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> working a full time job and building WunderGraph at night and on the weekends this is actually a terrible advice, although i'm glad it worked out for you! t

> working a full time job and building WunderGraph at night and on the weekends this is actually a terrible advice, although i'm glad it worked out for you! this type of side-hustling can quickly turn into losing your startup or your job (or both) better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1 profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically

jensneuse 4y ago
I actually lost my job. I'd also advise against replicating what I did, but it was my only option really. I'm not born rich, single income dad, paying off the house. I wasn't able to afford to "leave for a year". It's also a timing thing. The right time to do WunderGraph is now, not in two years. So I had to decide to give up a dream or work through this and risk my job. Luckily, I've found the right people to help me and first customers at exactly the right time. But trust me, WunderGraph was at tables-takes for a long time.
- heisenbit 4y ago
  This is really the one challenge in Germany: High fixed costs and high taxes making it hard to sock away seed money yourself.
Aeolun 4y ago
> profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically This kinda feels like saying a small loan of a million dollars increases your chances dramatically. The challenge is in getting to that point.
- ushakov 4y ago
  this is why you should focus on a business offer from get-go and start making money from launch majority of us cannot afford to retire at home for years not making any income
krageon 4y ago
> become profitable from day 1 "just make some money" is not good advice. It trivialises the entire problem and even worse, it's the core problem of everyone in this space. This reasoning is dismissive of their struggle and doesn't help them move towards where they need to be. There is absolutely no good reason to treat other people like that.
- ushakov 4y ago
  i didn't mean to say that i'm suggesting to try to make money as soon as you can, else you'll just drown like many others
  - jensneuse 4y ago
    I agree with this. What most developers, like me, love to think is that you can do "one more feature" and they will come, or another refactor, or anything. But I've learned this lesson. Building a startup us very little about coding, and more about all the other things that make up a business. What's your value proposition? How do you sell? How do you acquire users? etc... In the end, I've wasted way too much time on the things that didn't make a difference, but I think I've learned from this.
varispeed 4y ago
> better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1 In many Western economies, the level of taxation is designed to prevent you from doing that. It would take many years to save enough money to sustain yourself for a year without changing your commitments much. So either way you are in a bad position. I mean it's possible if you don't have a family, share a flat with others so your bills are low and so on, but you may end up just as burnt living in such environment.

jensneuse 4y ago

I actually lost my job. I'd also advise against replicating what I did, but it was my only option really. I'm not born rich, single income dad, paying off the house. I wasn't able to afford to "leave for a year". It's also a timing thing. The right time to do WunderGraph is now, not in two years. So I had to decide to give up a dream or work through this and risk my job. Luckily, I've found the right people to help me and first customers at exactly the right time. But trust me, WunderGraph was at tables-takes for a long time.

heisenbit 4y ago
This is really the one challenge in Germany: High fixed costs and high taxes making it hard to sock away seed money yourself.

Aeolun 4y ago

> profitability will decrease your chances of failure dramatically This kinda feels like saying a small loan of a million dollars increases your chances dramatically. The challenge is in getting to that point.

ushakov 4y ago
this is why you should focus on a business offer from get-go and start making money from launch majority of us cannot afford to retire at home for years not making any income

krageon 4y ago

> become profitable from day 1 "just make some money" is not good advice. It trivialises the entire problem and even worse, it's the core problem of everyone in this space. This reasoning is dismissive of their struggle and doesn't help them move towards where they need to be. There is absolutely no good reason to treat other people like that.

ushakov 4y ago
i didn't mean to say that i'm suggesting to try to make money as soon as you can, else you'll just drown like many others
- jensneuse 4y ago
  I agree with this. What most developers, like me, love to think is that you can do "one more feature" and they will come, or another refactor, or anything. But I've learned this lesson. Building a startup us very little about coding, and more about all the other things that make up a business. What's your value proposition? How do you sell? How do you acquire users? etc... In the end, I've wasted way too much time on the things that didn't make a difference, but I think I've learned from this.

varispeed 4y ago

> better approach is to save some money, leave for a year and become profitable from day 1 In many Western economies, the level of taxation is designed to prevent you from doing that. It would take many years to save enough money to sustain yourself for a year without changing your commitments much. So either way you are in a bad position. I mean it's possible if you don't have a family, share a flat with others so your bills are low and so on, but you may end up just as burnt living in such environment.