

Ask HN: My startup is ramping up but I have no time. What next? - astrowilliam

The last time I asked HN I wanted to know when I should be looking for funding. I have a great product, lots of quality traffic and a decent fan base. In the first year of business I&#x27;ve had 500,000 unique users to my site. It&#x27;s a news site.<p>I have a full time job and do the project on the side. I&#x27;ve never thought of making money from it, but it would be nice to cover my hosting bills and maybe a car payment.<p>My problem is that my full time job takes up 3&#x2F;4 of my day. It&#x27;s 11pm right now and I&#x27;m still on a job related task. I don&#x27;t see it letting up any time soon and I&#x27;m afraid that my time for the site will be limited.<p>Here&#x27;s my question:<p>How do I find the time to go after investors and get some capital behind the project without quitting my day job but still have time to do it?<p>I can&#x27;t let it die, it&#x27;s my passion. It&#x27;s what I think about when I wake up, while I work and before I sleep.<p>Any suggestions?
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tommaxwell
Investors won't want to invest in someone that isn't fully committed to their
vision. Just imagine if someone asked you to invest your hard-earned money in
them, but they didn't even believe in their idea enough to actually leave
their day job. Would you be comfortable with placing that bet?

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astrowilliam
At this time I'm not financially ready to jump ship from my day job. If I had
financial backing to allow me to work on it full time, of course I would. At
this time it's not a viable option. I need my day job to pay my bills.

I think I have put a hell of a lot of effort into it considering I work 10-12
hour days at my normal job.

I believe some investors would see the growth patterns and understand that the
future looks bright.

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smartwater
You could pay yourself a salary from the investor money. Happens all the time.

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kevinrpope
That is what he's saying with the "If I had financial backing" bit. He wants
investor money in order to pay himself a salary and quit his day job, but
hasn't been able to get the money yet.

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astrowilliam
Exactly. I'm building the site, holding a day job and trying to find the next
step forward as far as investors go. No investments yet, but the future looks
bright ;)

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horyd
"I can't let it die, it's my passion. It's what I think about when I wake up,
while I work and before I sleep."

Then why don't you make it your day job?

~~~
astrowilliam
I need my day job to pay my bills. The site doesn't make enough on its own to
do that yet. Once it does I'll be doing it 100%.

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jkaykin
Would love to hear more about your startup. Could you provide a link as well?
Thanks.

~~~
astrowilliam
A little over a year ago I decided to take the plunge and pursue a life long
dream of mine to be involved with the niche market of space exploration. I've
always been interested in the topic but have never really done anything with
it.

I started a blog and it kind of took off due to the Mars Curiosity landing.
That was the first big step for me, it destroyed my servers. The traffic was
too much to keep up with. After some hard work and determination I've gotten
it to a place where it gets a steady stream of traffic.

I'm in contact with the folks at NASA, SpaceX, etc and am working on stories
that other space outlets don't cover. I have tons of respect for the other
blogs and news sites out there, but my take on it is a little different. I'm a
normal guy that loves everything about the mystery that is space.

Here's a link to the site
[http://www.spaceindustrynews.com](http://www.spaceindustrynews.com) .

A lot of work has gone into the layout recently and I'm continuing to work on
it on a daily basis, tweaking small things, optimizing code for load time,
caching, minimizing, cdn-ing.

Thanks for your interest. If you have any feedback it would be greatly
appreciated.

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jkaykin
Others may disagree with this but have you considered getting a cofounder?

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astrowilliam
I have. I'm open to the idea. I have no problem sharing my dream with someone
else because it is possible that it's their dream as well.

I've been reaching out for contributors as well, that may keep it afloat while
I work at my day job.

~~~
jkaykin
I think, then, that may be your best route.

~~~
astrowilliam
I will continue to reach out to the people in the industry that I know and
hopefully someone will reply in kind. As of now those that I've talked with
about helping run the project are almost as busy as myself.

A lot of people in my industry have a great passion for it but most of them
want to get paid for the work, I have no money to invest in them. I do give
them the option to have a direct say in the company as well as invest in its
future which will benefit them.

I'm a generous man and I take care of those that help me out, just gotta find
the right ones with enough passion and time to help.

Thank you so much for your replies.

