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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

It is hard to go from solo consultant to software business.

That's why people don't do that. They build a solid pipeline of consulting work, then they hire people.

It is straightforward to build a software business with 1-3 people paid near-market wages by another 1-2 people doing hardcore consulting.

I could go on and on and on and on about how much better this model is than the "eat ramen and hope for VC" model, but the nut of the rebuttal to this particular post is so simple that I'll spare you.

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That was my strategy exactly after quitting my former job (I was working as developer in a consulting company).

My plan was to start consulting on my own, get the deal flow running, bootstrap the consulting company and offload my work to the new guys with time. Then I would use the profits from the consulting company to fund my own startup(s) OR do some angel investing PG style.

But then while I have been slowly probing and negotiating some odd 7 gigs, on my third actual meeting I turned a potential customer into a co-founder and we're currently working on the project he wanted to hire me for.

By September we will see if the project takes off. If not - I will have spent my nest-egg by then, find a Job (for a year or so), save as much as I can and start out with the original plan again.

Why do I like this plan so much? For one I have similar view of capital as Niccollo Macchiavelli had of soldiers - I would rather fail with my own than succeed with borrowed money. The reason being that here in central Europe - typical "angel" investor expects a 50%+ share in your company for any money they commit. And if I wanted a boss I would keep my original job.

> That's why people don't do that. They build a solid pipeline of consulting work, then they hire people.

To me that sounds way scarier and more difficult than doing a project on the side until it's big enough to mostly support me, and then cutting back on the real job/consulting.

I guess if you're in a very lucrative field - like you are - things might be different, but it seems like it would be so easy to just get caught up in 'building a consulting business', which strikes me as requiring a different set of skills than a 'building a product' business.

Some of us are unable to do anything "on the side". When I do something I commit 100% - so if I feel like working after hours - I would just do my regular work.

I have bad news for you: in no business model other than "instantly win the VC lottery" do software statups promise you 100% focus on building software. You can consult, you can hustle for investor dollars, you can hustle for sales, you can hustle marketing channels, you can hustle for customers, but if nobody on your team is hustling somehow, you're probably kidding yourself that you're building a business.

I didn't mean 100% commitment on programming or whatever.

I meant 100% commitment to a project. So if I'm working for the man - I'm 100% committed to working for the man. If I'm doing a startup then I'm doing that 100%. Hustling vs hacking is not an issue to me. It's just that doing a startup "project" while working for the man would seem inefficient to me. What I mean - if my idea/project has potential - I will find a way to hustle it into a proper 100% thing - else I am risking too much.

I'm the same way with women. I don't even flirt if I am with someone - it just seems a waste of time to me. And I have always been with single woman at a time.

To me if something is worth doing - then it has to be 100%. I don't read two books at a time - I devour them one by one.

Edit: I do have a life - that's why most of this post is meant in a professional context.

> I'm 100% committed to working for the man

So - no wife, kids, friends? Everyone has interests and activities - even passions - outside of work, and for some people that can be a nascent startup, simply a fun side project, or maybe some open source code that's great for learning or honing skills on. What you do in your own time is your own business.

> doing a startup "project" while working for the man would seem inefficient to me

The problem is this: startups at the 'idea' or 'a bit of code thrown together' stage can't really earn you a living, so you need to find a way to fill that gap. You can work on the side, a bit at a time, ala patio11. You can get investment money, so that you can commit full time, which is great, but is something outside your control. You can also save up some money and take the plunge, but that's not always a possibility either.

In short, different things work for different people.

I had the same problem, I have to put in all energy to get projects done. But 6 weeks ago I switched to a contract that allows me working 4 days per week and I now spend Mondays for "on the side" work. So far it's rather refreshing and motivating, but will have to see how it works out in the long run. And it's certainly 20% less money - so also not something everyone will do I guess.

The problem with this is that which one are you? If you are doing the hardcore consulting how can you devote the time and mind share needed to build a successful startup? If you aren't doing the consulting how do you find two chumps willing to fund your company for you?

Whichever one you're better at. When people talk about "ability to execute", this is what they mean: being able to come up with a plan ("I'm going to consult, you're going to build, in 3 months we launch") and then stick to it.

If you aren't doing consulting, this model is not open to you. But if you can't consult, you probably can't sell product either. This is like asking, "if you're a business guy who just needs a web guy to implement his idea", &c &c.

At that point you are basically just an investor in the project - since you will need to focus your time and energy on consulting and won't be able to contribute as a co-founder.

What does this even mean? People aren't chess pieces. Just because you walk two spaces to the left and one space forward, doesn't mean you're a knight for the rest of the time you're at the company.

Contribute to your product offering as much as you can. Participate in discussions. Talk to customers. If you're lucky, your consulting customers and your product prospects will overlap. Over time, ramp up revenue so that you can wean yourself off consulting.

This attitude that there's some status hierarchy of kinds of people in a startup is toxic. Working companies are comprised of people who will move mountains to get stuff done. You can spend tons of time pushing on the mountain of external funding, or you can push on the mountain of getting immediate and comfortable levels of cash from consulting. Both have their upsides and downsides. Either way: you're going to have to do stuff you wouldn't otherwise want to do.

What I mean is that you will be so focused and busy on the consulting piece you won't have the time to work on the product - trust me I have been there.

Me too. I'm on-and-off billable all the time. Ask my dev team how disengaged I am with the product we're launching.

One shouldn't form trust based on a single anecdote.

What I mean is that you will be so focused and busy on the consulting piece you won't have the time to work on the product - trust me I have been there.

Not necessarily. I product manage http://decalcms.com/ but don't really do much of the "actual work" on it until it's time to do a release at which point I focus a lot on the marketing.

The rest of the time I drum up business, run game on support and client queries and generally keep things ticking over.

How about training a replacement?

On the other hand - if you are lucky enough to run into people who are better at executing than you are - then funding them seems like the smartest thing to do, should they want to work with you that is.

Indeed - in relation to my other comment.

Since I do have (too many) ideas, but didn't like any of them enough to commit myself to it - the plan was to build a dream team (I have a knack for leading people - The Right Way(tm)) - and just practice execution until a killer idea in a good scalable market came along - and then run with it.

>If you aren't doing the consulting how do you find two chumps willing to fund your company for you?

Most professionals in the world are "chumps" willing to fund X for other people. I'm on a project right now that's going to save my org $20 million a year. Do I see any of that? Nope, just my normal salary, which is quite good IMO. If you pay your "chumps" quite good they'll be perfectly happy to consult while you use your money to do other things. After all, they are able to earn consulting thanks to your connections.

If they build up enough connections and have the same courage they might do the same thing but so be it. Most people won't. I know someone making less than I am who works as a high end consultant billed out at $500/hr. I've pointed out how he's being exploited several times but he likes the stability of an employer.

Perfectly worded. Seriously.

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