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I’m very happy for Tony, it’s a great achievement indeed. Having said that, as an aspiring solopreneur myself, this article misses a very big part. Engineers

I’m very happy for Tony, it’s a great achievement indeed. Having said that, as an aspiring solopreneur myself, this article misses a very big part. Engineers like to talk about how they build products, but we rarely talk about how to market them. I quit my job 5 months ago, launched my first SaaS 3 months ago, and got zero users. I then started to tweet, write in LinkedIn, and focus on my newsletter. But I barely get any followers. So building is the easy part. I refuse to participate in algorithm games, and try to be authentic. But maybe that’s not what people like. Anyway, great read. Thanks for sharing!

eruci 3y ago
Marketing is a tax you pay when you are not good enough.
nicbou 3y ago
You can also post about things that are genuinely interesting to you, and achievements that you are proud of. See my post history on HN. I would never have thought that people care about that stuff so I was pleasantly surprised by the warm reception. I do something similar on social media. I share little updates mixed with factoids about my job. Even if it brought zero new visitors, it feels good to share what I’m working on.
TheAnkurTyagi 3y ago
building is great but most developers don't understand the value of marketing till they ask people to pay for their projects like SaaS etc... I've made some good money in writing in the last 3 years but without marketing it was highly impossible that's why I always encourage to people to start writing be it a tweet, LinkedIn or newsletter etc... and it's again a huge task along with building your products that's why it looks easy from outside but needs more work inside. but before going I've learned from Daniel a lot of things about marketing. Maybe this is useful. Take a look. A 12 step marketing crash course for non-marketers: 1. If you're trying to sell something, everything you do is marketing. 2. The technical term for trying to sell something is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy. 3. Building a product is part of your GTM strategy. 4. Your combination of skills, knowledge, experience, reputation, assets, connections, etc, create opportunities for you in the market. 5. Once you find an opportunity you'd like to pursue, you should set a payoff expectation. Example: you plan to bring a particular project to market with the expectation of making $100K within 12mo. 6. You should have a viable hypothesis of how that expectation can be realized. Example: to make $100K selling a $100 product, you need 1,000 customers. To get 1,000 customers at 1% conversion you need 100K visits on your landing page. To get 100K visits you need to spend X on ads. And so on. 7. If you can't convince yourself you have a viable and profitable hypothesis, you need to adjust your payoff expectation, or pick another opportunity. You don't have an obligation to pursue every opportunity you encounter. 8. If your payoff expectation is too small for the time and money you're investing to bring your project to market, you should abandon it. 9. If the worst case scenario of your GTM strategy has a chance to put you out of business (by running out of time, money, motivation, etc), you should abandon it. Take risks, but never put yourself at risk. 10. Once you have a project on the market, you have the option (but not the obligation) to improve that project by repeating steps 5-9 on the same project. Every new feature is a new thing you're brining to market. 11. A business with no attention is a business that doesn't exist. You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it's like multiplying by zero — a recipe for failure. 12. Remember: there is no distinction between building and marketing. You build whatever you need to build to realize your payoff expectation. Everything is marketing.
system2 3y ago
What are you planning to do in the following months without an income if the project doesn't pick up?
- skwee357 3y ago
  I’m working on a different project, this time with #buildinpublic on twitter/mastodon. I’m also working on getting some consulting/freelance. And sadly, and with big regret, I started to look for a job.
  - system2 3y ago
    Wish you the best of luck!
    - skwee357 3y ago
      Thank you kind stranger!
nico 3y ago
It’s very hard to build a following without a system and without copying content For LinkedIn, ideally you should be posting at least 5 times a week, reposting your best performing content, re-phrasing or straight up copying viral content, and adding as many people to your contacts as possible every day (there’s a weekly limit, and there’s also a 20k total limit, so you also need to figure out what type of contacts you want to be adding, the more focus, the better your content will perform). Additionally, on LinkedIn, commenting and liking posts related to your audience can go a long way Definitely use ChatGPT for drafts and to help you iterate, but don’t just post whatever it gives you on the first try. Also lean heavily on scheduling tools It takes a couple of months to get going, but if you can keep a consistent pace, you will definitely figure it out Follow (on LinkedIn) the creators of https://www.shieldapp.ai/ https://www.shieldapp.ai/ their whole thing is helping people build their personal brands on that platform Finally, make sure to build a newsletter and own your list, that’s one of the biggest moats you can build
- 4gotunameagain 3y ago
  I'd rather be unemployed and live off charity kitchen soups than engage in these juvenile games. As a society we need to find a way to stop rewarding slyness and trickery (aka marketing)
  - arek_nawo 3y ago
    I want to think of marketing as a way of providing valuable content and explaining why your product might be just what the consumer needs (potentially helping them with their problems). What's described above really doesn't fit into this view, but is definitely how I've seen people "play the game". ChatGPT-generated fluff, copied content, and the same tips & tricks, inspirational stories, etc. you see repurposed all the time on different platforms - especially LinkedIn. I hope marketing can be good and value-adding but, the way it's going right now, we're due for a change.
  - nickfromseattle 3y ago
    >I'd rather be unemployed and live off charity kitchen soups than engage in these juvenile games. What if you replaced the word marketing with attention? Would you rather live of soup kitchens than have the attention of your ideal customers?
jmstfv 3y ago
