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It seems to me that every great tech company needs two things to get off the ground. A product that actually works well and execution on the business side. Few

It seems to me that every great tech company needs two things to get off the ground. A product that actually works well and execution on the business side. Few people have the skills to do both of these things well. Apple got started with the two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak). One built the first couple of computer designs. The other was a sales and marketing genius. If you have a product that is possible to launch in just a couple months, then you might be able to get by as this guy did. If your product is much more complicated and takes several years for a solo developer to build, then you have to pick the CEO or CTO role and go with it. My own project has been a work in progress for several years now. I can build it, but my sales and marketing talents are quite lacking. It is a new kind of data management system and it can be really tough to raise awareness and get people to try it out.

hellolemon 4y ago
Getting products to market cost a lot of money. It’s hard to do organically unless you have your niche well defined.
NetOpWibby 4y ago
Link to your project (if it has a site)?
- didgetmaster 4y ago
  https://www.Didgets.com https://www.Didgets.com Here is a short demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScBd-71OLQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScBd-71OLQ
  - NetOpWibby 4y ago
    Neat! I see a market for this; devs who have inherited a mess of a project and want a low-stress way of managing data.
navaneethpk 4y ago
Agreed. >I can build it, but my sales and marketing talents are quite lacking. Can relate to this. What worked well in the case of ToolJet is that the product did not require marketing efforts to get the initial traction since the project is open-source.
matchagaucho 4y ago
Developers selling to Developers is the exception. There are many talented Sales/Marketing people. But few who can effectively target Developers. The Authors path of bootstrapping via open source is a known tactic/strategy. Ultimately growth will require directly approaching other Developers with a commercial proposal.
- freedomben 4y ago
  The importance of this cannot be overstated. Developers are extremely difficult to market to if you're not a developer yourself. It can be done, but very few sales/marketing people will be successful unless they have much experience in it. The reason why is that developers break all the rules you learn in marketing departments and schools. What works with normal people will not just be ineffective on devs but will actively repel them.
  - didgetmaster 4y ago
    As a developer, I take exception to your insinuation that developers are not 'normal' people. :)
enraged_camel 4y ago
People always describe Steve Jobs as a “sales and marketing” person but IMO that grossly undersells his value. He was also an amazing product visionary, and could bridge the gap between sales/marketing and technical.
- didgetmaster 4y ago
  Yeah. That too!
Ozzie_osman 4y ago
You need a third thing, which is the ability to "sell" what you're doing to some combination of customers/users, investors, and people you want to hire.
- didgetmaster 4y ago
  Absolutely. I have had a few hundred people tell me that they think the technology is amazing and can't believe how fast it is; but so far only a few paying customers and no investors (other than myself) yet. Bootstrapping is hard.

hellolemon 4y ago

Getting products to market cost a lot of money. It’s hard to do organically unless you have your niche well defined.

NetOpWibby 4y ago

Link to your project (if it has a site)?

didgetmaster 4y ago
https://www.Didgets.com https://www.Didgets.com Here is a short demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScBd-71OLQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScBd-71OLQ
- NetOpWibby 4y ago
  Neat! I see a market for this; devs who have inherited a mess of a project and want a low-stress way of managing data.

navaneethpk 4y ago

Agreed. >I can build it, but my sales and marketing talents are quite lacking. Can relate to this. What worked well in the case of ToolJet is that the product did not require marketing efforts to get the initial traction since the project is open-source.

matchagaucho 4y ago

Developers selling to Developers is the exception. There are many talented Sales/Marketing people. But few who can effectively target Developers. The Authors path of bootstrapping via open source is a known tactic/strategy. Ultimately growth will require directly approaching other Developers with a commercial proposal.

freedomben 4y ago
The importance of this cannot be overstated. Developers are extremely difficult to market to if you're not a developer yourself. It can be done, but very few sales/marketing people will be successful unless they have much experience in it. The reason why is that developers break all the rules you learn in marketing departments and schools. What works with normal people will not just be ineffective on devs but will actively repel them.
- didgetmaster 4y ago
  As a developer, I take exception to your insinuation that developers are not 'normal' people. :)

enraged_camel 4y ago

People always describe Steve Jobs as a “sales and marketing” person but IMO that grossly undersells his value. He was also an amazing product visionary, and could bridge the gap between sales/marketing and technical.

didgetmaster 4y ago
Yeah. That too!

Ozzie_osman 4y ago

You need a third thing, which is the ability to "sell" what you're doing to some combination of customers/users, investors, and people you want to hire.

didgetmaster 4y ago
Absolutely. I have had a few hundred people tell me that they think the technology is amazing and can't believe how fast it is; but so far only a few paying customers and no investors (other than myself) yet. Bootstrapping is hard.