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Loved the post, and congrats on the success of TinyPilot this year! I thought the "Do I still love it?" question was so interesting and so important. I'm curio

by czue 5y ago

Loved the post, and congrats on the success of TinyPilot this year! I thought the "Do I still love it?" question was so interesting and so important. I'm curious if you harbor any regrets about the type of business you got into (with the complications of hardware, supply chain logistics, complex customer support, etc.). It seems like a pure software business would have so much less complexity (though maybe is also harder to get off the ground because so many other people can do it). Did you think about what running a business like TinyPilot at scale would look like when you were evaluating it and decide it was worth it? Or did you just kind of fall into the success.

mtlynch 5y ago
Thanks for reading! > I'm curious if you harbor any regrets about the type of business you got into (with the complications of hardware, supply chain logistics, complex customer support, etc.). It seems like a pure software business would have so much less complexity (though maybe is also harder to get off the ground because so many other people can do it). Yeah, it's definitely been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I still feel like a software developer at heart, so I wish for more time on software rather than all of the complexities of building and shipping a custom hardware product. TinyPilot feels much harder than my other businesses because there are 20x as many moving parts, though I can't meaningfully compare it because none of my other businesses have reached TinyPilot's volume. At the same time, I think the reason TinyPilot works is because it's hard. Individually, the parts of it aren't hard (software, hardware, eCommerce), but I find the combination really challenging. Big companies likely aren't going to make a product like TinyPilot unless it's enterprise-focused. Small companies don't seem to want to venture in because the combination of required skills is daunting, so it gives me a nice moat. > Did you think about what running a business like TinyPilot at scale would look like when you were evaluating it and decide it was worth it? Or did you just kind of fall into the success. Haha, definitely the latter. When I first started TinyPilot, I thought I could maybe sell 1-2 a week, and that would be a fun way to earn a few hundred dollars per month. And then as demand grew, I felt like, "Wow, this is what product-market fit feels like. I'd better see where this takes me."

by czue 5y ago

mtlynch 5y ago

Thanks for reading! > I'm curious if you harbor any regrets about the type of business you got into (with the complications of hardware, supply chain logistics, complex customer support, etc.). It seems like a pure software business would have so much less complexity (though maybe is also harder to get off the ground because so many other people can do it). Yeah, it's definitely been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I still feel like a software developer at heart, so I wish for more time on software rather than all of the complexities of building and shipping a custom hardware product. TinyPilot feels much harder than my other businesses because there are 20x as many moving parts, though I can't meaningfully compare it because none of my other businesses have reached TinyPilot's volume. At the same time, I think the reason TinyPilot works is because it's hard. Individually, the parts of it aren't hard (software, hardware, eCommerce), but I find the combination really challenging. Big companies likely aren't going to make a product like TinyPilot unless it's enterprise-focused. Small companies don't seem to want to venture in because the combination of required skills is daunting, so it gives me a nice moat. > Did you think about what running a business like TinyPilot at scale would look like when you were evaluating it and decide it was worth it? Or did you just kind of fall into the success. Haha, definitely the latter. When I first started TinyPilot, I thought I could maybe sell 1-2 a week, and that would be a fun way to earn a few hundred dollars per month. And then as demand grew, I felt like, "Wow, this is what product-market fit feels like. I'd better see where this takes me."