A fellow solopreneur here, I've been doing it for several years now. I browsed through your profile, website, Twitter account, and I'm still not sure what your product is and what it does. Is it consulting? Coaching? Book? You don't have a lot of followers (me neither), so tweeting won't get you far as you're talking into a void. Instead, join existing discussions where people already are. Also, don't use too many hashtags - it looks spammy. Not trying to put you down, just offering a different perspective you might not hear otherwise. I hope you succeed.
- skwee357 3y ago
  Thanks for the tips on posting. I do offer multiple services, including coaching/consulting and my book. I’m also working on. SaaS that is in progress.
  - kjksf 3y ago
    > launched my first SaaS 3 months ago, and got zero users I couldn't find a link to your SaaS from your website. Maybe you should put a giant button linking to the SaaS, put it in your Twitter bio, pin a tweet to it, your HN bio and every other place that you can think of. Assuming that's something you want to promote more than all the other things on your website.
    - skwee357 3y ago
      Thanks for the suggestion. This particular one was classified as failed, I don't intent to work on it. I'm focusing on another one, which is close to be released as private alpha. This one, I'll try to pin everywhere.
      - rickydroll 3y ago
        even if it's private alpha, you should probably release it to a friendly hostile audience or feedback. Once against it is beta, you can release it to the world at large because well that's what a lot of SAAS companies do. Once you get some revenue, then you can make it better. Otherwise, if you don't get the feedback you need on how to make the product better and live in your own head, you might find yourself polishing turd. if I want to see someone who's done that, all I need is a mirror.
basisword 3y ago
>> I refuse to participate in algorithm games, and try to be authentic. But maybe that’s not what people like. This is a mistake. It’s great to authentic when you tweet, post on LinkedIn or write in your newsletter - but if you have zero followers you’re just shouting into the void. You need to play “the algorithm game” so people see your messaging.
hsn915 3y ago
"I refuse to succeed!" To each their own, I guess?
- skwee357 3y ago
  If success is posting stupid click bait questions on twitter, then yes, I refuse to do that. I’m not a clown or an entertainer. I share my journey and provide value to people. The people who are drawn to click bait content, are not the people I want to interact with.
  - netipulk 3y ago
    I feel with you, but don't delude yourself in to avoiding any kind of marketing. Marketing is an evil necessity, especially if you are starting from scratch by yourself. That's just the nature of our reality. To scoff and say you're content is an ego-fuelled move, one that pushes the problem off for later. Don't do that to yourself. Learn to market ethically at least, or else it's a real waste of time as your next startup fails because you avoided marketing.
    - skwee357 3y ago
      Never said I’m against marketing. I’m just against click bait and low effort content to draw attention / beat the algorithm
    - hsn915 3y ago
      > Marketing is an evil necessity Why are you labeling it as "evil"?
  - hsn915 3y ago
    You are framing marketing activity as click baiting and being a clown. This is not a matter of fact. It's an emotional projection stemming from refusing to succeed. Martyr syndrome.
    - skwee357 3y ago
tacker2000 3y ago
What kind of product are you selling that you need to be active on Linkedin and Twitter?
- skwee357 3y ago
  My recent book. My coaching and consulting sessions. And soon, a SaaS that target software engineers and people with an “anti-establishment” mind set.
adammarples 3y ago
There are thousands of HN users now who have read your comment and not one of them knows what you're saas is, how to find it, or even what it's called, but we know you think marketing is hard...
- skwee357 3y ago
  One of the moves in the game that I refuse to play, is shoving your product down the throat of everyone. I’ve seen it live on LinkedIn when one of my followers started to post generic comments, under my posts, such as: “totally agree with you! Subscribe to my newsletter”. I find it disgusting. This might be a surprise for you, but sometimes I just want to engage in authentic discussion. I promote my stuff via Show HN or when it has relevance to the post/comment. But I’m not going to be the “Great story Tony. Subscribe to my newsletter <link here>”, guy.
  - nicbou 3y ago
    There is a happy middle ground where you are allowed to bring a little context without annoying everyone.
  - unreal37 3y ago
    You could have been the "I spent three months building an app that helps people unsubscribe from spam without needing to have permissions to their email account. I got zero users. Then I wrote a blog and ... " You could have mentioned what you did without it being "subscribe here!"
    - skwee357 3y ago
      I could. But sometimes I just want to engage in authentic discussions without being an extension of my products.
xhfloz 3y ago
Left my job in 2020 to do the same. Nowhere near as profitable as OP, but now make enough to cover rent + basic expenses in New York. Crucially: I didn't want to do hypeman social media content that (a) sold the dream of solopreneur as a marketing tactic, or (b) added excessive noise into the ether. I'm not saying Tony did either -- I haven't followed along -- but certainly a lot of people do. I can't fully blame the people who do, though. Anyway. The project I've built [1] is still going, and I feel proud of it on merits of software: that it pushes the bounds, however slightly; that it feels good to exist in the world; and that I genuinely care for the people using it. All that's to say: I think there's a software solopreneur path that doesn't involve excessive hype, gross self-promotion (some degree of self-branding is necessary though), while allowing you to work by principles and also explore interesting software problems. Feel free to DM me [2] if you have questions, or are interested in bootstrapping your own project. Especially consumer-facing. I do have some writing online [3] that covers this too. --- [1] https://mmm.page https://mmm.page [2] https://twitter.com/xhfloz https://twitter.com/xhfloz [3] https://woolgather.sh https://woolgather.sh
- abareplace 3y ago
  Thank you. Unfortunately, my experience is the same: it's hard to promote a software project on today's Internet without investing a lot of money or spending 4 hours/day on social media like the original poster did. There are many interesting projects like yours that remain invisible to their potential users.
- skwee357 3y ago
  Thanks for sharing! DMed you on twitter
  - xhfloz 3y ago
    Hey! FYI haven't seen anything in my inbox yet.

