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Serial single founder here. Start building and start selling. If you can’t deliver a product to a paying customer solo then you’re not cut out to be a sole fo
by orasis 8y ago
Serial single founder here. Start building and start selling. If you can’t deliver a product to a paying customer solo then you’re not cut out to be a sole founder.
- vsax 8y ago+1
- bsvalley 8y agoThis pretty much sums up everything. I had a similar problem trying to sell my products. If you're a solo founder learn how to sell first. Finding cool marketing strategies is great, but people need to see real faces before buying your products. It is not always true, but in general that is what I've seen so far.
- dizzydes 8y agoCould you expand on the "real faces" part as opposed to, say, a good stable of content and decent testimonials? Do you mean full on sales calls (vs. just marketing) would be needed for a SaaS product of relative complexity? Or am I missing the point? Thanks
- danmaz74 8y agoEven with a SaaS product, unless it's really really cheap, many customer will want to talk with you on the phone or in a video call. It happened to me a lot.
- bsvalley 8y agoSure, by real faces I mean pitching your product to people directly. Not necessarily over the Internet but in person. This is a step that is often missed by a lot of tech people wannabe entrepreneurs (including myself). We think the Internet is a magic place where you can launch anything from your bedroom and reach millions of people if you use the right marketing strategy (ads on youtube, cold emails, viral strategy, gamification, etc). I call this the scaling phase. You can't scale nothing. If you have zero user and zero customer, what do you want to scale? So step zero consist on acquiring your first customer/user. This is usually when having a non-tech co-founder or someone who's good at selling would make a huge difference. We always bypass this step of acquiring the first customers, it's only when you build something and ship it that you hit a wall. You will not rank in google at first, no one will ever mention your name and the only queries you'll get on your SaaS or whatever product you have will come from your own IP. That's what I'm talking about. You just launched, now what? So you need to go out there and "manually" pitch your product to people. Introduce yourself, tell your story, prove people what you've built is what they want. You would usually fail capturing the needs at first because of a lack of interaction with your targeted users, you will build something that isn't exactly what they want. So you need to quickly adapt to that early feedback, which is why going out there and trying out your MVP or prototype very quickly is a key to success. This is what I mean by "people need to see real faces". You could pitch your product to your mom, friends, potential users, potential partners who could help you move to the next step, etc. The best way to find out "how to found a company as a single founder" is to give it a shot. You'll basically collect all the answers to your question.
- mimixco 8y agoAs someone who has been selling all my life, I'm not sure it's a teachable skill. Yes, everyone can learn to improve, but some part of salesmanship has to be in your blood. With developers routinely making over $200k in Silicon Valley now, if you're a "product person" and not a salesperson, you can probably earn more as an employee than an entrepreneur.
- jelling 8y agoSolo founder here. Same advice with the caveat that 98% of people should never be solo founders - you must be able to code and sell - but even if you can you should still get a partner if they double your speed.
- azhenley 8y agoEven if they only increase your speed by 50%, it seems like a worthwhile gain. Anything to get to that escape velocity.
- brianwawok 8y agoPartners increase failure cases too. Arguments, differing visions, different commitments. Pros and cons to both paths. I think the biggest reason not to go solo, is not many people are good at both the tech AND talking to customers and thinking big picture.
- TadaScientist 8y agoWhat if cannot code to the level needed to get an MVP?
- rozhok 8y agoHire someone who can.
- mimixco 8y agoAgree completely. I've never heard of a major company founded by someone who couldn't sell. Those people make products, not businesses, as Mark Cuban says a lot on Shark Tank.
- foobiekr 8y agoAnother reason to consider not going solo is that some experienced engineers will consider it a black mark - here's a guy who either believes he can do it all -or- is too greedy/control-freaky to share; this is someone who didn't meet someone better than themselves in their career or simply couldn't recognize that fact. The few solo founders I have personally dealt with have fit that description exactly.
- kowdermeister 8y agoThat's easy to say. I can deliver the product, but I'm worried about sales taxes, VAT, compliance with laws, administration, support, etc.
