Ask HN: How to get an income while working towards an MVP, as solo-entrepreneur? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to get an income while working towards an MVP, as solo-entrepreneur?

3 pointstyrbentsen2 comments

As a solo developer, I have been working on a simulation tool for embedded systems for the past couple of months. Since it is a considerable technical challenge, there is still some work to do to get to a stage where the tool is practically usable by customers. So that means that it would be hard to sell it at this moment. Moreover, since I'm working solo, improving the website, writing articles, going to customers, or other sales-related activities, means taking away time from working on the tool itself. Similarly, I could spent my time doing services to have some income, but then the progress on my product would slow down a lot as well.

What is a good approach to having some income, with a product that is not yet an MVP, and still be able to continue programming to get to an MVP?

View on HN

If they are not paying you, they are not customers. If a proposed project might solve an important problem, potential customers will speculatively pay for its development...it's an investment in the same way as paying for an in-house development attempt.

Moreover, they won't care about your website or blog posts. They will care about trying to solve their problem.

"But what if they don't want to pay until it is built?"

Two things. First they don't trust you. Second they don't want to pay. If you build an MVP, that doesn't mean they will trust you. And it does not mean they will want to pay you.

Asking for money is the best way to validate your idea. It is possible that an MVP will make all the difference. But often it won't because people are polite and they are paid to talk to people like you as part of their job because sometimes moonshots pay off.

The core problem is that you are undercapitalized. This is not just your problem. It is a problem for any business that invests in your technology. And the primary investment is not money but time and energy to incorporate it into their processes. Broke (financially) doesn't sell. Good luck.

Well that's a catch 22, chicken and egg problem.

Few things that come to mind... Obviously have some cash aside for this type of "sabbatical".

Another possibility is to get someone you used to work for "invest" in the idea, as a sponsorship of some kind, in which they have some skin in. This can work because presumably you're solving a problem related to your career path.

Another option is some seed investment from an accelerator of some kind, but your chances are really low unless you promise them a unicorn shitting gold on a platter.

Finally, family can help for this sort of thing, but again they have to understand that it's throwing money down the pit 90% of the time.

You can also try to take on a part-time contract to sustain yourself while helping out someone else. Like a 3 day week affair, where you work the remaining 3 days on your project and take a day off. Worst case is take a mind-numbing job which doesn't get you tired mentally, and focus your mental efforts at night on your side projects.

Another final idea that pops to mind is the Patreons and gofundme type options... They can work if you're pretty on video and can sell your idea to the common people. Most of us are too shy to even fathom doing this... I would have impostor syndrome personally, then there is the constant answering to people pain...

A lot of us are in this boat, so don't feel like you're in it alone or crazy doing so. The reality I suspect is 90% of us go back to work to fund their night/garage project; until we can finally live in a utopia where humanity could actually focus on advancing itself rather than spinning a wheel in a cage.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com