The single founder dilemma
alexshye.wordpress.com
alexshye.wordpress.com
I've been working on this for about 1.5yrs part time, put $15,000 into it so far (mostly infrastructure), and it's finally releasable. Though I haven't started marketing yet, I've put in to leave my current career in two months and do this full-time. I’m prepared for it to take a few years to get going, but that’s OK. Thankfully, due to past investments and zero debt I'll even be able to continue contributing to savings even if my revenue is $0, which essentially means I could do this indefinitely. I should also mention that my recurring costs including CA LLC tax and all services are under $300/mo., which contributes to my sustainability. I’ve found that single founders with a bit of patience can significantly minimize costs without sacrificing quality; we want to be smart, not cheap. My infrastructure costs scale with my users and I don’t have a free trial or free plan (B2B), so cost increases here are a non-issue.
I took a month of leave recently to get a feel for how working alone full-time on this project would be. It was awesome because all of my habits were magnified. My wife was out of town for this month (she travels a lot) so it was just me. I found myself working on the project all day, every day except to go to the gym twice a day, pick up groceries, or go to Costco for a $3.76 pizza and hot dog lunch every once in a while. While working out I'd either listen to Mixergy and similar startup podcasts or read business books if I was on the bike. I loved it. It was ultra-productive, but also sustainable, not some unhealthy sprint.
Over the past year I've been considering the advice of validating assumptions with customers and getting traction before pursuing it full-time, but I've decided to mostly ignore that advice. Additionally, I've only asked for feedback on the design of the sales site, not on how the product works. I have a clear vision of the company I want to build, how I want the product to work, and what my customers actually need (I'm familiar with the market). I've had difficulty explaining the idea because there isn't anything similar enough to compare it to, but I’m getting better at relating it to existing solutions that it combines. I look forward to working with paying customers in the next few months and further improving based on their recommendations.
If I had a cofounder, I doubt my vision could be as pure as it is. I'm building the company I want, how I want, and a product I believe needs to exist, something I see as the future of this market and I’ve decided to go all in. It’s weird because I read how often startups fail, how difficult it is, and how being a single founder makes it even more difficult. For some reason, I feel like this isn’t risky, but maybe it’s because I’ve built it that way. As long as I put time into the right things, I know it will work out. I have pangs of doubt from time to time, but that’s all they are. I feel a bit silly because I’ve never worked in tech (military background), this is my first startup, and I think I should feel more worried than I am, but whatever. I love it and I love being a single founder. It'll be interesting to see whether or not I pick up a cofounder down the road once I get traction and become much busier.
Love your zen but do you socialize besides customers? If not is it a trait of yours or you just choose it as the needs of your startup?
It seems to be just how I am, I don't think about it much. Though if I were a few hours north in Silicon Valley I'd likely spend more time socializing with like-minded people. Whether that'd be productive or not depends on the people (or me?) as it seems most meetups/conferences are a waste of time and most people really don't do anything, they just like thinking and talking about it. Unfortunately, wearing the jersey doesn't make you part of the team.
I really believe that you're the average of the people you spend the most time with, so I limit my time with people I don't look up to. Unfortunately, now the only practical way to spend time with people I look up to is by reading books and listening to Mixergy and other interviews and podcasts. But from that standpoint, I have an incredible circle of friends and mentors. There is so much information out there just waiting to be consumed and our brains have incredible plasticity, they change based on their diet.
If you subscribe to the idea that you're a representation of those you spend the most time with, I think that many forget that when you read and respond to comments on HN and other places, you're spending time with those people. Is it making you better? Avoiding extensive interaction with any one community limits group think and blinders. Homogeneity makes us think small without even realizing it, imagine sitting in a dark room with a candle vs. a light bulb.
I'm pretty hard on myself in terms of achievement, fitness, and productivity, but I've learned I can be hard on others (including my wife) and judgmental to an extent, so I try to avoid such situations. I've also learned that I'm hard on people because I care and I believe they're capable of more, something I've channeled into my current startup which essentially has the purpose of making businesses better.
I don't blog or use Twitter/Facebook/whatever much either, which saves a lot of time. I think this thread is an example. I rarely share my thoughts, but when I do explaining them is time consuming. I don't mind, but I do feel guilty that I'm not doing something else. It's smart to be ruthless with your time; it's really all you have.
As a single founder this sort of independence has really worked for me, but then again I guess we'll see what happens after a few years when I have some experience under my belt. I've learned so much about the startup world in the past year, but it always surprises me how much I still have to learn. Good thing I'm always hungry.
You mentioned you have good ideas more than 2 times i guess, you will have to take that thing out of your mind. When you are onto something, burn rest of the ideas for atleast 6 months.
If you can't find co-founder, surround yourself with team members, start with hiring people remotely china,india,bangladesh.
Build prototype, no full fledged product. Try to fail fast if things doesn't pick after few months to save some time and fatigue. By prototype I mean, that one feature that separates you from others.
Learn to delegate work. As a programmer first, founder second - I used to micro manage things which gave me really bad time with my first startup. But as you start delegating work to your remote workers / employees, you will start feeling better.
I would advice you to build something with atleast some business model. Its tough to create instagrams or tumblrs of the world.
Hope this helps.
It is difficult to tell the difference between failing, and not trying hard enough.I feel it is a gut decision that should get better with time.
For me, I test a lot of ideas. Most of the stuff I do takes minimal time and resources so that if it fails, it doesn't hurt too bad. I'm always testing.
What puts me off is the fact that they are less interested if you do not have a co-founder. But surely I should be in a good position if my site is already monetizing itself??? It means that my business model is working.
@infogaufire, how did you manage accounting and marketing? Did you delegate that too?
I would love to hear about this too. One of my other biggest challenges, as a tech guy, has been figuring out how to go about all the non-tech stuff.
When I show the product to VC's and tell them I need help with marketing, accounting, establishing as a [already profitable] company. They brush me off and almost laugh. "Thats the easy stuff" they say.
Below the form, just print values from database order by date&time
This simple thing will take you very long - believe me. Its that easy.
For marketing @ very early stage, you just have to be a hustler. This is something what I do whenever I float some random new project (just posted this comment on HN) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5836395
I haven't sought any funding, but I am often in a quandary whether to spend more of my long-term financial reserves and stay focused on building the business around the products, or seek short term income through consulting. Or, possibly get a full-time job and think of these three as pre-built side projects.
I have also thought that if I could find the right salesperson/business development person as a partner that would be ideal. But like you that takes time that feels highly unproductive.
No easy decisions when those first (B2B) sales take so long.