
Building a Startup in 45 Minutes per Day While Deployed in Iraq - essayoh
http://mattmazur.com/2016/01/04/building-a-startup-in-45-minutes-per-day-while-deployed-to-iraq/
======
tbrock
Somewhat related: I have this fantasy where I actually make a living working a
non-technical job that is relatively simple to do but where I'm able to read
and think about what I would build when I get back to the keyboard all day
long.

I'd spend the days thinking about building and how you would do it for 90% of
the time but only spend 5-10% of my time executing. The rest of the time is
thinking, planning, and re-thinking things I've done, imagining the tweaks and
enhancements I'd get to pump out when I have the chance.

The best code I write is when I have it all figured out ahead of time, the
problem is paged-in, and my fingers are merely transcribing the stream of
consciousness. I just need a couple of moments to get it out.

Dissimilarly, I would imagine that, being deployed in Iraq, this guy doesn't
have much time to think about his startup when doing his non-technical job (as
it _IS_ a demanding one) but imagine being a sniper spending your time hiding
in the brush thinking about what you would build when you could build it. I'm
romanticizing war now though...

~~~
adanto6840
Mail carrier, or maybe police officer. I have the same fantasy. :-)

~~~
tbrock
I always think it would be security guard of an extremely secure and remote
facility. Something snowed in where it's warm inside and there is fast
internet.

~~~
asciimo
Amazing. That's almost exactly my fantasy scenario. Also: lighthouse keeper,
park ranger.

~~~
tbrock
Lighthouse keeper! Brilliant. If monkey brains could do gigabit for me there
I'd be in heaven.

~~~
lazyant
I don't think there's any lighthouses left that require a keeper, at least in
first world countries.

~~~
bluejekyll
I think these are fantasies, it seems a little mean to burst them with
reality.

------
matt1
Hey all - author and longtime HackerNews user here. It's a nice surprise
coming back from an evening away from the computer and finding this at the top
of front page. Whatever success I've had with Lean Domain Search is due in
large part to what I've learned from this community.

Here's the original HackerNews launch post from 4 years back for context:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470977](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470977).

I'm happy to answer any questions about Lean Domain Search, the deployment,
etc.

~~~
yitchelle
How did you managed to switch context so cleanly between working about your
side project and on your day job? I would imagine that you day job would be
quite stressful, and getting 45mins may not be possible every day.

~~~
matt1
Great question - I think the more well-defined your next task is, the easier
it's going to be for you to context switch because you don't have to take time
to figure out what to work on next. One thing to experiment with is when
you're done working for the day, jot down a note of specifically what you want
to work on the next time you sit down at your computer. The clearer it is and
the less amount of problem solving it requires, the easier it's going to be
for you to get back into the flow.

~~~
yitchelle
Thanks for the great answer. Is that how it panned out for you? Love to hear
your experience about this.

Typically, I would find it difficult for get into the zone to get work done
within 45min period.

Huge congrats to you for being pulling this off in such difficult
circumstances.

~~~
matt1
I suspect that if you had a hard limit of 45 minutes after which time you
could no longer work on your task, you'd adapt and find yourself able to get
in the zone much more quickly.

It also becomes easier the more you do it. I've been doing side projects for
many years.

~~~
yitchelle
I guess that phrase "adapt or die" is apt here. Thanks for the answers.

------
idorosen
The title should probably read "Doing a Side Project Website in 45 Minutes per
Day While Deployed in Iraq," or "How to test the market for viability of an
idea in 45 minutes per day," etc. Maybe "startup" has become meaningless...

I don't mean to diminish the accomplishments of the author, Lean Domain Search
is a nice tool he built, and may even be a good way to test a market. Doing so
while distracted by military service / a full time job certainly shows
impressive drive/willpower. However, to build a company that might (someday)
involve more than a 1 man show requires more than 45 minutes per day of
attention, especially if other people's livelihoods are(/will be) dependent on
you.

------
ZanyProgrammer
Since he was an officer (where you are generally treated much, much better
than an enlisted person)and in the Air Force, and only spending 5 months in
Iraq, I can believe he did all of this. Though certainly not representative of
the average solider/marine who was deployed to Iraq.

