Another way to approach this is to start a consulting business full-time, and use it as a springboard for whatever product idea strikes your fancy once you're established. As in, later; like, maybe a year later.
It's true that it's hard to balance consulting and product as a bootstrapping product startup. I used to get hung up on trying to explain how doable it is while acknowledging the pitfalls. Now I think, if you're not sure which way to go, put aside the product and just get a consulting practice up and running. Don't try to balance it. Don't worry about how you'll fit product into it.
I think you'll find that starting a product (or multiple products!) from a consulting practice is much, much easier than trying to do it by quitting a full-time W2 job. Meanwhile, probably about 40% of the work you do in your consulting practice is going to apply directly to your product company --- you'll learn to sell, to bill clients, to hire, to run payroll, and (most importantly) how to work with your team members.
Yes, totally agree with this. Consulting kinda softens the blow of your product taking time to gain traction. For startups, there is calendar time and labor time. Certain things, like SEO, marketing, email lists and credibility take time to build up, no matter how hard and fast you work.
Having a consulting business to take the edge off and still have income coming in really does help.
I have thought that this might be something effective but hadn't heard it articulated in this way before. It seems like a sensible way to bootstrap, and de-couples the process of launching a product and learning how to run a business.
It's true that it's hard to balance consulting and product as a bootstrapping product startup. I used to get hung up on trying to explain how doable it is while acknowledging the pitfalls. Now I think, if you're not sure which way to go, put aside the product and just get a consulting practice up and running. Don't try to balance it. Don't worry about how you'll fit product into it.
I think you'll find that starting a product (or multiple products!) from a consulting practice is much, much easier than trying to do it by quitting a full-time W2 job. Meanwhile, probably about 40% of the work you do in your consulting practice is going to apply directly to your product company --- you'll learn to sell, to bill clients, to hire, to run payroll, and (most importantly) how to work with your team members.