6 ms·

Kind reminder that starting a software business still requires you to, you know, live and stuff :) Even if you can build it all by yourself, for most people ru

Kind reminder that starting a software business still requires you to, you know, live and stuff :) Even if you can build it all by yourself, for most people runway is limited by savings. And that means that with a few exceptions, it's hard to stretch beyond a couple of months (or maybe one-two years) before you need to think about shutting down. If you can get to profit before that, awesome, your business might be a good idea. (You'll still have depleted a good chunk of your savings, and it's not like the world comes with profit guarantees) Investment buys runway, opex, and scale. Some businesses need that, some don't. Software work reduces the opex load (for many attempts), but scale and runway might still be necessary.

s1artibartfast 3y ago
You can often found it as you go from a primary job and or a spouse's job. I have a friend who drops about 100K into his startup a year hoping for a big exit. Pretty much all startups or small businesses involve risk. Your other putting in time or money or both. The Only Exception is if you find deep pocket feces that are willing to pay you a good salary to work on your own project, which is especially rare
- boondoggle16 3y ago
  If someone has 100k to drop on a startup annually, I'm sorry, but they are totally out of touch with normal people. That is not normal.
  - s1artibartfast 3y ago
    That depends on what you mean by "having it to drop" . That's less than a median income in San Francisco. If you put 100% of your income into a startup, are you out of touch or do you just have skin in the game? I don't think it's particularly in touch to dismiss someone who works 50 hours a week to make an income and then Works another 50 hours a week on a startup that spends that income
    - ke88y 3y ago
      > That's less than a median income in San Francisco. If you put 100% of your income into a startup, are you out of touch or do you just have skin in the game? If your trust fund pays for rent and living expenses in San Francisco, and you don't even think of it as abnormal that your ENTIRE INCOME can be allocated to business bets, then yes -- you are indeed wildly out of touch.
    - adrianN 3y ago
      Nobody works 100 hours a week.
      - anileated 3y ago
        Probably not for long anyway, or they are in a tiny minority…
      - s1artibartfast 3y ago
        I agree it's not very sustainable, at least for your typical person in Western Society, but it's not unheard of either. I've worked hundred hour weeks and also supervised crews of Hispanic Americans that will work 100 hour weeks. On the other end of the spectrum, I've known m&a lawyers that do the same to close deals at the end of the fiscal year. 100 hour week is roughly 14 hour days with no weekend break. 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. is pretty common for agricultural work during harvest season for big cash crops. You start while it's dark and you end while it's dark.
        anileated 3y ago
        It is not sustained/sustainable. I worked 100 hour weeks too, but then it took like a month to recover and during that time I could not properly work even 50 hours on my main job. Agriculture is historically seasonal: you work a lot during some times, but the rest of the time you do completely nothing on the agriculture front. Not a luxury at most modern workplaces.
        brewtide 3y ago
- groby_b 3y ago
  Sure, but that's still usually limited runway compared to getting funding. Yes, there are cases of spouses supporting a decade of work to get something off the ground. Yes, some people make enough to afford dumping it all into a startup (and a good chunk into a lawyer making sure they don't violate constraints from the existing job). But all these are several std.devs outside the normal "start a business" crowd. Either way, the risk you can take without VC is limited by your wealth. Large bets without VC require independent wealth. We can quibble about what amount constitutes "independent wealth", but the fact doesn't change - VC allows you to dream bigger. (And I say that as a fierce critic of VC culture, but that is the upside of it)

s1artibartfast 3y ago

You can often found it as you go from a primary job and or a spouse's job. I have a friend who drops about 100K into his startup a year hoping for a big exit. Pretty much all startups or small businesses involve risk. Your other putting in time or money or both. The Only Exception is if you find deep pocket feces that are willing to pay you a good salary to work on your own project, which is especially rare

boondoggle16 3y ago
If someone has 100k to drop on a startup annually, I'm sorry, but they are totally out of touch with normal people. That is not normal.
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  That depends on what you mean by "having it to drop" . That's less than a median income in San Francisco. If you put 100% of your income into a startup, are you out of touch or do you just have skin in the game? I don't think it's particularly in touch to dismiss someone who works 50 hours a week to make an income and then Works another 50 hours a week on a startup that spends that income
  - ke88y 3y ago
    > That's less than a median income in San Francisco. If you put 100% of your income into a startup, are you out of touch or do you just have skin in the game? If your trust fund pays for rent and living expenses in San Francisco, and you don't even think of it as abnormal that your ENTIRE INCOME can be allocated to business bets, then yes -- you are indeed wildly out of touch.
  - adrianN 3y ago
    Nobody works 100 hours a week.
    - anileated 3y ago
      Probably not for long anyway, or they are in a tiny minority…
    - s1artibartfast 3y ago
      I agree it's not very sustainable, at least for your typical person in Western Society, but it's not unheard of either. I've worked hundred hour weeks and also supervised crews of Hispanic Americans that will work 100 hour weeks. On the other end of the spectrum, I've known m&a lawyers that do the same to close deals at the end of the fiscal year. 100 hour week is roughly 14 hour days with no weekend break. 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. is pretty common for agricultural work during harvest season for big cash crops. You start while it's dark and you end while it's dark.
      - anileated 3y ago
        It is not sustained/sustainable. I worked 100 hour weeks too, but then it took like a month to recover and during that time I could not properly work even 50 hours on my main job. Agriculture is historically seasonal: you work a lot during some times, but the rest of the time you do completely nothing on the agriculture front. Not a luxury at most modern workplaces.
        brewtide 3y ago
groby_b 3y ago
Sure, but that's still usually limited runway compared to getting funding. Yes, there are cases of spouses supporting a decade of work to get something off the ground. Yes, some people make enough to afford dumping it all into a startup (and a good chunk into a lawyer making sure they don't violate constraints from the existing job). But all these are several std.devs outside the normal "start a business" crowd. Either way, the risk you can take without VC is limited by your wealth. Large bets without VC require independent wealth. We can quibble about what amount constitutes "independent wealth", but the fact doesn't change - VC allows you to dream bigger. (And I say that as a fierce critic of VC culture, but that is the upside of it)