4 ms·

Solo Entrepreneurs: Big Bucks from Tiny Computing Startups

47 points by papa 19y ago

run4yourlives 19y ago
This seems to be an interesting article, but that website keeps harassing me. Anyone got all 6 (!) pages in a format that doesn't insult me?
- edw519 19y ago
  On these things, I always click "Print", then copy and paste the single page into Textpad and save as a .txt file. Then I can read it in Textpad, email it to myself, even put it onto my PDA. Works like a charm every time, including this time.
- acangiano 19y ago
  http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=206904080 http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml...
  - run4yourlives 19y ago
    ok now I feel dumb... why didn't I see the print button?
suboptimal 19y ago
My heroes.
- sabat 19y ago
  Mine too, although I have to admit there's something vaguely depressing about a guy who refuses to move to Colorado because he wants to stay in Tennesee.
  - lastone 19y ago
    he's a loser, no one makes a tech startup in tenessee
eusman 19y ago
ah homesite, that takes you some 10 years back!
JohnN 19y ago
Anyone on YC working Solo?
- vlad 19y ago
  I did it from late 2003 to the fall of 2007; I had a product with which I got the point to where I didn't have any questions from people who bought the app anymore, so I didn't have anywhere near as many questions as I did when I started. It became pretty boring, because it was fun getting questions when stuff broke all the time or people wanted to request a feature. I made it free to get a lot of users, but my dad was laid off, so I got a job at a Fortune 100 to save up money and experience what it is like. I haven't had much time to focus on the software since, as I'm focusing on saving up money and working on the web-based side of the things.
- petercooper 19y ago
  If you mean YC, as in this site, then always. Never done it any other way. If you mean YC, as in actually in the YC program, then sorry ;-)
- hhm 19y ago
  I do. In the past I worked on making a small team for my game development company, but with time I realized I was a lot happier working on the technical details of development than on team management and all that stuff. So I slowly faded to solo :) and I changed the profile of my company a lot too: then I was focused on developing games and related stuff for companies, now I work on independent tech r&d for companies. Working like that, I produced RV tech for advertising for Intel, some 3d and computer vision stuff, and nowadays I'm working on developing a massive video broadcasting software, to list some examples. Working solo has many advantages and disadvantages... you get a lot more freedom, for one, but you also miss having an interesting team around you at many times. Also, you get a lot more responsibility on what you develop, but at the same time you can better choose what to do with your time. And your costs are a lot lower, so in some projects you can really make a lot of money that, at the end of the day, is almost all yours. And so on, there are lots of pros and cons I could list here from my experience with it.
- SwellJoe 19y ago
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
willphipps 19y ago
fanpop seem to have done pretty well bootstrapped - hovering around the 5000 mark on alexa..
wallflower 19y ago
My understanding is to apply for YC you need one or two strong co-founders. Remember, most VCs hire a key team and are not solely sold on the business idea

47 points by papa 19y ago

This seems to be an interesting article, but that website keeps harassing me. Anyone got all 6 (!) pages in a format that doesn't insult me?

edw519 19y ago
On these things, I always click "Print", then copy and paste the single page into Textpad and save as a .txt file. Then I can read it in Textpad, email it to myself, even put it onto my PDA. Works like a charm every time, including this time.
acangiano 19y ago
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=206904080 http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml...
- run4yourlives 19y ago
  ok now I feel dumb... why didn't I see the print button?

suboptimal 19y ago

My heroes.

sabat 19y ago
Mine too, although I have to admit there's something vaguely depressing about a guy who refuses to move to Colorado because he wants to stay in Tennesee.
- lastone 19y ago
  he's a loser, no one makes a tech startup in tenessee

eusman 19y ago

ah homesite, that takes you some 10 years back!

JohnN 19y ago

Anyone on YC working Solo?

vlad 19y ago
I did it from late 2003 to the fall of 2007; I had a product with which I got the point to where I didn't have any questions from people who bought the app anymore, so I didn't have anywhere near as many questions as I did when I started. It became pretty boring, because it was fun getting questions when stuff broke all the time or people wanted to request a feature. I made it free to get a lot of users, but my dad was laid off, so I got a job at a Fortune 100 to save up money and experience what it is like. I haven't had much time to focus on the software since, as I'm focusing on saving up money and working on the web-based side of the things.
petercooper 19y ago
If you mean YC, as in this site, then always. Never done it any other way. If you mean YC, as in actually in the YC program, then sorry ;-)
hhm 19y ago
I do. In the past I worked on making a small team for my game development company, but with time I realized I was a lot happier working on the technical details of development than on team management and all that stuff. So I slowly faded to solo :) and I changed the profile of my company a lot too: then I was focused on developing games and related stuff for companies, now I work on independent tech r&d for companies. Working like that, I produced RV tech for advertising for Intel, some 3d and computer vision stuff, and nowadays I'm working on developing a massive video broadcasting software, to list some examples. Working solo has many advantages and disadvantages... you get a lot more freedom, for one, but you also miss having an interesting team around you at many times. Also, you get a lot more responsibility on what you develop, but at the same time you can better choose what to do with your time. And your costs are a lot lower, so in some projects you can really make a lot of money that, at the end of the day, is almost all yours. And so on, there are lots of pros and cons I could list here from my experience with it.
SwellJoe 19y ago

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

willphipps 19y ago

fanpop seem to have done pretty well bootstrapped - hovering around the 5000 mark on alexa..

wallflower 19y ago

My understanding is to apply for YC you need one or two strong co-founders. Remember, most VCs hire a key team and are not solely sold on the business idea