

Bootstrapping - the secret work week - dholowiski
http://onepix.me/blogs/6-Bootstrapping-the-secret-work-week

======
a5seo
I did this while working for a startup in the late 90's. I built the site in 6
mos of hacking away from 8p to 2a every day. My days usually went: arrive at
work at 10am, leave at 7p. Eat from 7:30-8. I worked, my wife read or watched
tv. She went to bed around 11, I came in around 2a.

After 6 months she was pretty pissed about the schedule. But after 7 years of
bootstrapping, we sold our "side project" for over $10 million and she's
pretty happy about it now.

------
run4yourlives
This pattern simply isn't sustainable and should not be maintained for
anything other than short bursts.

The level of those short bursts is variable based on your own individual
conditions (i.e., single college kids vs. married fathers of two), but the end
state is the same if exceeded: burnout.

My advice would be to find a method that works well, and do it longer. The
world is not going to end because your MVP wasn't released in three months.

~~~
vinnycoyne
I've also tried the same and found myself getting sick quite often. In my
experience, the downtime from being ill practically canceled out the late
nights.

------
cgarvey
This is really ground breaking stuff. You mean to tell me that instead of
enjoying my friends and family and experiencing all that life has to offer, I
can simply work on my Web app? Whoa.

Seriously though, why sacrifice so much for a mere 'side-project'? Either get
a better/bigger idea and make IT your full-time work, or find a 40hr./week job
that is fulfilling to you.

There is no other side project that will be as rewarding in the end as living
your life freely with your family and friends. This is the last thing you
should be sacrificing.

~~~
viscanti
You're making the mistake of assuming your values are universally held by
everyone else. They aren't. Some people really enjoy building something, even
if that means not spending as much time with family/friends. Different people
have different values/priorities and are in different parts of their lives
(i.e someone with kids spends significantly more time with their kids than
someone without kids).

You seem to be implying that the only value someone could get out of building
something is a full time job. That's not true at all. There's value in
learning and getting better at building things. There's value in enjoying what
you do and taking pride in building something you're proud of, even if it
never makes a dollar.

~~~
trebor
And you imply that there _isn't_ value in having friends and family, spending
time with your spouse and kids. When a person has a spouse and kids they have
responsibilities to their family. Not everyone has _your_ values either.

As someone who has just taken his first employment, I've only been self-
employed up to this point, I've found that even a 40 hour work week is
restrictive. I'm still used to spending time with my family when work is low,
or when I need to distance myself from a problem to properly think about it. I
can't even lean into the other room now and ask, "Hey, anyone else want a cup
of tea?" on my weekdays now.

I've fallen straight into schedule hell because I am a morning person, and now
my only real time to "do things" with friends and family is in the evening...
when I want/need to get some sleep.

You might call it selfish if you like, but how selfish is it to

> _There's value in learning and getting better at building things. There's
> value in enjoying what you do and taking pride in building something you're
> proud of, even if it never makes a dollar._

at the cost of your friends and family? Especially your family! Too many kids
grow up without parents _because_ their parents are selfish workaholics.

Just because the values aren't held universally doesn't make them invalid.
Sometimes, what is held universally is the worst thing you could possibly
hold. You might grab an electric fence and feel okay, but who are you touching
that's getting shocked in your stead?

~~~
viscanti
The only thing I'm implying is that different people have different
values/priorities. My post explicitly states that some people have more family
obligations than others.

That said, friends and family isn't a specific obligation for a set number of
hours, that if you get in 30 less minutes one week it all blows up. It's a
continuum of possible activities. Everyone needs to make their own choice. It
seems silly to criticize someone else for doing a "side project", by implying
that it must always be at the cost of friends and family. It's not.

------
dazzla
Assuming you are doing this to create a business and not for... fun. Work
smarter instead of longer. Sign up for the Micropreneur Academy they have a
lot of great articles for working smarter <http://www.micropreneur.com>

It boils down to stop trying to do everything yourself. Put a dollar value per
hour on your time and aim for $75 - $100. Then you realize doing something
yourself is NOT free but extremely expensive. Then you can look into
outsourcing (programming, virtual assistant, copy writing, etc) with a more
open mind. Once you are doing that you are making much more effective use of
your time and you will not need as much time to get more done than you are
now.

