5 ms·

How do you guys get funding to build things for such a long time? Rent, food and health insurance in my area costs $50k per year. If feels I have no choice but

by kubb 2y ago

How do you guys get funding to build things for such a long time? Rent, food and health insurance in my area costs $50k per year. If feels I have no choice but to earn a salary. Dropping a quarter of a mil on an app that might not pan out seems out of the question.

input_sh 2y ago
Nobody starts by dropping quarter of a mil, you start by dropping $1k and being very frugal, releasing something minimal, seeing how it behaves, and once you have some actual data to work with, you pivot again and again and again. It's always a huge money sinkohole until it isn't.
svantana 2y ago
It's not really clear from the blog post, but it seems like it was a side project. That's why it took so long. Personally, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of doing freelance work 2-3 days/week and working on my own projects in the remaining time.
- AutistiCoder 2y ago
  How do you get freelance work?
  - svantana 2y ago
    Networking, in the broadest sense of the word. Gone to tech meetups, gotten to know a lot of people in my particular niche (sound and image processing).
- psytrancefan 2y ago
  Surely a side project. It is actually really good too. There is quite a problem with creativity being stifled by the infinite possibilities of a modern DAW. Everything feels super fast and responsive on it too. I am going to spend a good amount of time in this. Helio is a desktop app that is down this line but more complicated and not as easy to use. This just all makes sense if you know how a piano roll is going to work.
ExxKA 2y ago
It may be possible for you later in life. Most bootstrappers have worked up some wealth via traditional methods like savings, home equity, inheritance, and freelance/consulting work. VC money and accelerators are primarily for people who dont have the wealth to bootstrap, but who are young and willing to take investors on early.
- DrillShopper 2y ago
  > Most bootstrappers have worked up some wealth via traditional methods like savings, home equity, inheritance How in the goddamn fuck do you work up an inheritance?
  - ExxKA 2y ago
    Maybe you misunderstood me. Some people get an inheritance. Other people have to use their savings.
fbuilesv 2y ago
From the article: > Nice to meet you. I'm an engineer who runs a small mobile app development company.
Gasp0de 2y ago
I assume you work in your freetime, besides your actual job.
bandrami 2y ago
I think having a day job was a big part of why that took five years?
eksapsy 2y ago
Reading the article carefully, one realizes - this is very likely a side project. Conclusion made by the fact that the author was writing, re-writing and re-writing again the project because of a new 'cool framework' that came out. They were taking their time to do that and doing it repeatedly for years. Proving that releasing the project was not their first concern, nor making money out of it judging from the fact this was not designed to make money but merely having a github sponsor button. Author's main concern seems to having been to just have with it and learning was likely a bigger factor. - it didn't need funding to startup, as it seems like the only costs were the operating costs which were likely just a server on vercel Also, to answer your question more thoroughly - usually people that make projects like these have a main job, which funds in one way or another their side-projects. - A million $ is a very unusually big capital. Side projects are very unlikely to need such big amount of funding just to start-up. People just throw a small capital if needed at all, and if the project self-funds itself, maybe they'll throw the money back.
AutistiCoder 2y ago
You could just not do a Web app. There are plenty of apps you can build that don't require any upfront costs. I'm working on an app that runs entirely on a consumer PC.
- bl0b 2y ago
  There's still the big cost of time spent working on it without making money from having a job.
- kubb 2y ago
  Hey, my question was about the costs of living, not the costs of web hosting :)
slater- 2y ago
How do they get funding? They're already rich. Every single one of them, even if they haven't yet earned a personal fortune, ask them what their parents do. Find out they either own a Carl's Junior franchise or a semiconductor company. NBD, just build things, amirite?
- DrillShopper 2y ago
  Yup. To be fair, even if you only work in software you already have a leg up (not as much as someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth) both because the salary is pretty good, and because you're used to designing, programming, debugging, and documenting.

by kubb 2y ago

input_sh 2y ago

Nobody starts by dropping quarter of a mil, you start by dropping $1k and being very frugal, releasing something minimal, seeing how it behaves, and once you have some actual data to work with, you pivot again and again and again. It's always a huge money sinkohole until it isn't.

svantana 2y ago

It's not really clear from the blog post, but it seems like it was a side project. That's why it took so long. Personally, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of doing freelance work 2-3 days/week and working on my own projects in the remaining time.

AutistiCoder 2y ago
How do you get freelance work?
- svantana 2y ago
  Networking, in the broadest sense of the word. Gone to tech meetups, gotten to know a lot of people in my particular niche (sound and image processing).
psytrancefan 2y ago
Surely a side project. It is actually really good too. There is quite a problem with creativity being stifled by the infinite possibilities of a modern DAW. Everything feels super fast and responsive on it too. I am going to spend a good amount of time in this. Helio is a desktop app that is down this line but more complicated and not as easy to use. This just all makes sense if you know how a piano roll is going to work.

ExxKA 2y ago

It may be possible for you later in life. Most bootstrappers have worked up some wealth via traditional methods like savings, home equity, inheritance, and freelance/consulting work. VC money and accelerators are primarily for people who dont have the wealth to bootstrap, but who are young and willing to take investors on early.

DrillShopper 2y ago
> Most bootstrappers have worked up some wealth via traditional methods like savings, home equity, inheritance How in the goddamn fuck do you work up an inheritance?
- ExxKA 2y ago
  Maybe you misunderstood me. Some people get an inheritance. Other people have to use their savings.

fbuilesv 2y ago

From the article: > Nice to meet you. I'm an engineer who runs a small mobile app development company.

Gasp0de 2y ago

I assume you work in your freetime, besides your actual job.

bandrami 2y ago

I think having a day job was a big part of why that took five years?

eksapsy 2y ago

Reading the article carefully, one realizes - this is very likely a side project. Conclusion made by the fact that the author was writing, re-writing and re-writing again the project because of a new 'cool framework' that came out. They were taking their time to do that and doing it repeatedly for years. Proving that releasing the project was not their first concern, nor making money out of it judging from the fact this was not designed to make money but merely having a github sponsor button. Author's main concern seems to having been to just have with it and learning was likely a bigger factor. - it didn't need funding to startup, as it seems like the only costs were the operating costs which were likely just a server on vercel Also, to answer your question more thoroughly - usually people that make projects like these have a main job, which funds in one way or another their side-projects. - A million $ is a very unusually big capital. Side projects are very unlikely to need such big amount of funding just to start-up. People just throw a small capital if needed at all, and if the project self-funds itself, maybe they'll throw the money back.

AutistiCoder 2y ago

You could just not do a Web app. There are plenty of apps you can build that don't require any upfront costs. I'm working on an app that runs entirely on a consumer PC.

bl0b 2y ago
There's still the big cost of time spent working on it without making money from having a job.
kubb 2y ago
Hey, my question was about the costs of living, not the costs of web hosting :)

slater- 2y ago

How do they get funding? They're already rich. Every single one of them, even if they haven't yet earned a personal fortune, ask them what their parents do. Find out they either own a Carl's Junior franchise or a semiconductor company. NBD, just build things, amirite?

DrillShopper 2y ago
Yup. To be fair, even if you only work in software you already have a leg up (not as much as someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth) both because the salary is pretty good, and because you're used to designing, programming, debugging, and documenting.