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Comment by salesguy222 | Hacker News Reader

If I'm making a tech product (not SaaS) as a solo founder, no employees, no funding, not in the Bay Area, but making a product that people love, would I be considered a success?

I personally love the Startup School lectures and they have been a great help to me.

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If you're growing and profitable, you might consider ignoring all the startup culture nonsense.

Why would "growing" be a prerequisite to success? Isn't profitable enough, especially if already decently profitable?

I assume you are asking a serious question, but yes, you need to at least grow to match the rate of inflation/cost of living. Aside from that, it's up to you to decide how much you want to grow.

Really depends upon the goal. If you're a venture funded startup then the find is aiming for a 10x truth from you over 7-10 years. This will translate to 2-3x Y/Y growth for the first years of the startup. Ofcourse, if you're self funded, these rules don't apply.

Growing yes, and profitable yes! I may not have a million or billion dollar market, but I've totally replaced my desk job income with this :)

I don't see the niche drying up anytime soon, so I appreciate this advice. I feel like I am on the right track!

What matters is if it's a success to you. Which I'm worried sounds like it might be flip or dismissive, but I think is the core truth of it.

No, thank you so much for this advice! It was helpful and much needed.

I may not be building a million or billion dollar market, but I figure that if money is the same, I'm glad to be working by my own rules rather than someone else's!

Are you making money? Then yes.

Fortunately yes!! Of course it is not millions of dollars a year, but it is enough to replace a desk job income and seems stable.

Here's to hoping!!

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