eruci 3y ago

Marketing is a tax you pay when you are not good enough.

nicbou 3y ago

You can also post about things that are genuinely interesting to you, and achievements that you are proud of. See my post history on HN. I would never have thought that people care about that stuff so I was pleasantly surprised by the warm reception. I do something similar on social media. I share little updates mixed with factoids about my job. Even if it brought zero new visitors, it feels good to share what I’m working on.

TheAnkurTyagi 3y ago

building is great but most developers don't understand the value of marketing till they ask people to pay for their projects like SaaS etc... I've made some good money in writing in the last 3 years but without marketing it was highly impossible that's why I always encourage to people to start writing be it a tweet, LinkedIn or newsletter etc... and it's again a huge task along with building your products that's why it looks easy from outside but needs more work inside. but before going I've learned from Daniel a lot of things about marketing. Maybe this is useful. Take a look. A 12 step marketing crash course for non-marketers: 1. If you're trying to sell something, everything you do is marketing. 2. The technical term for trying to sell something is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy. 3. Building a product is part of your GTM strategy. 4. Your combination of skills, knowledge, experience, reputation, assets, connections, etc, create opportunities for you in the market. 5. Once you find an opportunity you'd like to pursue, you should set a payoff expectation. Example: you plan to bring a particular project to market with the expectation of making $100K within 12mo. 6. You should have a viable hypothesis of how that expectation can be realized. Example: to make $100K selling a $100 product, you need 1,000 customers. To get 1,000 customers at 1% conversion you need 100K visits on your landing page. To get 100K visits you need to spend X on ads. And so on. 7. If you can't convince yourself you have a viable and profitable hypothesis, you need to adjust your payoff expectation, or pick another opportunity. You don't have an obligation to pursue every opportunity you encounter. 8. If your payoff expectation is too small for the time and money you're investing to bring your project to market, you should abandon it. 9. If the worst case scenario of your GTM strategy has a chance to put you out of business (by running out of time, money, motivation, etc), you should abandon it. Take risks, but never put yourself at risk. 10. Once you have a project on the market, you have the option (but not the obligation) to improve that project by repeating steps 5-9 on the same project. Every new feature is a new thing you're brining to market. 11. A business with no attention is a business that doesn't exist. You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it's like multiplying by zero — a recipe for failure. 12. Remember: there is no distinction between building and marketing. You build whatever you need to build to realize your payoff expectation. Everything is marketing.

