4 ms·

My first hundred days working for myself

13 points by DVassallo 7y ago

Izmaki 7y ago
With that salary I assume you have or had a large amount of money to keep yourself afloat for quite some time, while waiting for your new business to hopefully be profitable also - is that right? Would you mind sharing some of the financial thoughts you've made?
- DVassallo 7y ago
  Yes I have a decent amount of savings. About 5 years of runway if my income remains $0. I wrote in detail about my financial preparation here: https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/ https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/
lnsru 7y ago
I wish, there were more details about financial situation as well as status of development. 100 days working full time on something is time for first beta product. The product sounds somehow similar to Resilio Sync, or is it very different? I didn’t use this, friends advertised it as encrypted p2p sharing service.
exhaze 7y ago
Really really enjoyed reading a blog where the content of the article was the focus. I was not bombarded by popups asking to sign in with Google, sticky banners asking me to accept cookies, etc. Above the fold, there are absolutely zero links, and even the links that are in the article are presented in a very subtle way - they're there, but they don't draw attention to themselves. It would be great if more blog posts were like this.
deerpig 7y ago
So it's sort of the opposite of Field of Dreams, which often results in vaporware. Just because people come, doesn't mean they know what they want or know how to express a problem or need that could be solved and result in a viable product. It's a big risk to gather people using a human interest story in order to sell them that you haven't made, or really formulated yet. Is your story compelling enough to keep interest long enough for you to build and launch a product? How will you find the time to keep them engaged while building the product? You may well luck out, and if you do that's great for you. But it doesn't make it a good idea.
t0mbstone 7y ago
What's crazy to me is how much this guy's living expenses appear to be, according to the chart here (https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/ https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/) He is spending $15,000 a month on all of his expenses. That's just crazy to me! If I was to quit my job right now and just go live in an apartment, my living expenses would be around $2-3K a month. For just one year's worth ($200K) of his spending budget, I could survive and work on my programming projects for literally 5 years.
- DVassallo 7y ago
  Author here. Just my housing and insurance costs are $86K/year. That’s before food, utilities, etc. My health insurance alone (the cheapest plan from ACA for a family of 4 is $1.5/mo with a $14K deductible).

13 points by DVassallo 7y ago

With that salary I assume you have or had a large amount of money to keep yourself afloat for quite some time, while waiting for your new business to hopefully be profitable also - is that right? Would you mind sharing some of the financial thoughts you've made?

DVassallo 7y ago
Yes I have a decent amount of savings. About 5 years of runway if my income remains $0. I wrote in detail about my financial preparation here: https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/ https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/

lnsru 7y ago

I wish, there were more details about financial situation as well as status of development. 100 days working full time on something is time for first beta product. The product sounds somehow similar to Resilio Sync, or is it very different? I didn’t use this, friends advertised it as encrypted p2p sharing service.

exhaze 7y ago

Really really enjoyed reading a blog where the content of the article was the focus. I was not bombarded by popups asking to sign in with Google, sticky banners asking me to accept cookies, etc. Above the fold, there are absolutely zero links, and even the links that are in the article are presented in a very subtle way - they're there, but they don't draw attention to themselves. It would be great if more blog posts were like this.

deerpig 7y ago

So it's sort of the opposite of Field of Dreams, which often results in vaporware. Just because people come, doesn't mean they know what they want or know how to express a problem or need that could be solved and result in a viable product. It's a big risk to gather people using a human interest story in order to sell them that you haven't made, or really formulated yet. Is your story compelling enough to keep interest long enough for you to build and launch a product? How will you find the time to keep them engaged while building the product? You may well luck out, and if you do that's great for you. But it doesn't make it a good idea.

t0mbstone 7y ago

What's crazy to me is how much this guy's living expenses appear to be, according to the chart here (https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/ https://danielvassallo.com/from-employee-to-bootstrapper/) He is spending $15,000 a month on all of his expenses. That's just crazy to me! If I was to quit my job right now and just go live in an apartment, my living expenses would be around $2-3K a month. For just one year's worth ($200K) of his spending budget, I could survive and work on my programming projects for literally 5 years.

DVassallo 7y ago
Author here. Just my housing and insurance costs are $86K/year. That’s before food, utilities, etc. My health insurance alone (the cheapest plan from ACA for a family of 4 is $1.5/mo with a $14K deductible).