale it, which was more what I wanted to focus on. Apologies if that wasn't as clear as it could be.

Perhaps I should also have mentioned that he is diversifying, where diversifying is certainly distinct from scaling the first business up.

As far as his first business goes, I still think it is worthwhile questioning the common automatic assumption that the next goal should be to scale it.

You are all incredibly kind. I would say more, but today is my last day and after I get to work there are four issues in Trac with my name on them.

I hope the #1 issue is "Move PM to Redmine" ;-)

Done! In a mere twelve hours. I can feel myself already getting soft.

Now is The Moment for you.

Congrats.

Congrats on the move :D

This means his Mixergy interview should be coming up soon too. We agreed to wait till after the big change.

Now that is something I'm greatly looking forward to.

What I'm curious about: patio11 seems to have developed some formidable experience in the non-bullshit aspects of "SEO" (running actual A/B tests and iterating as a result). The odds are good that that's actually worth more, on a consulting basis, than selling bingo cards. Maybe he'll add some products? Best of luck in any case!

That may be true right now. But I bet he'd rather see if he can push his business further and make it not-true in the future.

I think he wrote that he has amassed a big amount of experience, enough to write a book, but that he would rather spend his time writing actual software.

I wish he would write a book. I'd buy it in an instant!

You can read his blog, or see all the comments he makes on HN. That's what I've been doing, and it's quite insightful

From a recent blog post:

"Next Application: I have more or less mentally committed myself to my next application, although I should probably give it some more thought. Hint: it uses Twilio. Stay tuned to the same blog time, same blog channel for when I have something to announce."

that's actually worth more, on a consulting basis, than selling bingo cards

Of course, you can sleep while your bingo cards are sold. For consulting, you get paid to not do that.

He's reported that his time is worth $125-$175/hr based on the bingo business profits. He might be able to get that rate as a remote consultant--but not as a remote consultant who worked five hours a week on average, but couldn't tell you which week, much less when the hours would be.

I asked him about this a few months (a year?) ago on the Business of Software site. However, the rate I suggested (a SWAG of $100/hour: hey , what do I know about SEO consulting rates :-) was too low to match what his BCC was bringing in at the time. I was duly impressed!!

Congratulations, Patrick.

I imagine I'm like a lot of HN readers that mostly lurk but have quietly gotten a lot of value out of Patrick's comments and blog posts. In fact just last week I ended up implemented his omnibox idea and automating the cancelation process for our site because of these two posts: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/03/20/running-a-software-busin... http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/02/09/dashboard-design-for-met...

Both ideas have saved a lot of time and effort already and I'm kicking myself for not doing them sooner. I expect to save more time and make more money by following up on a few of his other posts that I have I bookmarked.

So a huge thank-you for all of the information that you've shared. It's extremely valuable and very much appreciated. Congratulations on going fulltime. I'll be quietly cheering you on.

In this article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/what-mak...

I remember reading this about a teacher using Patrick's product in his class:

Next, Mr. Taylor announces it’s time for Multiplication Bingo. As Mr. Taylor reads off a problem ("20 divided by 5"), the kids scour their boards, chips in hand, looking for 4's. One girl is literally shaking with excitement. Another has her hands clasped in a prayer position. I find myself wanting to play. You know you're in a good classroom if you have to stop yourself from raising your hand.

I have written tons of code for many users, but I don't think I've ever had a user "shaking with excitement" to use my software. That is my new goal. Thank you, Patrick. Keep 'em shaking!

Congratulations to Patrick! I sincerely wish him all the luck in his new endeavor. I have been following Patrick's progress from beginning when he started posting at Business of Software forums. I always thought that 'Bingo Cards' is a stupid product to work on. But hey, not only he proved me wrong(and I am happy to be proved wrong), he is able to quit his day job by selling this product. He is a prolific writer and is always offering valuable advice. [I have bookmarked his comments page which I check daily. http://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=patio11 ]

That's funny. The first time I heard of bingo card creators I thought it was a great idea. That and other niche hobbies like knitting, aviation, models, etc have huge untapped potential.

and they're probably much simpler* to succeed in than yet another social widget. They also appeal to my "God-those-narcicistic-valley-kids" personality.

* Simple, but not easy.

Patrick - congrats. You represent all that is good about this community!

First of all congrats Patrick. It's amazing to know you since your days at BoS. Unbelievable that within these few years, you have achieve tremendously not only with your BCC, but also your stardom in our web entrepreneur community. You're now a moderator @ Seobook and BoS, and a big celebrity here at Hackernews. All due to your unrelenting giving to the community by contributing useful posts!

