Ask HN: Starting a business is way harder than Twitter-bros claim. Any advice?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39702263

by skwee357 • 2 years ago

2 15 2 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hey HN.

For the past 8 or so months, I've embarked on a solopreneurship journey [0].

During that time, I was focused on building an online business/SaaS without much success. I've learned what not to do, and improved something with each new product I launched.

However, I'm slowly loosing faith in the ability to build a one-person business that will pay my bills. I can't live with the though that I'll have to work as an employee for the rest of my career. I gave up on the idea of passive income, or working 4 hours a week, and I at least want to spend my 40-50-60-whatever hours/week working on my own business, rather than building it for someone else.

I tried Micro-SaaS, I tried digital products. Some of them generate money, but it's not enough to quit my job, or switch to say 80% employment.

Twitter influencers portray Micro-SaaS as an easy, holy grail of financial freedom, with people claiming to make north of $10k/month from an AI PDF chat. Reddit bros say that B2C is dead, and the big money is in B2B. And even here, on HN, people share occasionally (in the recurring "one man business" and "side projects that make $500+/m" posts) how they make money from their small businesses or side projects.

I understand that starting a business is way harder than "here, I finished the landing page, now pay me money". But I feel stuck, since I don't know how to progress further.

I tried SEO, I tried paid ads, I tried SaaS and I tried digital products. The only thing I didn't try is B2B with the mindset of "hey big business, I have a [product] that solves your pain, pay me money please" while in reality I have no product. I keep hearing suggestions like "just create a fake landing page" etc, and start developing only after I close my first customer, but I can't seem to feel comfortable selling air.

I feel like I miss something, since I know that not everyone online is a liar, and people do make money from side projects. And I'm one step away from claiming that their success is pure luck, as in "being in the right time with the right people", rather than some effort that they've put it which helped them acquire customers, and I'm simply unlucky. Any advice?

[0] https://www.yieldcode.blog/post/6-lessons-6-months-6-projects/

throwaway556716• 2 years ago

I'm one step away from claiming that their success is pure luck, as in "being in the right time with the right people", rather than some effort that they've put it which helped them acquire customers, and I'm simply unlucky.

It's definitely a lot of luck - but don't think it's just that. Relentless drive and stellar performance in many different fields (tech, marketing, sales etc) is absolutely necessary and practically no amount of luck would help you without that. You have to keep trying to get lucky and be ready to take and milk the opportunity when it happens.

The luck is not in getting customers, though, especially not in B2C. That's just about product-market fit and marketing. I know people who can consistently do it again and again with any product or service that makes sense - and of course appropriate budget.

It's more about luck in B2B if you're just starting out, but again, I know people who can consistently sell anything that makes sense to the customers. They had to get lucky a lot at the beginning, but they went out, met people, pitched, and did it again and again. Do that for enough years and you build a network wide enough to just send a few messages and get clients immediately.

It's just numbers - there is a likelihood you'll meet a big client ready to buy, a likelihood you'll meet an investor today. It's about putting yourself out continuously, every day, to increase the odds you get lucky.

How many cold calls with prospective customers do you have daily? How often do you talk to people who might be interested on LinkedIn or other professional forums/social networks? How often do you attend in-person professional/networking events, conferences, tech talks? If you're not doing that at least few times a week, your odds are very low.

skwee3577• 2 years ago

Hey kind stranger, thanks for the comment.

The problem I have with vague statements such as "being consistent", is it's not a strategy. You can swim as long as you want, but if you are swimming away from shore towards a current that pulls you back, consistency does not matter.

I don't want to believe it luck as the sole factor for success, but based on what I see and my experience, it feels like it is, and I'm loosing faith. There are people who build tools that are far from being the next Facebook or ChatGPT, and they succeed. People who build in a super saturated market and they succeed.

And the entire infomercial sphere is pumping the "consistency is key" mantra, which is very vague and far from a strategy.

No disregard to other makers who built successful but simple products. I use them as an example that even if you build a simple tool, or a tool in a highly saturated market, you can succeed.

Edit: you edited your comment after I posted my reply. In regard to cold calls. I don't see anyone mention it. All successful one-man/side projects I see online who share their story, simply say they built a good product. Nobody talks about customer acquisition. And, maybe it's my problem, I don't see how cold calling/emailing will work. I get cold emails every other day, and most of them are so lame, that I don't understand how people fall into it. But maybe I'm just stupid and idealistic.

throwaway556716• 2 years ago

Consistency isn't a strategy, indeed. It's not meant to be. It means you have to keep trying - what strategy you use is a different question. You should make one, try it out a statistically significant amount of times, measure and decide whether to keep it or modify it.

whywhywhywhy• 2 years ago

the reason the "twitter-bros" say it's easy is because what you're missing is their twitter account is their marketing and if they have high followers and good engagement then building to that audiences needs can cover your living costs as a solo dev much easier.

skwee3577• 2 years ago

Hey, thanks for the comment.

I started to follow the build in public and solopreneurship movement on social networks a few months ago. And I agree with you. Recently, I feel like this entire community is "indie hackers building tools for indie hackers, while tweeting about their success and MRR to gain more indie hackers to sell tools to".

Which is not bad, but it is what it is.

throwaway556716• 2 years ago

Why not? A large percentage of GDP is about making things other businesses use to do their business. I'm getting spammed by ads from bigger companies doing the same thing - "become our partner / make money with our products / distribute to others who could make money with our products". Same thing, different niche.

It's a valid niche - and the one you talk about is terminally online, which makes it rather easy to break into.

meowtastic• 2 years ago

You've got further than me! I've spent evenings and weekends over the past 15 months trying to start an online business with 0 revenue to show.

I've also been burned out trying to follow what I've seen other people on Twitter, or even those in my local meetups.

I've come to accept that there's no single set of steps that will guarantee me success. I have to keep trying and seeing what sticks; I still look at what's worked for others, but I also consider my circumstances and adapt to them.

You have to enjoy the journey as well. Just look back at how you were 8 months ago; I'm sure you'll feel proud of all the things you've learned!

skwee3577• 2 years ago

Thank you kind stranger.

I do look back occasionally and realize that I made a huge leap. Nevertheless, I'm not at a place I thought that I will be. Does not mean I'm not grateful for what I have.

Mind sharing what are you building and how it is going? You can DM me (social are in links in profile) if you don't want to make it public

Ask HN: Starting a business is way harder than Twitter-bros claim. Any advice?

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