system2 3y ago

What are you planning to do in the following months without an income if the project doesn't pick up?

skwee357 3y ago
I’m working on a different project, this time with #buildinpublic on twitter/mastodon. I’m also working on getting some consulting/freelance. And sadly, and with big regret, I started to look for a job.
- system2 3y ago
  Wish you the best of luck!
  - skwee357 3y ago
    Thank you kind stranger!

nico 3y ago

It’s very hard to build a following without a system and without copying content For LinkedIn, ideally you should be posting at least 5 times a week, reposting your best performing content, re-phrasing or straight up copying viral content, and adding as many people to your contacts as possible every day (there’s a weekly limit, and there’s also a 20k total limit, so you also need to figure out what type of contacts you want to be adding, the more focus, the better your content will perform). Additionally, on LinkedIn, commenting and liking posts related to your audience can go a long way Definitely use ChatGPT for drafts and to help you iterate, but don’t just post whatever it gives you on the first try. Also lean heavily on scheduling tools It takes a couple of months to get going, but if you can keep a consistent pace, you will definitely figure it out Follow (on LinkedIn) the creators of https://www.shieldapp.ai/ https://www.shieldapp.ai/ their whole thing is helping people build their personal brands on that platform Finally, make sure to build a newsletter and own your list, that’s one of the biggest moats you can build

4gotunameagain 3y ago
I'd rather be unemployed and live off charity kitchen soups than engage in these juvenile games. As a society we need to find a way to stop rewarding slyness and trickery (aka marketing)
- arek_nawo 3y ago
  I want to think of marketing as a way of providing valuable content and explaining why your product might be just what the consumer needs (potentially helping them with their problems). What's described above really doesn't fit into this view, but is definitely how I've seen people "play the game". ChatGPT-generated fluff, copied content, and the same tips & tricks, inspirational stories, etc. you see repurposed all the time on different platforms - especially LinkedIn. I hope marketing can be good and value-adding but, the way it's going right now, we're due for a change.
- nickfromseattle 3y ago
  >I'd rather be unemployed and live off charity kitchen soups than engage in these juvenile games. What if you replaced the word marketing with attention? Would you rather live of soup kitchens than have the attention of your ideal customers?

jmstfv 3y ago

A fellow solopreneur here, I've been doing it for several years now. I browsed through your profile, website, Twitter account, and I'm still not sure what your product is and what it does. Is it consulting? Coaching? Book? You don't have a lot of followers (me neither), so tweeting won't get you far as you're talking into a void. Instead, join existing discussions where people already are. Also, don't use too many hashtags - it looks spammy. Not trying to put you down, just offering a different perspective you might not hear otherwise. I hope you succeed.

skwee357 3y ago
Thanks for the tips on posting. I do offer multiple services, including coaching/consulting and my book. I’m also working on. SaaS that is in progress.
- kjksf 3y ago
  > launched my first SaaS 3 months ago, and got zero users I couldn't find a link to your SaaS from your website. Maybe you should put a giant button linking to the SaaS, put it in your Twitter bio, pin a tweet to it, your HN bio and every other place that you can think of. Assuming that's something you want to promote more than all the other things on your website.
  - skwee357 3y ago
    Thanks for the suggestion. This particular one was classified as failed, I don't intent to work on it. I'm focusing on another one, which is close to be released as private alpha. This one, I'll try to pin everywhere.
    - rickydroll 3y ago
      even if it's private alpha, you should probably release it to a friendly hostile audience or feedback. Once against it is beta, you can release it to the world at large because well that's what a lot of SAAS companies do. Once you get some revenue, then you can make it better. Otherwise, if you don't get the feedback you need on how to make the product better and live in your own head, you might find yourself polishing turd. if I want to see someone who's done that, all I need is a mirror.

