Ask HN: Solo Founder Tips? I'm solving a problem I have personally dealt with at work. Built out an MVP, talking to users, improving product. I am realizing the mountain of work ahead. I am outsourcing non-core stuff like researching the competitive landscape, investors, contacting prospective users. Also scheduling alternative days of talking to users vs building product has helped a lot. Wondering what other 1 or 2 person teams do to improve effectiveness? |
We are profitable and growing in an established market with many players.
When you're running a startup on your own, it's tough to handle both product development and marketing at the same time. What worked for me was to alternate between the two. For instance, I'd spend one week focusing solely on coding and building the product, and the next week would be dedicated to marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). Some solo founders switch tasks every day, but I found that dedicating a full week to each area was more effective for me.
Another key point is to focus on high-impact, low-effort tasks. It's unlikely that you'll be able to master all aspects of digital marketing or build a groundbreaking product all by yourself. Concentrate on the most crucial tasks that will give you the biggest return on your effort. In other words, prioritize.
Lastly, keep direct communication with your customers in-house. Don't delegate this important task. However, it's okay to outsource more technical tasks like server management and coding to others.
Make sure you set the bar low. You survive against unicorns by being an ant. Be very, very cautious of scope creep.
That doesn't mean low quality. When you set the bar low enough, you're in a different playing field, somewhere unicorns don't fit. You're a bottom feeder.
But make sure you cross the bar you set. That's all you have to do, just promise and deliver. You can overdeliver.
Nobody's going to VC back a subscription razor service. You can make sharper razors, cheaper razors, nicer boxes. You can put a perfumed handwritten note in everyone's first box. You're specializing so there's not much else to do.
But do keep an eye on your scheduling. Hit deadlines you set for yourself. Setting deadlines lets you figure what matters and what doesn't, or whether you're scoping too big.
You shouldn't have a mountain of work. That's not what success means. Scope it down to an anthill. There's something out there that fits you perfectly.
Spend a lot of time planning because you can't just throw resources at everything to see what sticks. It takes as much effort to make a bad product as it does to make a good one, probably more. So don't waste your time making something that doesn't fit you. Make use of things like prototypes. Carefully evaluate what isn't working.
Dollar Shave Club has raised a total of $163.5M in funding over 7 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Nov 19, 2015 from a Series D round.
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dollar-shave-club/co...
For me, talking to users happens daily, throughout the day via email. I try to be as responsive as possible, without breaking any flow state. I do product development when I feel like it (which typically looks like a sin wave otherwise I tend to burn out), or when it's required i.e. bug fixes. The rest is marketing and just sitting there thinking about next steps (some may call it vision).
Same idea. Probably 5 applicable accelerators, ~100-500 angel investors, ~50-100 seed stage investors. Going through accelerator interviews. Ignoring all investors until after I get more paying users. I haven't gone through raising before, but https://www.lore.vc/ has been a nice resource. Setting up the auction environment for the best fundraising market dynamics.