
Ask HN: Any solopreneurs here? - sandeepshetty
Would love to connect and exchange notes with other solopreneurs.<p>* What businesses do you run?
* How much time do you spend on them?
* How long have you been at it?
* Do you outsource to contractors, VA's?
* Is is sustainable or do you have to take up day jobs or do consulting on the side?
* How do you deal with being the only employee (motivation, validation, automation, ...)?
======
dangrossman
As I said in the "recurring income" thread recently, I'm mainly working on
<http://www.improvely.com> , <http://www.w3counter.com> and
<http://www.dialshield.com>

This is my full-time business, and I've been building it since half-way into
my freshman year of college 8 years ago. I don't generally outsource anything
-- I really enjoy all aspects of the work, from design and development to
helping onboard new customers to managing marketing efforts.

Being the only employee does mean everything needs to be automated. I use
Pingdom to check that every site and API is responding with proper content.
Monit and custom scripts make sure various services/daemons are always running
on the right servers, and restart them if something fails. Everything is set
to SMS me, and I'm never far from a computer, even on vacation.

When you're the sole employee, you're the one responsible for disaster
recovery. Data center on fire, hard drive corrupt, billing mistake, etc. --
your problem, at 3AM when you get that SMS that your service is down.

So prepare for that. Keep all code in a ready-to-deploy state in a hosted
repository, with local copies in case the repo host is down too. Keep all your
service configuration files backed up too, or have scripts that can deploy
them automatically. Have all your databases backed up, automatically, to at
least two different data centers. Don't hard-code IP addresses in your code.
Test all these things. These days, every server I have could be hit by a nuke,
and I could have my customers back online as fast as new servers provision and
DNS caches refresh.

The only issue is keeping support requests manageable. I have almost 100k
users across all the sites. Requests come in through SnapEngage, ZenDesk
tickets, feedback forms in the app and e-mails. I try to treat every support
request as an opportunity to make something easier to find or easier to do so
that the next person in the same position doesn't need to contact me -- fix
the bug, fix the process, create a FAQ entry, make the documentation easier to
find, etc.

~~~
sandeepshetty
Dan, your work is very impressive & inspiring.

Where do you host your apps?

~~~
dangrossman
SoftLayer primarily. They're rock solid, their hardware is top notch, their
management tools and infrastructure are top notch, their support staff is top
notch even at 3AM on a weekend.

------
ronyeh
I'm a solopreneur, and I work on iOS apps. I've been at it for 2 years now
(!). I have not outsourced to contractors, and have been doing all the coding
and art myself.

Check out my apps at: <http://www.squarepoet.com/>

My best performing app is Tiny Piano, which recently reached 2 million
downloads: <http://itunes.apple.com/app/id477014214> I also recently updated
my Japanese learning game: <http://itunes.apple.com/app/id492005575>

My company became profitable starting this June. Tiny Piano has made enough
revenue over the past several months to pay all my bills, though revenue is
dropping fast. :-) That's how the App Store works... you get an early bump and
then your downloads begin to trail off.

I left my full-time job 2 yrs ago, and so I spend most of my waking hours
hacking on apps.

I'm a pretty competitive person, so wanting to "win" or wanting to "not fail"
keeps me motivated enough. I have a few concrete goals that keep me focused.
1) Get 10M+ downloads so I can say on my resume that I made a "hit" app. 2)
Buy a house in the Bay Area. :-)

~~~
sandeepshetty
You seem to be doing pretty good. A couple of questions:

1\. Is this ("Tiny Piano has made enough revenue over the past several months
to pay all my bills") all ad revenue Edit: Just saw the in-app song pack
purchases. Is that where all the revenue is coming from?

2\. Isn't, the music niche very competitive on the app store? What are you
doing differently?

3\. Given that (as you say) downloads begin to trail off, how are you planning
on getting to 10M+ downloads?

4\. I like the specific goals :) Is being specific (10M+ downloads) a hack you
had to come up with to stay focused or just something you wanted?

5\. Are you a musician yourself?

