
What I learned from getting my side project acquired - typpo
http://www.ianww.com/blog/2013/10/08/lessons-from-getting-my-side-project-acquired/
======
bfe
This post reminded me of pg's advice for how to get startup ideas. Compare:

"I have 5+ side projects. I’d like to make businesses out of them, but I often
lose interest after a couple weeks. Asterank was the only project that I’ve
stuck with for over a year, and it paid off even though there wasn’t a clear
path to monetization... It’s hard to predict what will be valuable as a side
project. For hobbies, working on what you’re most passionate about is the best
way to get a return." [1]

"Live in the future and build what seems interesting. Strange as it sounds,
that's the real recipe." [2]

1\. [http://www.ianww.com/blog/2013/10/08/lessons-from-getting-
my...](http://www.ianww.com/blog/2013/10/08/lessons-from-getting-my-side-
project-acquired/)

2\.
[http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html](http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html)

~~~
qznc
I still have to figure out how to stick with something for over a year. :(

~~~
thejulielogan
find collaborators. If you can't, that's usually a sign the project is not
interesting/challenging enough to keep YOU working on it for a year.

Don't just ping your friends because they're your friends, collaborators
should share the passion that got you to start the project. Sometimes that's
best found outside your normal network.

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lifeisstillgood
But he did not treat it as a throwaway side project - he mailed, he built
community and products, he pushed for a year.

That massively increased his chances of a profitable outcome - my lesson here
is even treat your side projects as in need of proper marketing

~~~
thejulielogan
That's the difference between a 'hobby' and a 'side project.' One is a
professional job you're just not paid for (yet). The other is something you
happen to enjoy doing, on occasion.

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ernestipark
This might be a stupid question, but what is the point in acquiring a side
project that is MIT-licensed? Was it just a means of acqui-hiring?

~~~
mindcrime
The license on the code doesn't include trademarks on the name, or copyright
on marketing materials, branding, etc. Depending on the project, the bulk of
the value might actually be in that stuff and not in the code itself. Don't
underestimate how valuable "brand recognition" is.

Also, and while it might not apply in this specific case, a startup / side-
project that has paying customers will have value in terms of acquiring the
accounts and the relationships, even if the code is open source.

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qwerta
Interesting project.

I had similar hobby project: MapDB database engine. It started as simple data
store for astronomical application. I wrote first patch for JDBM (old name)
while observing at Atacama desert 4 years ago. I never advertised much, but
now its my full time job and it generates decent email traffic.

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kilroy123
Thanks for this post, very interesting. Personally, I badly want to get out of
the software / "tech" industry, and get into the space industry some how.

I have no idea what I'll do, how I'll do this, or what I can offer. Only time
will tell.

~~~
nether
A software job in aerospace (avionics or analysis) can be worse than a pure
software position, because your managers understand your work even less. Also,
there are huge gulfs between reading about X, studying X at the university
level, and working in X industry. I see a lot of people entering aerospace
programs with dreamy ambitions from Reddit, Neil Degrasse Tyson, SpaceX
articles. Then they can't hack the physics and math and 200 page design
reports. It's a bit like kids going into CS because they like playing video
games.

Most aerospace jobs are pretty Dilbert/Office Space. At the megahuge defense
contractor where I used to work, we had Office Space characterizations for
many of our managers/coworkers. If you ever want your space dreams dashed,
read Glassdoor reviews. We just hired an ex-SpaceXer who loved the mission but
hated sacrificing his life as a 20-something to working 70-hour weeks.

~~~
kilroy123
That's exactly what I imagined. Especially since the entire industry basically
works with the government.

I was thinking of working for or at one of space startups: SpaceX, Blue
Origin, Planetary Resources, Virgin Galactic, and the mars one foundation.

The truth is, my goal is to eventually start my own company.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Can I suggest to just start - there are going to be a gazillion suppliers to
SpaceX etc - if you want to be in the industry, you can be in.

If you want to put your stuff in space or even orbit, may I suggest looking at
micro satellites - there is going to be a vast number of things people will
want doing that are going to be within the capability of a large lump of
silicon. And the big boys will happily take a dozen iphone equivalents and put
them in LEO in passing.