~~~
SocksCanClose
Actually given the 80/20 support-to-operator ratio throughout the wars, I
would say this is actually quite representative of what most people's
experience in the recent wars.

~~~
dtroja
This. OP described his duties as 12 hour shifts. This guy was a fobbit. Now
there are fobbits who work their ass off and do great, important work. I loved
them. I was one once. None of them describe their work as a 12-hour shift. OP
also quickly put his service in the context of marking time until his
commitment was complete. "Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back
in!"

Thanks for your service. And a sincere !Congratulations! on your success. But
the title is link-bait which exploits the experience of those who had it much
tougher than you. Stay in your lane.

~~~
hudibras
The title is 100% accurate (unless you want to split hairs on the definition
of "startup"), so what's the problem?

The point is that he built something in less than an hour a day during his
free time.

~~~
alaskamiller
Those of us in the military community are, and try to be, very precise about
inferring proper context because it's a matter of honor and dignity in life
and death.

~~~
hudibras
Those of us in the military community have a saying: "Lighten up, Francis."

As for me, when I read the title, I immediately assumed that the author was
stationed at a base in Iraq and worked on his project during his down time.
Upon reading the article, this assumption turned out to be correct.

------
hudibras
I knew I recognized that name somewhere. Matt had a bunch of really
interesting articles a while back about building poker bots to play online.

[http://mattmazur.com/category/poker-
bot/](http://mattmazur.com/category/poker-bot/)

Didn't know that he was active duty in the military at the time, though...

~~~
yitchelle
I think that response from online poker was not unexpected. :-)

------
suyash
That begs the question, can we define once and for all what is the difference
between startup and side/pet projects?

There was no mention about revenues or even users. I found the story very
inspiring but the terms need to be clarified else startup is going to be used
very loosely. We might as well all call ourselves founders/ceo's/entrepreneurs
in which case.

~~~
johnloeber
> Begs the question

Begging the question is an informal logical fallacy
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question)).
You mean this _raises_ the question.

> what is the difference between startup and side/pet projects

It's a very large and fluid boundary. Lots of startups take less time than
"side" projects, lots of side projects turn into incorporated startups, etc.
If in doubt, just say you're working on a project.

> We might as well all call ourselves founders/ceo's/entrepreneurs

Lots of people do that. I would suggest not so much focusing on your title,
but rather focusing on your work, and bringing it to the point at which you
can proudly call yourself by whatever title you deserve.

~~~
vacri
> _Begging the question is an informal logical fallacy_

Usage dictates meaning. More people use and understand 'begs the question' in
the GP's context than in the logical fallacy context. Few members of the
public could even tell you what an 'informal logical fallacy' is (even the
idea of it without that specific label).

Edit: your own wikipedia link even points out this same point, at the end in
the Modern Usage section.

~~~
jacalata
I'm pretty sure the only place you're allowed to call out this use of "begging
the question" is when responding to someone who is objecting to some other
form of linguistic drift, so it was OK in this case.

------
choxi
One of our students at Bloc was on active duty in Qatar while learning Ruby on
Rails from us. It's interesting to see the new lifestyles and opportunities
that are created when accessibility is unlocked by the Internet.

------
rdl
I ran into a lot of NG/RC people (especially, but even some full time active
duty people) in Iraq/Afghanistan 2004-2010 who were doing a pretty good job
keeping businesses running back home. (I was selling Internet access, and
while a lot of people were worried about $25/mo, if you ran a business you'd
often be happy spending $500/mo to ensure you had good access -- this was
before NIPR, base-wide wifi, etc.)

Great product, btw -- I've seen it on here before I think. And thank you for
you service.

------
chatwinra
Fantastic post! Well done Matt.

