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Comment by math | Hacker News Reader

"I wonder if I’m hurting my chances of future employment by working so long on my own."

Based on my recent experience getting back in the game after 5 years of self directed projects (not all of them software related) I would say definitely don't worry about this... you have something good to show for your time (i.e. readlang) and the skills required to make it are sought after. Most other job candidates will not be able to show this degree of self determination / initiative. Just come across as hyper enthusiastic and you'd be set.

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I can confirm, worked on my projects after college, didn't work as expected, but with all the gained experience I found jobs as full stack consultant very easily, and for the last 3 years I saved some bucks. Now from this year I'm working back again on my projects. Carry on Steve, the reward can be big!

Just one concern: are you working with more people? That's the only thing I regret from my ventures back then, I was also solo-preneur, now starting to make teams and delegate more and more, and I think that's the way to go...

I second this one about hiring, you may be helping their dream happen too :)

Can you recommend any books or articles in particular on how to scale operations from solo to a small group? I've been thinking about this for a while and I can't get my head around it in seeing a way to do it without forgoing pay in order to pay the new employee and hoping to acquire more clients to give us both work and repeat with another employee and so on. This just doesn't seem efficient though.

I don't have any book recommendations but it really is just management skills, so look up some business books.

The main temptation you need to avoid is "micro managing", and instead you just need to have faith that people will do what you ask them to do, albeit via a different path than you may have taken.

In terms of justifying the cost of labour versus DIY - it's just an "opportunity cost" argument. If you can get better returns from your time by doing something else (eg not programming, and just dedicating a bit of time for coaching your people) then it will be worth employing others. If not, then stick with what you are doing.

Hope that helps :)

From my perspective, the best "hire" does 4 hours of work per week.

So for other readers here overwhelmed at "hiring", it doesn't have to start big. It doesn't have to get big. But it can still free your time.

That may be true for the technical side of things. However, don't forget your earning power (including willingness/energy to put up with dread work) and possibility to build your professional network. Building savings takes time, esp. if you have or want family. Throwing your best years at your own projects has some risks.

There's also the emotional side to consider. There's a danger of falling into a rut when you have put a lot of effort into something and nothing / or not much to show for.

I'm a long-term side project builder myself. I have been freelancing all my life and taking time off between projects to build my side projects. I never hang in long enough though, which could be the reason why none of my ideas have taken off yet.

But I have to say that I have now basically accepted that my side projects are for fun only and my freelancing is for building my egg nest. And that feels quite good. I think I'd only go into a ownership based startup with the right partner and business model.

After three years I'd surely try to put my project on auto-pilot and do some paid work. Also to gain a new perspective on things.

Not to take anything away from the product (it's great) or determination.

(Btw Steve, we met once in Madrid, hope to be able to come back to geek lunch)

Yeah, there's such a difference between a startup like this and contracting. When contracting, you work, you get paid, nice and predictable. With this kind of startup where it's growing say 4X per year, you may earn very little at first, but if you don't follow through when it looks promising and grow it for a few years, what was the point in starting in the first place? The reward on this kind of project is so delayed. You work, nothing, you work more, minuscule revenue, you work more, some pocket money, you work more, you get paid decently, you work more, you're rich!

Or, more likely, at some point the growth stops, and it was all for nothing.

We're actually doing a geek lunch tomorrow, usual time and place, do come along!

That's what I guessed, but it's easy to doubt yourself when you've been out of the game so long. Thanks for the reassurance!

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