~~~
ronyeh
1\. About 33% of my revenue is from sales. 67% is ad revenue.

2\. Yes, it is very competitive. My app has dropped from the #8 spot in
iPad/Free/Music to the #41, and it's hurting. :-) It has done very well in
east Asian markets though.

3\. Not sure. I might try to add some viral channels in the app. Otherwise,
I'll have to slog it out, and get to 10M+ the slow way.

4\. Specific goals is more or less a hack / dangling carrot. It's hard to say,
"I'll succeed when I succeed." Two years ago, my specific goal was to launch a
single app. This January, my goal was to make revenue. Now that I'm making
some revenue, my goal is higher. Maybe when I hit 10M, I'll want to hit 100M?
:-)

5\. No, I'm not a musician. That's why I built the easiest piano on the App
Store. :-) If you have an iOS device, download it and let me know what you
think! <http://itunes.apple.com/app/id477014214>

~~~
sandeepshetty
Your answers lead me naturally to my next question :)

Why/how did you choose to build music related apps (given that it's a
competitive space and your not a musician)?

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Hoping you'll reach your goals sooner
rather than later :)

~~~
ronyeh
I've always been interested in learning to play instruments (who isn't?). I
tried playing piano when I was younger, but gave up. I am currently (on and
off) trying to learn guitar.

I had just bought an iPad in 2010, and was playing around with it and thought
that it'd be cool to play guitar on it. I made a quick prototype and sent a
video to two friends. They said it was cool. So I committed and started
hacking. :-)

------
ohashi
I will be launching the big one at the end of this month. It's _different_
kind of review site called Review Signal. I work full time on it (including
most weekends). I've been working on this project for ~1.5 years with a few
small breaks. I outsource small things like PSD slicing/coding. I work with a
talented designer on the UI.

It's not sustainable in the sense it's making money now, it's made a small
amount off the beta but nowhere near livable. I've got other income sources
and keep expenses to a minimum. Burnt through most of my cash building this
and committing full time.

Motivation: joined Affinity Lab (coworking space in DC). I have a hard time
getting work done outside that space now. Why I end up there til 1am on a
saturday night. It surrounds me with awesome people who understand what I am
doing and we help each other constantly. I don't think I've been there a day
where I haven't been helped in some small or large way and helped someone in a
small or large way. It plays a large part in what keeps me going.

Validation: I had a private beta in march, the same coworking space was a
great place to start getting users. I also have been reaching out to people
who I think would benefit from my service and having them try it. It has
worked pretty well and the feedback really helped. I built a tool to help
automate this process as much as possible. Which leads into...

Automation: love it. I've built a lot of tools to reduce the amount of time I
spent doing things which are repetitive or semi-repetitive. As a solo founder
everything is competing for my bandwidth. There is a lot of high value,
repetitive things (hustling) which I think can be automated to some degree.
I've built some infrastructure to help me do that. Trying to constantly watch
myself and figure out where my time is best spent is important. However, this
often conflicts with motivation: doing some valuable things suck. You need to
find a balance or simply will yourself through, I don't have a good solution
for this, yet.

------
coreymaass
I've run a couple small startups as a solopreneur. Currently I'm running the
Birdy - <http://thebirdy.com>. It's been online for about a year, and I just
recently quit my job to work on it full time. The only thing I've outsourced
so far is the mobile app development (still in progress). It's ramen
profitable, so not sustainable yet, and I'm hoping to grow it to a lifestyle
business or better.

For validation, I usually turn to my users. I do a lot of user surveys and
collect a lot of feedback. For automation, I use a lot of services out there -
supportbee, google doc, build my own internal apps...

Motivation is a tough subject. Even tho I've been lucky enough to see
continuous growth of the Birdy, it's hard to stay interested, focused and
excited about it. I take breaks, I try to find related projects that interest
me, and I talk to a lot of people about it. I try to present it publicly as
often as I can, so new people hear about it, and give me feedback.

------
ed209
Not sure about "solopreneur", isn't an entrepreneur just a single person
anyway :) Although I wouldn't title myself with either.