basisword 3y ago

>> I refuse to participate in algorithm games, and try to be authentic. But maybe that’s not what people like. This is a mistake. It’s great to authentic when you tweet, post on LinkedIn or write in your newsletter - but if you have zero followers you’re just shouting into the void. You need to play “the algorithm game” so people see your messaging.

hsn915 3y ago

"I refuse to succeed!" To each their own, I guess?

skwee357 3y ago
If success is posting stupid click bait questions on twitter, then yes, I refuse to do that. I’m not a clown or an entertainer. I share my journey and provide value to people. The people who are drawn to click bait content, are not the people I want to interact with.
- netipulk 3y ago
  I feel with you, but don't delude yourself in to avoiding any kind of marketing. Marketing is an evil necessity, especially if you are starting from scratch by yourself. That's just the nature of our reality. To scoff and say you're content is an ego-fuelled move, one that pushes the problem off for later. Don't do that to yourself. Learn to market ethically at least, or else it's a real waste of time as your next startup fails because you avoided marketing.
  - skwee357 3y ago
    Never said I’m against marketing. I’m just against click bait and low effort content to draw attention / beat the algorithm
  - hsn915 3y ago
    > Marketing is an evil necessity Why are you labeling it as "evil"?
- hsn915 3y ago
  You are framing marketing activity as click baiting and being a clown. This is not a matter of fact. It's an emotional projection stemming from refusing to succeed. Martyr syndrome.
  - skwee357 3y ago

tacker2000 3y ago

What kind of product are you selling that you need to be active on Linkedin and Twitter?

skwee357 3y ago
My recent book. My coaching and consulting sessions. And soon, a SaaS that target software engineers and people with an “anti-establishment” mind set.

adammarples 3y ago

There are thousands of HN users now who have read your comment and not one of them knows what you're saas is, how to find it, or even what it's called, but we know you think marketing is hard...

skwee357 3y ago
One of the moves in the game that I refuse to play, is shoving your product down the throat of everyone. I’ve seen it live on LinkedIn when one of my followers started to post generic comments, under my posts, such as: “totally agree with you! Subscribe to my newsletter”. I find it disgusting. This might be a surprise for you, but sometimes I just want to engage in authentic discussion. I promote my stuff via Show HN or when it has relevance to the post/comment. But I’m not going to be the “Great story Tony. Subscribe to my newsletter <link here>”, guy.
- nicbou 3y ago
  There is a happy middle ground where you are allowed to bring a little context without annoying everyone.
- unreal37 3y ago
  You could have been the "I spent three months building an app that helps people unsubscribe from spam without needing to have permissions to their email account. I got zero users. Then I wrote a blog and ... " You could have mentioned what you did without it being "subscribe here!"
  - skwee357 3y ago
    I could. But sometimes I just want to engage in authentic discussions without being an extension of my products.

xhfloz 3y ago

Left my job in 2020 to do the same. Nowhere near as profitable as OP, but now make enough to cover rent + basic expenses in New York. Crucially: I didn't want to do hypeman social media content that (a) sold the dream of solopreneur as a marketing tactic, or (b) added excessive noise into the ether. I'm not saying Tony did either -- I haven't followed along -- but certainly a lot of people do. I can't fully blame the people who do, though. Anyway. The project I've built [1] is still going, and I feel proud of it on merits of software: that it pushes the bounds, however slightly; that it feels good to exist in the world; and that I genuinely care for the people using it. All that's to say: I think there's a software solopreneur path that doesn't involve excessive hype, gross self-promotion (some degree of self-branding is necessary though), while allowing you to work by principles and also explore interesting software problems. Feel free to DM me [2] if you have questions, or are interested in bootstrapping your own project. Especially consumer-facing. I do have some writing online [3] that covers this too. --- [1] https://mmm.page https://mmm.page [2] https://twitter.com/xhfloz https://twitter.com/xhfloz [3] https://woolgather.sh https://woolgather.sh

abareplace 3y ago
Thank you. Unfortunately, my experience is the same: it's hard to promote a software project on today's Internet without investing a lot of money or spending 4 hours/day on social media like the original poster did. There are many interesting projects like yours that remain invisible to their potential users.
skwee357 3y ago
Thanks for sharing! DMed you on twitter
- xhfloz 3y ago
  Hey! FYI haven't seen anything in my inbox yet.