I think the short answer is: (1) work for yourself, not as an employee, (2) find a niche market, (3) create a SaaS product for it, (4) outsource tasks like supp

I think the short answer is: (1) work for yourself, not as an employee, (2) find a niche market, (3) create a SaaS product for it, (4) outsource tasks like support to other people instead of doing them yourself. I just recommended this book the other day in a related thread [1], but Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling really is a stellar reference on this topic. He is very big on the "grow big enough to have a functional small business (buzzword: micropreneur) but don't grow forever and obsessively". They also have a (paid) forum where you can talk with likeminded devs turned founders. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13981490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13981490 [2]: http://www.startupbook.net/ http://www.startupbook.net/