Ways to bootstrap a startup: “working in waves”

http://joel.is/post/2106915988/bootstrapping-waves

by joelg87 • 16 years ago

32 10 16 years ago

Working in Waves is quite an interesting approach. Although it is best suited for young founders with little responsibilities who can do contract jobs.

Another option is the "Nights and Weekends" option best suited for those who have full time jobs.

joelg873• 16 years ago

You're absolutely right, and another point is that once you start the "work to make money" wave it is often difficult to get out of it in order to do the "startup" wave. "Nights and Weekends" / "on the side" is another way to bootstrap, I'll likely blog about that sometime :)

katox• 16 years ago

Yeah, a post like that would be really great. I do that for my side projects and the slow down caused by having normal working hours and not all weekends "free" for work is just terrible.

A project which would normally be released in two months can take a year or so - I can't really imagine doing business this way.

TimLangley3• 16 years ago

Ummm - I'm not so sure about this ;-) Nights and Weekends will only get you so far (eventually you have to dive in at the deepend) (and whilst Nights and Weekends will help to develop the business model / product - it certainly won't completely de-risk it - which means you're back into Joel's situation of burn rate....

tommoor• 16 years ago

I cant think of a single hacker I know that would be happy in doing a 'work wave'. There's that itching inside, you know you should be building something and its impossible not to work on it..

So I can't really see how 'wave' working would ever really work without hacking drifting into the little free time you have.

joelg873• 16 years ago

I understand exactly what you mean, and perhaps it was bad to make it seem like it's a binary paid work or startup distinction between the waves. I guess the reality is that it is more about which is the focus.

I agree that there is likely to be that itching inside to work to build your startup, but by the same token do you not think that whilst working a 9-5 job and doing a startup on the side, you will always be itching to know what it would be like to work full-time on your startup?

TimLangley3• 16 years ago

Good post Joel ;-) I'm generally in agreement with working in "waves" (it's an approach I've used for past 10 years)

A couple of other thoughts that might be worth considering: 1. Once you decide that the "start-up career" is your full-time career path - then you need to start thinking about "serious stuff like pensions and investing". I generally put 50% of the money that I make between "start-up waves" into investments (for me it's properties) that generate cash flow

2. Find a business partner with complimentary skills to you (understand that they can - and probably will change as your business develops)

3. Before your embark on a start-up wave try to make sure that the market is already there (ie spend the evenings and weekends of your "paying job time" doing Customer Development research (you don't need to cut very much code to do this)

;-)

joelg873• 16 years ago

Thanks Tim :)

Great to hear someone who's been maintaining the "working in waves" method for longer than me. Not sure I could do it for long though!

You raise some really good points - especially glad you mentioned investments, since I'm starting to think about that now as I am amidst a "work wave" and earning enough to put a portion into investments. Any advice on where to start with this?

#3 is one to remember before the next wave, thanks.

TimLangley3• 16 years ago

wow - #1 is a whole topic in itself Simple answers * I only invest in things I understand * I only invest in things which produce positive cashflow * I only take additional debt when someone else ;-) is paying it off

For me personally this means buying rental properties - I purchase 2by2 properties in North Manchester / the North West. Typically (at moment) properties at about £60k (where I'm putting down about £15k deposit). Get a good agent to manage them (around 10% of rentals). Ping me a message if you want to know more about this

(but pls not - this isn't the only option - there are plenty of other investment opportunities - but see point 1 above - understand them first)

osuburger• 16 years ago

I feel like the biggest danger with a system like this is that you might lose focus or passion while you're in between waves. Even if you're passionate about something while you're working on it, it seems like it would be very easy to become complacent working at your "in-between" job and difficult to get back working on your idea.

Ways to bootstrap a startup: “working in waves”

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