Ask HN: Working on side projects, need some advice

3 points by vcool07 5 years ago | 1 comment

Hi Guys, I've been reading a lot of articles about budding/full-time entrepreneurs and their successful ventures. I'm motivated to start a few side projects to see if I've that streak in me, but I need some clarity , and wanted your inputs on the below questions :

1. Is it possible to build and sustain a SaaS business as a solo founder ? For a medium sized project (say something like asana/trello), how long would it take from start->finish (MVP which can be monetized) if one spends around 20 hours in a week?

2. Does one have to be super smart in the algorithms/data structures/programming language and/or a domain expert to take care of both development / customer requirements/support etc ? A feature like adding a new way of auth take at-least 2-3 weeks to complete at large enterprises with multiple folks working full time. What chance can an individual have against these large companies?

3. Is it a good idea to spend 2-3 months on learning the tech, and then start on the side project ? I'm asking this, since with a full time job , one can only expect some 2 hours a day and around 8 hours on a weekend, if most of that is spent on stack overflow,then the progress would be really slow.

4. Since monetization is tricky and not guaranteed, is it a good idea to simply work on the side project to amplify job opportunities? Or is it best to give it all as if there's no plan-b ?

5. Lastly, what's the primary reason to go and start your company instead of say spending the same 20+ hours on getting better at your current job/seeking a better job in the same field at a better company ? Isn't the latter more secure/stable option ?

Sorry if some of the questions sound obvious / cliched. But I wanted a fresh take on some of the above questions that has been brewing in my head for a long time. Thanks in advance :)

enz 5 years ago |

1) 20h/week seems like a pretty big chunk of time. If you can allocate that much, it's a good thing. There are surely some great apps you can do with that time.

2) It depends. If your app consists in a simple "CRUD" app (most apps), you don't need fancy algorithms. However, it's always a good idea to know some fundamentals. You can learn that on the way, though.

> A feature like adding a new way of auth take at-least 2-3 weeks to complete at large enterprises with multiple folks working full time. What chance can an individual have against these large companies?

I don't think so. It can take 2-3 hours as well. It really depends on which company and what kind of software we are talking about.

3) Learn as you build it, it's much more fun and encouraging!

4-5) I think it's always valuable to spend time learning/experiencing in a new field.