Bootstrapping side-projects

My presentation about side-project and how to make money with them.

Transcript

1. Bootstrapping side-projects Stanislav Katkov … or why you should have one and how to run it.
2. Been here before!
3. Husband and Dad now!!
4. Side-business: www.ashop.co
5. Side business - Operated by individual who already owns one business or while working on another job. - Key decision - filling consumer’s need, solving a big enough problem to be able to charge for it
6. Motivation
7. Money?
8. Golden handicaps No doubt - we all worked really hard to get what we have now. But there are other people in different professions that work really hard too, but they have way less.
9. Yeat… ...we operate in a world of corporate politics, bureaucracy, envy and greed— a world so depressing, that many people quit in frustration, never to come back.
10. Viktor Frankl “Man's Search for Meaning”: “Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.”
12. Fuck you money “any amount of money allowing infinite perpetuation of wealth necessary to maintain a desired lifestyle without needing employment or assistance from anyone.”
13. Practice your craft without limitations
14. Why bootstrapped?
15. Startups drop like flies 01 9 out of 10 startups fail (source: Startup Genome) 02 7.5 out of 10 venture-backed startups fail (source: Shikhar Ghosh). 03 2 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first year of operations (source: Bureau of Labor).
16. Being a startup founder is brutal. "Entrepreneurs have struggled silently. There's a sense that they can't talk about it, that it's a weakness."
17. “Pinboard buys social bookmarking site del.icio.us and closes it down”
18. Idea stage
19. Essentially, only 3 ways to make money 01 Build a best product on a market, charge premium. 02 Make a mass product, charge cheap. 03 Build a niche product, charge premium.
20. Go business to business
21. Don’t do games - One of most competitive market in the world - Competing with a high budget studios directly - If your not profitable in 3 months, you are done
22. Don't do SaaS as a first side-business. • Develop an app
23. Don't do SaaS as a first side-business. • Develop an app • Design • Testing • Server administration • Security • Automated deploys • DevOps • User management • Customer Support • Monitoring • Emails • Invoicing • Bookkeeping • Marketing site • Admin application • Backups • Data import/export • Onboarding
24. Consider productized service
25. Don't underestimate a role of luck. Increase your luck surface.
26. Sales + development = superpowers
27. Execution
28. If you give up at least 1% ownership of a project. It’s not yours anymore...
29. Long, slow SaaS ramp of death
30. Build a funnel
31. If you released a product your not ashamed of, you wasted too much time on it.
32. People are expensive!
33. Simple > Easy
34. Every feedback you receive is a gift.
35. “Busy is the new stupid” © Bill Gates Results = (Hard Work*Time)^Strategy
36. Make sure to understand Customer lifetime value
37. Thank you. • Seth Godin • Microconf • Patrick McKenzie (patio11) • Gail Goodman • skatkov.com • aShop.co • Twitter: 5katkov • podcast “бубнилово инди разработчика”