I'm in a similar situation where I'm working full time whilst trying to finish
off a game in my spare time.

I find what helps is to have a clear goal for each work session. Even if it's
tiny like 'fix this bug' or 'update this text', you finish working and feel
like you've made progress. Too many times in the past I've just started
working, lost focus and ended up trying to look at several things on the game
and finishing none of them.

------
boothead
I learned to program on a warship heading to Iraq in 2003. From a book, with
no internet. It's amazing what constraint's will do for you - I'm not sure I'd
achieve that feat now in the presence of constant distraction!

------
wdewind
This is also not the only project Matt was working on while deployed because I
remember talking to him via email about some other pretty ambitious stuff.
Kudos to Matt for really taking away the excuse of not being able to try
something on the side even when you're fully employed.

------
austinhutch
Lean Domain Search is a fantastic site and is my go to for generating ideas
for domain names. Thanks for your service and for building a great site!

------
itsthisjustin
This is an awesome post. I'm also a huge fan of lean domain search and use it
all the time when starting a new project. So hats off man!

------
glossyscr
Impressive.

I used LeanDomainSearch many, many times and this proves that a single guy
with so little time can accomplish great things.

------
gmays
I had the opportunity to meet Matt at MicroConf in 2013--hell of a guy. We hit
it off since we were both active duty at the time and had similar stories.
He's one of the most well-rounded guys I know in terms of dev and product
chops.

The tool he built (Lean Domain Search) is great for finding hidden gems if
you're looking for a new name for a project with the .com available.

------
aledalgrande
It's inspiring to be able to start something from anywhere and in any
situation, but I would reconsider how easy is to follow up with that and how
much time you have to put in.

Even the author of 4 hour work week in the end had to work an incredible
amount of hours between marketing and networking. Getting to the point of
break even is not a piece of cake.

------
sireat
A more objective title would have been how a side-project led to an acquihire
at Automatic.

It is still an inspirational story somewhat similar to path taken by patio11.

Are there any side projects which actually have turned into sustainable
lifestyle businesses or better?

------
Chris2048
At first, I misread that as "building a startup in 45 minutes, per day"

------
jcampbell1
Holy flying fuck. I bought several domains using leandomain search. It is the
best. I bought them during hackathons, and earned a prize for both.

You were shooting bad guys, I was typing code for hackathons. Guess we both
won?

------
teekert
This links to a blank page for me.

------
bau5
Wow. Referring to Nassim Taleb just by his last name? Has he really attained
that level of status? He doesn't deserve it IMO, especially around here, with
his fearmongering about GMOs and his debate style on twitter.

~~~
x5n1
> fearmongering about GMOs

He has a perfectly legitimate argument against GMOs. If you don't agree with
his argument that's one thing. But this sort of argumentation style, the same
type of ad-homniem attack employed to discredit people by labeling them
conspiracy theorists when the don't go with some status quo usually
corporatist agenda, must stop. It's lazy and dumb.

~~~
davidgerard
Actual quote from Taleb:

> If a GMO-imbecile ask you for "a citation", answer: "Pls _provide a
> citation_ about requirement for a citation for a logical argument."

He finally deleted the idiot tweet in question, but it's preserved here:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20150924032003/https:/twitter.com...](http://web.archive.org/web/20150924032003/https:/twitter.com/nntaleb/status/646695656778821632)
Note also the responses citing his own university's instructions on how to
cite stuff for a logical argument.

~~~
x5n1
So you are saying that Taleb engages in the same sort of behavior that I am
talking about? Great. He needs to stop as well.

------
GFK_of_xmaspast
I hope that work wasn't done on government hardware.

~~~
SocksCanClose
unlikely -- the websites he would have needed to use to build it are usually
blocked!

~~~
BWStearns
On the civilian side I was once almost driven to tears trying to get someone
to unblock StackOverflow because it was a "social" site, though I found most
of the whitelisting guys to be much more reasonable.

