mtlynch

9 ms·

1. 121.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   I'm obviously biased as a small business owner, but I think that logic assumes that the market is perfectly efficient, when it obviously isn't. Large companies have massive advantages in so many dimensions. As a simple example, im
2. 122.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   Thanks for reading! > Q for OP: looking back at your 8 posts, I don't see you ever reflecting on loneliness (or lack thereof) as part of your founder journey. Yet both founder friends and anecdotes always emphasize this as a big we
3. 123.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   Take my advice with a big grain of salt because I'm by no means an expert at finding customers. I can just say what's worked for me. The thing that's been successful for me is to figure out who my customers are and find ways
4. 124.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   Sure, answered in another subthread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46967082
5. 125.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   Thanks for reading for so long! > Question: do you not have income concerns / pressures? Yes, definitely. I am a bit worried about not being able to get back to $100k+/yr in income, and I'm less confident that the safety
6. 126.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   You can email me through the address here: https://mtlynch.io/about/
7. 127.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   Thanks for reading! > Looking back, how do you feel about your slate of past projects? I feel like I learned something valuable from all of them. The ones I'm most proud of are TinyPilot, my book, and my blogging course (in that or
8. 128.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   Thanks for reading! > But, come on ... isn't it just a touch disingenuous to call this a bootstrap situation? > I assume an ex-Google developer jettisoned with a decent safety net. Perhaps I'm wrong. But I have a very dif
9. 129.▲
   by mtlynch 8mo ago

   I can see how it comes across that way. I have no relationship with Quiet Light except as a satisfied client.
10. 130.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Oh, I'm open to that!
11. 131.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    I recommend having an initial talk with a broker if you're thinking about it at all. The brokers I've met are happy to talk if you have a profitable business, even if you don't plan on selling anytime soon, and you don't
12. 132.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Thanks for reading! I'm really glad to hear that you found it helpful!
13. 133.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > Thanks for being so transparent. As a fellow solo bootstrapper, I think the thing people most often misunderstand is the relative inconsistency (income, "wins", the camaraderie, etc.) so it's nice for you to bare all.
14. 134.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > Thanks for the reply. Just to clarify the picture for me, was the 2024 jump in profit attributing the sale or was that just a solid year? Mostly the sale. The deal closed in April, but Jan-March was an especially profitable quarter.[
15. 135.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > Sounds like having a big audience and pre-existing list really helps! I didn't have a particularly big audience. I had about 2k mailing list subscribers on my main blog, but a pretty small percentage of them purchased. And I had
16. 136.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Yep, the place where I've talked about it the most has been The Software Misadventures Podcast .[0, 1] [0] https://softwaremisadventures.com/p/michael-lynch-on-quittin... (2022, two years into the business) [1]
17. 137.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > How do you see the solo bootstrapping landscape going forward? In what ways do you see agentic coding changing things? It's hard to say. I think it could go either way. My optimistic take is that it has a similar effect to cloud
18. 138.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > Question is how you stay motivated to keep at it - looks like it took about 4 years before you made similar to your Google salary, did family pressure or external pressure ever impact you? Or is it mainly just keep your eyes on the lo
19. 139.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > I'm on a super similar journey. Started in 2022, did about 400k in revenue in 2025 at 79% margin, we'll se how this year goes. Theres a world where i'd love to add a lot of scale, but that'll rely on some experimen
20. 140.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Author here. Happy to answer any questions or take feedback about this post.
21. 141.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    > Along the way I have developed a programming philosophy I now apply to everything: the best software for an agent is whatever is best for a programmer. I agree with this and I think it's funny to see people publish best practice
22. 142.▲
    My eighth year as a bootstrapped founder(mtlynch.io)

    318 points by mtlynch 8mo ago|111 comments
23. 143.▲
    My Eighth Year as a Bootstrapped Founde(mtlynch.io)

    1 points by mtlynch 8mo ago|1 comments
24. 144.▲
    My Eighth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder(mtlynch.io)

    2 points by mtlynch 8mo ago|0 comments
25. 145.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    This is a similar macOS solution: https://github.com/lynaghk/vibe/
26. 146.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Author here. Happy to answer any questions or take any feedback about this post.
27. 147.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Thanks so much!
28. 148.▲
    by mtlynch 8mo ago

    Congrats on launching your first 500 units! I had a similar experience. I quit my job as a SWE at Google and built a hardware product on top of the Raspberry Pi.[0] I don't really have anything helpful to add, but I relate a lot to all
29. 149.▲
    My Eighth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder(mtlynch.io)

    6 points by mtlynch 8mo ago|2 comments
30. 150.▲
    by mtlynch 9mo ago

    This was 3-4 years ago, so it's possible that they've improved since then or that the rep I was speaking to was misinformed, but at the time, he told me there was no fee advantage on Walmart Marketplace, and I tried to be polite i