I've worked on my own since '03, currently in here
<http://qiip.me/edlea/blogger/post/4019>

I freelance mon-fri 9-5 and I build my project evenings and weekends. When I
have enough cash I get some help from another developer.

Interestingly RescueTime says I'm ~10% more productive at weekends when I'm
working on my project... so I guess I love to work on it, so I do wish I could
do it full time.

Motivation (in no particular order): 1\. prove to myself I can do it 2\. make
money 3\. help people with a problem that stops them working on what they love
4\. [perceived] freedom 5\. challenges not in my freelance work

and if you're curious, <http://qiip.me> is my project.

~~~
sandeepshetty
I'm using "solopreneur" to mean someone running a company of one.

qiip.me looks nice. How did you get Guy Kawasaki on board? What's your plan in
terms of making money with it?

~~~
ed209
I just emailed Guy as per the suggestions of this forum (and a couple of other
people). Guy kindly replied. Hopefully have a few more names on there soon :)

Re: making money. I plan to sell extras, like premium themes etc So keep the
core product free and make worthwhile add-ons.

------
shloime
I created <http://outgrow.me> \- the first marktplace exclusively for
successfully crowdfunded projects.

I work on Outgrow.me full time, and I'm a full time student in the evenings. I
outsource here and there. I wake up each morning and punch the day in the
face.

------
keiferski
I run <http://namingkings.com/> and <http://pitchremix.com> largely by myself,
although I sometimes get friends to help and get second opinions. I probably
spend ~10 hours a week working.

I'm currently a student, but I also have a part-time job. Motivation-wise, it
definitely helps to get business. :) Every time I get a sale, it energizes me
to work on marketing the site some more. I also try to tell as many
friends/coworkers/people on the street about it. Without a co-founder, it can
be hard to stay in the entrepreneurial mindset, so telling others about it
helps reaffirm that mental state.

------
sandeepshetty
I gradually switched (since Jan 2011) to consulting part-time (I'm down to 2
days in a week) at my previous employer and I've got one product
(<http://apps.shopify.com/fliptabify>) that makes a decent amount of money
(enough to survive* but not yet comfortable) and I'm working on a few more.

Currently doing everything myself. Lucky to have a few friends I can bounce
off ideas with.

Edit: * To add more context, I'm married and have a 17 month old daughter.

~~~
ed209
I didn't realise shopify had an app market. Is it big enough to make decent
money? Does shopify take a cut of your subscription income?

~~~
sandeepshetty
It's big enough for me to make decent money and growing all the time. If you
use Shopify's billing system they take 20%.

I've written the popular PHP client adapter for the Shopify API
([http://wiki.shopify.com/Making_A_Shopify_App#.E2.80.9CI.E2.8...](http://wiki.shopify.com/Making_A_Shopify_App#.E2.80.9CI.E2.80.99m_a_PHP_developer.E2.80.9D)).
If you need any help with getting started with Shopify, feel free to get in
touch with me.

~~~
famoreira
Hi Sandeep,

Just emailed you asking for some help. I hope you don't mind :)

~~~
sandeepshetty
Replied.

------
albumedia
I'm just starting out with <http://www.jamaicanize.com> , really small
compared to other but it's a start. I've been searching HN and learning a ton.
I'm hoping to release something bigger soon :)

------
fabiandesimone
I consider myself a solopreneur. I run <http://bbguard.com.ve> which is a
panic button for BlackBerry users that live in dangerous cities (main focus in
LatinAmetica)

My email is in my profile. Would love to connect.

------
alicecombes
I've just launched <http://www.bravecreators.com> and
<http://www.alicecombes.com> and I'm hoping to turn both into businesses
eventually. I have a full time job at the moment so only have time in the
evenings and weekends.

I've tried doing other things to make money, like opening an online shop
selling craft kits, etc - but my passion wasn't there. So one thing I've
learnt is that it is very important to do what you love, follow your passion.
Your passion is your motivation.

