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The most successful software entrepreneur I know (in monetary terms) had none of this. When I met him he was fresh out of the army and not as an officer. He did

by gmarx 11y ago

The most successful software entrepreneur I know (in monetary terms) had none of this. When I met him he was fresh out of the army and not as an officer. He did some web programming for us. The next thing he did was the classic bad idea of consulting his way to a product. A decade later he's worth north of 100 million dollars

CyberDildonics 11y ago
I think you're burying the lead, how did he make 100 million?
- gmarx 11y ago
  I think it's "lede" but anyway I just didn't want to be too specific in case anyone felt like tracking him down. After the company we both worked for he went back home and was going to do some software projects on a consulting basis. He started working on administrative software for a guy who had a business at the periphery of the medical field. The guy who had the business suggested that the software he needed might be useful to other people in the business and got my friend to do the project for less money in exchange for the right to sell it as a product. That original customer also invested. I think one of the keys was that it wasn't a glamorous business and no one terribly sophisticated was working on software for it. From there I think it was old fashioned business, years of slogging and sales and incremental growth until his was the top provider in his region. Then he sold a large part of the company to a private equity firm. So it was a very not silicon valley story. As far as key lessons for people on this site I'd say it's not to focus on the standard silicon valley story. In a lot of ways he did everything that goes against the summmary wisdom of ycombinator hacker news. He didn't solve a problem that he had. He started solo. He consulted to product. He technically had a angel investor in his first customer. He never raised VC. He sold to private equity. He didn't do it in Silicon Valley. Also his tech skills weren't that impressive and his platform choice seemed laughable. I think the key is solving a real problem in an unglamorous little known business and sell and survive and grow.
apapli 11y ago
Curious - why is consulting your way to a product a bad idea, if you don't already have a product/market need validated?
- gmarx 11y ago
  I think if you consult and happen upon a need that can be solved by a product you could be successful. In that case maybe 1 in 10 or 1 in a 100 would happen upon such an idea and execute. If you plan to do this then you are planning to be one of those 1 in 10 or 1 in a 100 which means under the most generous assumption you have less than a 1 in 10 chance of success.
WalterBright 11y ago
1. came from army 2. had a bad idea 3. ??? 4. profited $100 million! Please don't hold out on us what #3 is!
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
  Vegas!

by gmarx 11y ago

CyberDildonics 11y ago

I think you're burying the lead, how did he make 100 million?

gmarx 11y ago
I think it's "lede" but anyway I just didn't want to be too specific in case anyone felt like tracking him down. After the company we both worked for he went back home and was going to do some software projects on a consulting basis. He started working on administrative software for a guy who had a business at the periphery of the medical field. The guy who had the business suggested that the software he needed might be useful to other people in the business and got my friend to do the project for less money in exchange for the right to sell it as a product. That original customer also invested. I think one of the keys was that it wasn't a glamorous business and no one terribly sophisticated was working on software for it. From there I think it was old fashioned business, years of slogging and sales and incremental growth until his was the top provider in his region. Then he sold a large part of the company to a private equity firm. So it was a very not silicon valley story. As far as key lessons for people on this site I'd say it's not to focus on the standard silicon valley story. In a lot of ways he did everything that goes against the summmary wisdom of ycombinator hacker news. He didn't solve a problem that he had. He started solo. He consulted to product. He technically had a angel investor in his first customer. He never raised VC. He sold to private equity. He didn't do it in Silicon Valley. Also his tech skills weren't that impressive and his platform choice seemed laughable. I think the key is solving a real problem in an unglamorous little known business and sell and survive and grow.

apapli 11y ago

Curious - why is consulting your way to a product a bad idea, if you don't already have a product/market need validated?

gmarx 11y ago
I think if you consult and happen upon a need that can be solved by a product you could be successful. In that case maybe 1 in 10 or 1 in a 100 would happen upon such an idea and execute. If you plan to do this then you are planning to be one of those 1 in 10 or 1 in a 100 which means under the most generous assumption you have less than a 1 in 10 chance of success.

WalterBright 11y ago

1. came from army 2. had a bad idea 3. ??? 4. profited $100 million! Please don't hold out on us what #3 is!

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
Vegas!