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Comment by eof | Hacker News Reader

Awesome. What is your business?

Well, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you all and tell you I run a bakery. I know you guys were expecting a tech company.

I wasn't actually planning on revealing this, but you guys seem to really want to know and the community has been good to me. And maybe you can give me more advice.

I actually have a degree in CS and I love to code, but I tried for a while and never managed to make money on my own with my tech skills before Patrick. I figured (correctly, I think) that my problem was not with my hacking abilities but with my business skills - I had absolutely no good sense of what people would give me money for.

In my mind, I saw myself stumbling around on a seemingly infinite plane while I was trying to follow a hill-climbing algorithm to maximize the amount of money I was making. So I imagined something like a random-restart approach might work: let's jump somewhere totally different and try climbing any hills we find there. Plus, I knew that people were willing to give money for baked goods, so I figured that simplified the business component to an extent.

It turns out I was right - I did find a hill to climb and I've gotten a lot better at business in general.

The dilemma now is I really enjoy coding and actually think I have the skills to run a softare business (which could ultimately be more lucrative), but have a growing food business on my hands. I'm certainly not complaining - really, anything that brings me more money to buy stuff like a dryer makes me happy - but sometimes I feel out of place.

Now that I've hired a manager for the bakery, I have a bit more control of my time and I've recently been able to take on a bit of consulting work, which has turned out well, and I'm pumping the money into growing the bakery.

I think that's the optimal strategy I can follow for now. What do you guys think? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my relatively twisted path.

Not exactly what I was expecting, but interesting nonetheless. Do you feel that the hacker business approach articles featured here helped your bakery succeed, or did they just give you impetus you needed to get started launching your own business? Just wondering.

Edit: Why not build a web app for your bakery? Allow customers to order via the web. If you provide some sort of customization so that customers can request custom cakes and confections it could turn into an interesting internet aided brick and mortar business. Whatever you do don't downplay the value of having a business that makes real money selling real things.

That's a great idea.

I just discovered an innovative little app from Domino's Pizza here in Sydney: Firstly I was able to order the entire pizza online in a very intuitive interface (with a few issues), and then pay for it online. Once paid, a ticking clock appeared that showed the exact time that they received the order, started on the pizza, baked it, and when it was complete and ready for pickup. While waiting, in the same window they did a good job of trying to offer entertainment by showing movie trailers (not my cup of tea but well implemented).

Stuff like this makes a difference.

Have you seen this? http://lifehacker.com/388708/track-your-dominos-pizza-order-... Not sure if it works for Aus Dominos - but it might.

I already do this to an extent! It is indeed part of the added value for the business, but when I first started coding it up a lot of it was because I missed coding and was looking for an excuse to write more.

To quote a great philosopher:

"Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but if you want to make about the same money and be happier you could actually just go run a fast food joint. You are much better off using code as your secret weapon in another profession.

People who can code in the world of technology companies are a dime a dozen and get no respect. People who can code in biology, medicine, government, sociology, physics, history, and mathematics are respected and can do amazing things to advance these discipline."

Your application of programming in such an area makes you more interesting and creative - not less.

That's fantastic! Starting a software business is mostly about business, and incidentally about programming. I think this is the reason that people like to read patio11's commentary (it certainly isn't because we like bingo cards). I would be interested to hear more about how you identified your customer base, picked your employees, and decided how and when to grow the business without external funding.

This is awesome. Our family business (before moving to the US) was a bakery (actually a chain of bakeries, but some problems occured and our aunt is in the process of doing a hostile takeover, but I digress). I still remember the smell of flour and dough while running around the production area playing with rolling pins and dough mixers when I was a kid. The bakery was also named after me (I was teased as our class' "Pillsbury Dough Boy"). Nostalgia.

I am refreshingly surprised! It takes guts to go outside the domain and do this. Way to go dude!

Also please start a blog!

Disappoint? My great-grandparents owned a bakery, and it's one of my small personal dreams to do the same, though it is probably a dream I will never realize.

As I write this the above comment is 31 points! Please don't view this as a complaint, and to eof especially, I'm not saying the comment isn't worth that value. It just seems like an anomaly to me. Is it because everyone wants to know what the business is?

>> Is it because everyone wants to know what the business is?

Yes.

7 points 18 minutes later. People really want to know! I imagine it will stop when/if it is answered.

Absolutely. Also seems a little strange to not give back to the community such basic information, after it's done so much for him.

Maybe there's a competitive reason he's not divulging, or he's just too darn busy? ;)

(I'd love to know, too)

it didn't completely stop but it was near a screeching halt

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