Following this (especially points 6-8) worked really well for me
<http://sivers.org/how2hire>.

It took me a really long time to get this and actually do something about it.
It's very liberating and exciting to see completed work come back.

~~~
dholowiski
One month of doing this in my spare time has cost me 196 hours of my spare
time. At $75 an hour, that's $14,700. I do have 196 hours of spare time, I do
not have $14,700.

~~~
dazzla
So you have spent $14,700. You could have reduced that to $4,000 by
outsourcing at a high $20/hr and got it done sooner. You might have been
collecting revenue by now. Your project would have been further along and
you'd have more time to enjoy life, move the project even further along or do
another project.

------
rglover
I did this (for six months) up until recently (quit my job) and I can say that
it's a great means for getting your project started. If you're in a situation
where you don't have a lot of money saved up and need a job, nothing beats
spending time in the evenings and weekends working on your idea. The only
caveat that wasn't really noted by the author is that it's NOT EASY. When all
of your time is occupied with work (even if you view your project as
fun/something you enjoy, it's still hard work), you can get worn out very
easily. Be warned that this requires a lot of dedication and focus (sometimes
you skip going out on the weekend to build a new feature). It will suck at
times but once you get into a flow, it gets easier. What's more, make sure you
explain what you're doing with any significant others (girlfriend, wife,
boyfriend, husband) as this will detract a lot of time from your relationship
and you'll need support for what you're doing.

~~~
dconway
I'm doing a less intense version of this now. Taking breaks (sometimes whole-
day breaks) helps prevent burnout. Nontechnical breaks are especially good:
house chores, exercise, meals. (I actually let the dishes pile up a bit so I
can wash them as a break and come back feeling productive.)

~~~
kerryfalk
For me finding something to wind down every couple days at the end of the day
to bring me back to reality and out of the world in my head helps a lot. I
wouldn't have been able to do it for as long as I have without it.

I watch movies. Lots of movies. Probably two a week on iTunes. I end up
getting a little less sleep usually because I don't start them until 11 or
11:30 but it seems to help me keep my sanity.

------
timjahn
"But if you're not willing to sacrifice everything, then why are you even
here?"

I hope you're not suggesting that an entrepreneur must be willing to sacrifice
family time (or having a family at all) to be successful.

Because that's definitely bullshit.

------
munin
You could follow in the footsteps of real productivity whizzes like Paul Erdos
and replace (most of) your time spent sleeping with amphetamine use.

"Drugs!?" hey, don't make the mistake of assuming that your values are
universally held by everyone else...

------
DanielShir
How long will you be able to pull this off? 2 weeks? Maybe 3 weeks at best.
And you'll be suffering from burnout so bad you wouldn't want to look at your
project ever again.

~~~
mlwarren
I suppose that depends on the individual, their life situation (single,
married, college student, full time job, etc), and how long they can stay
excited about their idea.

I'm curious about how long the OP specifically has been pulling these 49 hour
additional work-weeks.

~~~
dholowiski
I'm at about 6 weeks now, and counting. Part of the reason I need to do this
is that I'm a relatively novice coder so it takes me 2-4x as long to do
anything as a 'good' coder would. I understand, this kind of work is not
sustainable, but it's very satisfying to get so much done while still working
a day job. And of course, this has a ton to do with my life situation...
single, living a long way from family, few friends - this would clearly not
work for most people.

------
igorgue
It's not about time... in fact having less time helped me a lot to bootstrap
my company, we have a few signups right now. And yes, this sounds
37signalsish.

I'd say it's more important to have co-founders that like the bootstraping
idea too than having more time.

My startup, btw, is something like Punchd but not requiring everyone to have
an iPhone, I built the web application (Python, Django... I even have some
tests (integration and unit tests)), a mobile web app (JQuery UI), an iPhone
app, web admin dashboard (stats, pretty graphs), etc etc.

All this in like 4 months of bootstraping, putting 1-3 hr a day (sometimes a
lot more) and a saturday or sunday here and then. Seriously I think we have
most of the features that Punchd or Five Star Card have and all this with my
own money we own 100% of the company.

