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This sounds wonderful, but as a one man shop its missing something: customers. I am solo at the moment but that still means I'm doing zoom meetings, trying to

This sounds wonderful, but as a one man shop its missing something: customers. I am solo at the moment but that still means I'm doing zoom meetings, trying to deliver features to a budget and a deadline, trying to keep on top of the books and cashflow and keeping my system up. Customers aren't that different to having a boss. I do get the freedom to choose how things are done, but once your product ships you are no longer really free. OK, still better than working as an employee, but it's still work.

john_yaya 5y ago
One interesting bit of advice I've heard for solo founders is, pick an industry to serve that interests you, or at least one where you like the people who work in it. Yes, the customer will always be your "boss" of sorts, but at least it'll be a boss whom you identify with and genuinely want to please.
- blacktriangle 5y ago
  OTOH its really hard to know who you are going to like working with. For example through several iterations of our product we ended up serving HR professionals. Having only been on the receiving end of HR I never would have guessed I would enjoy working with them, but as customers I've found them to be great people to work with who are really just trying to do the best they can with limited resources.
- CosmicShadow 5y ago
  Yep, I spent a lot of time working on business ideas and building out entire SaaS apps only to realize I absolutely hate the people and the industry and would be embarrassed to be associated with them, even though it can make money.
  - john_yaya 5y ago
    Sorry to hear you had that experience. At least it’s a lesson learned, in fact you probably learned many while doing all that. If I may ask, which industry was it?
WA 5y ago
I guess B2C has some advantages. If you have 10,000 customers, you have no boss, only an obligation to deliver a good product that most/all of them like. One single customer can't make you go broke, just because you don't implement feature X.

john_yaya 5y ago

One interesting bit of advice I've heard for solo founders is, pick an industry to serve that interests you, or at least one where you like the people who work in it. Yes, the customer will always be your "boss" of sorts, but at least it'll be a boss whom you identify with and genuinely want to please.

blacktriangle 5y ago
OTOH its really hard to know who you are going to like working with. For example through several iterations of our product we ended up serving HR professionals. Having only been on the receiving end of HR I never would have guessed I would enjoy working with them, but as customers I've found them to be great people to work with who are really just trying to do the best they can with limited resources.
CosmicShadow 5y ago
Yep, I spent a lot of time working on business ideas and building out entire SaaS apps only to realize I absolutely hate the people and the industry and would be embarrassed to be associated with them, even though it can make money.
- john_yaya 5y ago
  Sorry to hear you had that experience. At least it’s a lesson learned, in fact you probably learned many while doing all that. If I may ask, which industry was it?

WA 5y ago

I guess B2C has some advantages. If you have 10,000 customers, you have no boss, only an obligation to deliver a good product that most/all of them like. One single customer can't make you go broke, just because you don't implement feature X.