That to me is the growth area

Edit: sorry seemed a bit off dumped the hobbyist reference - just thinking of
the issues of orbital speed - until / if orbital speed is achievable for an
cluster of iPhones dangling from a weather ballon, then _everything_ depends
on huge great rockets. And SpaceX and it's ilk, for all the impact, is only
expecting to see a halving of launch costs. It is going to remain a big
government big industry game for a very very long time.

~~~
elements
I like this advice. I worked with someone who built an aerospace company
around an ultra-reliable actuator design he developed with a friend. They had
put hardware on dozens of missions, including some inter-planetary missions,
before they were acquired a few years later.

A lot of the advice he gave me centered around understanding how supplier
contracts are granted / won, and the importance of building relationships and
a reputation in the industry. The biggest thing that stuck with me, though,
was that it was even _possible_ for a startup company to put hardware in
space, let alone mission-critical stuff.

So, I second the "just start" suggestion. Maybe I'll take the same advice
myself some day.

------
jonstjohn
Lesson 7: You need to stick with it

I'm trying to do this right now. I challenged myself to do 100 consecutive
days of commits to my side projects and I'm currently at day 94.
Unfortunately, my private repos don't show up in my streak unless I'm logged
in, but most of them are here:
[https://github.com/jonstjohn](https://github.com/jonstjohn) .

I've still bounced between about 3 projects in the past 3 months. I struggle
with what seems like it should be the last 5-10%, although I'm looking at
forcing myself to launch even if I'm not happy with everything.

~~~
malcolmmcc
If you want to make the challenge even more intense, you can try a service
like Beeminder that'll charge you if you don't commit every day. It can hook
into Github, I believe.

[https://www.beeminder.com/gitminder](https://www.beeminder.com/gitminder)

The founders actually use this themselves, making a mandatory UVI (user-
visible improvement) every day, inspired by pg's advice "startups rarely die
mid-keystroke... so keep typing!" See here for more on that:
[http://blog.beeminder.com/rails/](http://blog.beeminder.com/rails/)

~~~
jonstjohn
These are great! I think I've seen Bee Minder before. Honestly, it has helped
me out tremendously to just keep committing. I have days where I commit some
really trivial bit of code, just to keep things going, but first thing in the
morning I'm thinking about what I plan to commit that day. It keeps me focused
on my side projects.

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rs
_If no one notices your project but it is genuinely interesting, just blog
about it until they notice. I posted Asterank Discover on HN and it got 5
points. Then I wrote a blog post about it that made the front page. Go
figure._

I think this might be that people tend to prefer reading about stories on
products rather than a product landing page ?

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benjamincburns
Congrats Ian, and a huge thanks for blogging your experience building
AsterRank. You definitely helped some friends and me out with a space game
we're working on!

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crucialfelix
Q: is it necessary to incorporate a side project like this from the beginning
?

I'm planning to found a company that will build several products. If one of
them achieves traction and revenue growth, I'm wondering if there are any
issues in making it easily acquirable. I suppose shared code is an issue.

~~~
toast0
If you want it to be easily acquirable, the only thing that matters is simple
ownership. If you as an individual own everything, there's no need to
incorporate. You may want to incorporate for tax, liability, or employment
reasons, of course; but you can usually wait for those to be a real issue
(income tax treatment isn't a huge deal if you have no income)

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weames
Thank you for the post. It is always helpful and inspiring to hear a another's
success story.

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broabprobe
Funny I'm listening to Peter Diamandis give a lecture in the next room over as
I read this.

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ivanbrussik
you earned a point from me, even if I have no idea what it is you do (ok, I
know you catalog space stuff)

most of all this little guide you posted is very transferable, thanks a ton.

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pahans
thanks Ian. learnt a lot from your article.

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davidgerard
Blog about your technical issues! Yes!

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exo_duz
Congrats Ian. Perseverence is key!

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andyl
What was the acquisition price (range) ?

~~~
mathattack
I was wondering the same. My guess is it's "Enough to finance the next
project" rather than "Enough for a new life" but Im' interested in the
outcome.

Good story no matter what!

~~~
aquark
Sounds like the author was acquired as well: "I’ve accepted a Software
Engineer position at Planetary Resources starting in November"

~~~
S4M
I do believe getting a position at Planetary Resources itself is worth having
done the project.

~~~
mathattack
Indeed. Really the story could be, "How my side project landed me my dream
job."

------
contextual
Thanks for the vitamin C shot of inspiration. I'm working on a project to
dramatically diminish the need for animal-testing in science experiments[1],
and the process has been humbling. I know little about science.

As you recommended in the article, I've been speaking with scientists from
around the world (and anyone else who will listen) and learning as much as I
can, as fast as I can.

Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki was right, "in the beginner's mind there are many
possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few".

[1][http://selfexperiments.com](http://selfexperiments.com)

~~~
nutjob123
"I'm working on a project to dramatically diminish the need for animal-testing
in science experiments"

That sounds straight up crazy since animal-testing is an improvement on human
testing but big ideas are always intimidating.

------
sideproject
Love the project! And of course, for those side projects that do get
abandoned, you can find them at
[http://sideprojectors.com](http://sideprojectors.com)