- paulsutter 8y agoBeing a founder means solving all these problems everyday as a background task (usually by hiring a lawyer, payroll firm, accountant, etc). A mentor can help you with the basics and the timing for hiring professionals.
- tvjunky 8y agoThis, plus, just start. There are lots of things you won't know, always. You'll need to dig in and figure out what you need to know. Outsourcing is a good option for things if you have the money. However, you need to understand what you're paying for.
- kowdermeister 8y ago"just start", sounds like a minefield if you want to take money from day zero.
- cschep 8y agoyou either just start, and fumble through and make it or never start. there is no such thing as perfectly figuring it all out and then starting. I desperately wish there was, but it doesn't exist.
- karatefylla 8y agoTo clear the minefield someone has to step on them basically. Fortunately these mines won't kill you and you will learn how to disarm them as you walk through the minefield.
- kowdermeister 8y agoI'll try to automate all of this as much as possible. The sad thing is I just want a side project but all this seems mandatory like I'm building a full-blown startup, puts me off.
- warent 8y agoI agree with this except switch the order. First, start selling. Then start building. It is so easy to waste so much time building something nobody wants, and you won't know until it's too late if you try to sell it afterward. Selling first will inform your decisions on what to build.
- gooftop 8y agoThe advice makes sense, but isnt it a bit of chicken-and-egg? How do you sell something you haven't built? (or is it really .. build a little, or enough to illustrate; then 'sell' to validate and seek market fit; and then finally truly build?)
- fernandotakai 8y agofor me, at least, it feels like "selling first" means getting product feedback first. so, setup a landing page with a "send us our email so we can tell you when our tool is read!" form and see if it attracts people.
- realusername 8y agoDepends the kind of product you are building but you don't necessary even need market validation, you only need it if your product is exotic enough that there's nothing close to it.
- borplk 8y agorealistically this only works for unique products there are so many alternatives for EVERYTHING that most people will just move on to something that is ready today instead.
- dizzydes 8y agoOr, even better, build a minimal MVP (1-2 weeks dev time) and use this to attract attention and get feedback.
- 8y ago
- ilamont 8y agoIf you can’t deliver a product to a paying customer solo then you’re not cut out to be a sole founder. I really dislike the tone and content of this advice. I am a solo founder. My first venture (as part of a team) failed - even though we had a product, we had no paying customers and there were other issues. It would have been terrible had someone given advice like this right after that happened - "you're not cut out to be a founder because X or Y." One of the great things about being any kind of founder is learning from mistakes, picking yourself up off the ground, and then creating something that works.
- pryelluw 8y agoIts not like being a founder is a magical thing. Honestly, being a founder is just someone who can grind it out under adverse conditions. Like any other shit job out there. The point still stands. If you cant grind it out and sell, the core of entrepreneurship, then maybe its not for you. Edit: typo
- badestrand 8y ago> If you cant grind it out and sell, the core of entrepreneurship, then maybe its not for you Yes, I think it's the no 1 reason I saw solopreneneur friends fail. Most are just not willing to put the hours in. I see that people really like to dream and make big plans but sitting down consistently after work each day and actually working on all the mundane small things is a necessity many are not willing to do. The idea/business might still fail but without actually doing anything you have lost already.
- pryelluw 8y agoNot only the mundane, but the amount of decision making involved. You cant spend too much time and energy on decisions. Most people dont like making decisions. There are many kind of decisions. If you grow big enough, the well being of your employees depends on your decisions. Most cant handle that. Entrepreneurship is as glamorous as being a doctor at the emergency room.
- 8y ago
- bitwize 8y ago"Draw the rest of the fucking owl"
- mitgraduate 8y agoI think building company is only for rich people
- joshsyn 8y agoWhat is your tech stack? Go, C#, Rust, Javascript?
- Aeolun 8y agoI don’t know, this sounds like kind of a given to me. If you can’t build it you have no business. If you can’t sell it you have no business either.