Paul Graham on ramen profitability
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What are other folks doing? I have been working on a project for the past few months and considering getting a job again to pay the bills considering the volatility of the market (where my savings unfortunately are taking major blows), but that means less time to build.
This has been my approach since I started Indie Hacking end of 2019:
No shame in working at the same time as building - I think it's often pretty sensible. Although some people like the intensity of going all-in and having to make it work before they run out of cash.
I'm similar - gone all in.
I'm hearing a lot more talk about the tech bubble bursting recently, and it's casting slight doubts on the amount of doors that will be open to me as a software eng if I ever need to go back to the 9-5.
But I'm not letting it get to me. Just focusing on my product and can think about that if the time comes.
If you feel like your savings are taking a big hit though, theres no shame in seeing whats out there
Speaking of tech bubbles and Paul Graham essays, people might be interested in this one: "Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy" - http://www.paulgraham.com/badeconomy.html
This was a great read. I agree with the premise too - people shouldn't be as concerned with market conditions as they are the success of their business. Good businesses can remain ramen profitable for years without being impacted by the economy. If a business gets wiped out by a cycle, it wasn't really a good idea for a business anyway.
Yo team!
I quit my job 6 weeks ago:
Initial idea was to get a content agency going (I already had 1 freelance client but was limited by my full time contract at a startup)
The first month was a complete write-off, all of my network got in touch sharing opportunities + I started to get very distracted by other biz ideas.
Last two weeks I've been full focus on content agency again.
Big week ahead as I have 2 customers running trials. If I can sign them we'll be kind of ramen profitable and can think about a first hire to support me.
Glad I went all-in, without it I wouldn't have had this impetus.
Excited for you Callum, fingers crossed!
My approach was more launching my side project while I had a job, then decreasing days worked as revenue increased. Which is lower risk, but slower.
I've heard many examples of people taking the leap like you did though. I think it depends on one's risk tolerance and personal circumstances as to which is better.
Not sure this fully applies to Indie Hackers?
For that specific excerpt - mostly probably not. However there are examples of Indie Hackers who spent time building free communities/audiences before they charged anyone money.
Yea, that's true, and I'm one of them. My point being that I think we as Indie Hackers need different terminology then the ones used for unicorn cases (which is the typical perspective of these essays). These essays have lots of sage (and partially applicable advise) but aren't fully geared towards us as an audience.
I'm not sure I agree here. I think it's a useful mental model applied to most businesses. If anything, it's least relevant for unicorn type businesses like Facebook. But I'm open to alternatives of course.
Unless I'm reading this essay wrong, PG is stating that this IS most relevant for unicorn type businesses like Facebook.
That said, most businesses are not getting huge rounds of VC backed funding. I haven't seen many cases where it's harmful for a non-unicorn business to make money right away.
I'd genuinely love to see a bunch of examples where non-unicorn focused businesses were harmed by this.
There's a difference between building a community / audience, and building a product (typically deemed your business).
The former can, and in many cases does, drive the latter.
A better walk through of that than I can express can be found here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-to-brainstorm-great-business-ideas-ab51c3d51c
I've seen many examples of successful businesses where that comes first.
Creating a product from that should drive money into your business right away! Otherwise you may have missed something during your community / audience building phase.
But again, much of that is counter to VC backed money.
So for me... those essays (and many of it's terms), while inspiring, don't normally end up applying to me.
Anywho, it's just an experience that I've personally had. 😅