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Comment by LightBug1 | Hacker News Reader

I like these kind of stories. Insight into these situation is inspiring. When I hang up the gloves in my current role I'll probably do something similar.

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 different idea of what bootstrapping is.

Anyway, kudos to you ... making your own move is brave and commendable.

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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 different idea of what bootstrapping is.

Yeah, I agree and wish I had a better term. I've heard people talking about "bootstrapping" a business with $200k+, and I roll my eyes.

I used to call these updates "My Xth Year as a Solo Developer" but that stopped making sense when I was working with a team.

out of curiosity, which one is the bigger part of your "financial cushion" nowadays? is it still mostly the ex-Google income/savings or has the TinyPilot exit taken that place?

$200k really isn’t that much in this context. Less than a year’s income for a good developer in the US. Even if you haven’t worked for a FAANG, in the software industry in the US it’s not that difficult to find yourself with that amount, or more, available for investment after working in the industry for a while. Similarly, an amount like that isn’t necessarily going to take you very far.

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