The guy picked out and dominated a specific niche most people never would have touched - on 5 hours a week.

Even if he gets REALLY crazy and doubles his hours each week, I can only imagine the success that is waiting for him.

Congrats on the move, I tip my hat to a true professional and successful warrior of the game.

Congratulations Patrick. Excited to see what your next venture turns out to be.

For those who aren't aware, Patrick is incredibly helpful off-HN also. As in, if you email him, he always gets back to you, no matter how busy he is.

Thanks for being so awesome :)

As in, if you email him, he always gets back to you, no matter how busy he is.

Please note that this is my aspiration but not my SLA. If you want an SLA, I'm happy to entertain offers for consulting engagements, or in the alternative you can pretend you're preparing for class tomorrow and can't download the Internet to your printer.

Congratulations Patrick. I hope you enjoy your new-found freedom. Remember not to work _too_ hard ;)

Congratulations, remember full time is just 40 hours (think of all the free time!) and Go Kick Ass! :)

Congrats Patrick... I've followed your posts since the Business of Software days and you've been an inspiration to me.　

I haven't had your courage though, I quit my job in Japan before working on my own projects... Too many hours of overtime killed me afterwards for side projects...

Damn, I didn't realize how prolific his writing was. Kudos! And, anyone have a best-of list?

Good luck Patrick, you're an inspiration to the rest of us bootstrappers trying to serve two masters (our day jobs and our startups). I've learned a ton from you and look forward to learning even more as you jump in full time!

Good luck, been following you since Business of Software and the launch of uISV on a Shoestring. I have always been curious about what you could do if you put your dedication and talent to work in a larger market.

By the way, I've made the same jump a couple of times, although only for a couple of months each time to get something off the ground. My biggest problem has always been lack of social and professional stimulation from the workplace once you go solo. If you got any pointers on how to deal with that I am all ears.

Congrats Patrick, well done and keep up the good work. You are a source of inspirtion for many here (including myself).

Considering it's 730 JST at the time of this writing, he's probably sleeping in as he's no longer a Japanese salaryman.

Congratulations!

Seconded; fingers crossed the new projects will mean even more great posts/insights for us to drool over :)

This is funny. I now just wanted to find something interesting on HN. I decided to check Patrick's comment feed. Here I am finding something interesting about him. Congratulations, man.

Cheers

Edit: I actually have it on my list to read every single post he has written.

congrats Patrick! - will hopefully meet you at the Tokyo HN meetup next week.

Where is the Tokyo HN meetup going to be?

Congrats! Thanks for your valuable posts. Indeed, remember to take care of yourself now that you can work anytime you want -- tho your last job sounds like it was quite demanding.

Good luck. I look forward to reading more of your insights into conversion optimization. That's certainly one area where I lack knowledge and experience.

Way to go, Patrick! Not just because you have the same last name as me, but also because I love reading your posts here and your blog. Best of luck!

Good luck Patrick, I really appreciate your blog and your explanations you share on it.. Hope everything goes smooth & well for you new life :)

Omedetou gozaimasu!

日本語を喋れるんだ！

頑張って。

Are you staying in Japan, or moving back home? If you're staying, how did you pull that off (visa-wise) without a "regular" job?

there are two possibilities:

1) it's possible to self-sponsor as long as you can show a certain amount of income from part time work or, in Patrick's case, internet earnings.

2) your visa is not tied to your employer. you can get a 3 year visa, quit your job, then continue to work freelance for 3 years as long as you do all your tax etc correctly. then hopefully by the time you have to renew your visa you'll have a corporate entity set up with enough paid-in capital to sponsor your visa for you. or you do (1).

3) Marry a Japanese person

How does self-sponsoring work? Are there any other requirements besides having enough income from somewhere? Can anyone do it?

Most countries are more than happy to offer indefinite residency to people who can prove they're independently wealthy.

Yeah sounds good but is this reality or just your own personal guesstimate?

Also, what does it mean to be independently wealthy?

Congratulations, I've been quite excited about this, show's how much people value you and your posts. Enjoy!

Congrats Patrick. Good to get out of a Japanese company :). Am in Tokyo myself, and would love to meet you!

Awesome, good luck Patrick - can't wait to see how things work out for you.

Here here!

hey how are you doing

beST OF LUCK!

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