By far we're not profitable, but as soon as one client starts paying (next
month, crossing fingers)... boom profit.

I don't know, maybe we have a very good work ethic, but we do fuck around a
lot! (Hacker News, parties yay!)

------
Sukotto

      It's tough when you're bootstrapping a web app and 
      still have a day job.
    

Beware of $dayjob claiming your $idea once it shows signs of taking off.

I think you should tell your day-job about your potential business _before you
start_. Get them to sign something that says

1) You agree not to use equipment/premises belonging to $dayjob to build $idea

2) You will never work on $idea during any hours you're getting paid by
$dayjob

3) $idea does not directly compete with $dayjob

4) They recognize that they have no claim to $idea or anything else you build
to support it

If $dayjob is a large enough to have a dedicated HR dept they probably have a
specific form to fill out.

~~~
vailripper
Also depends on where you live. For example, in Washington an employer cannot
claim ownership of something you built in your own time, assuming that you
didn't use any of their resources.

~~~
Sukotto
That may be true. I still think you're smart to clear away potential
encumbrances before actually starting.

If nothing else, it will make your life easier if you ever want to take on
funding for your new business.

------
mixmastamyk
I like it, I've done it... but you've really got to take Sunday off. Working
seven days a week can only last a month or two before you start dying.

------
hkarthik
I did this for about a year while bootstrapping a project and it was extremely
tiring. Also, I had a one year old at the time. I recently abandoned the
project for other reasons, but even had I continued, I'm pretty sure the pace
would have burned me out sooner or later.

Now I've got the itch to pursue another idea, but I've got a 2 year old and a
4 month old at home so I'm a lot more wary.

I think if I was to have another go at it, I'd find a co-founder who has a
similar family situation so we can help each other through the rough patches.
Going solo with this kind of schedule and having a family life is a little
maddening.

------
alexwolfe
Although this might work for some people I have found personally that creating
a sustainable lifestyle is probably best. Setting a schedule that is mentally,
physically, and emotionally draining is not a recipe for success in my
experience.

The process of building something (although difficult) should be fun (at least
part of the time). If you're having a great time doing something chances are
you are more productive and willing to stick it out over the long term.

If you need more time freelancing could be a viable option that affords you
the financial and mental stability of a regular job while working on your own
project. The reality is that there are probably many ways to go about this but
I think it is important not to sacrifice your happiness. If most startups
fail, throwing your life at it (Social, Romantic, etc.) will certainly make
things worse if your project does not work out.

------
reidbradford
This pattern has worked for me too - except for the crippling tendonitis I
ended up with, not to mention finding out that my girlfriend (since high
school) felt so abandoned that she started cheating on me. But you can't beat
this system for productivity.

------
yesimahuman
I do love the morning work hours. I've been getting up a bit early lately to
work on stuff and I love it.

That being said, I prefer more work life balance. I do suggest looking at how
much coding you are doing and make sure you aren't doing too much. One of the
biggest mistakes I made with my last startup was thinking coding would make us
successful. I should have spent more time measuring and selling and not
pivoting every time we received criticism or a "better idea."

Good luck!

------
wen
Have you thought about working part time? Work 20 hours instead of 40 hours
for your day job. Trying to keep up with this kind of schedule is really
detrimental to your health and you can't buy your health with any amount of
money. Don't forget, building a company is not just about having a good
product, it's also about networking and communicating with your potential
users.

------
pnathan
This reminds me of part-timing graduate school!

It's a hellish experience, full of not being able to do other things with my
life including maintaining my health and expanding my life outside of the
computer screen!

------
thibaut_barrere
A few meta-comments if the author comes here:

\- Chrome complains about resources served as non-ssl

\- I could not find your name on the site (I just wondered who was being the
service)

Hope this helps!

~~~
dholowiski
Thanks. It's me (name, email in my profile) and I'm still working out some
kinks on the site... because i use Disqus for the comments they are being
served non-ssl which is causing the error... I have to fix that.

------
mrbgty
haha, so, work nights and weekends. Thanks for the tip :)

