4 things I learnt in 4 months of being a (solo) founder
I am one week away from closing in on 4 months of being a founder- that is, of having started this journey from complete scratch and with no goddamn idea of what I'm getting into. So I wrote a little retrospective piece, both to lock it in as progress in my own journey and in case it helps anyone else just getting started: https://mean-bean.com/2020/10/26/4-things-i-learnt-in-4-months-of-being-a-founder/
I really liked this -- I've been working on the side for a while, however recently I've been able to start dedicating myself full-time due to unfortunate life circumstances. After a couple of years with my old idea I've completely pivoted and am starting all over from scratch building out a new product.
It was depressing deleting a lot of what I had worked on, albeit part-time over the past two years. I'm finding being a solo founder without any support system in place is one of the hardest things I've ever done (background of ~10 years of profession software development for as an employee for many different companies). I still have a lot of work to do before I have anything tangible to show for myself, any suggestions where to look for a support network when you're a solo founder?
Thank you for your comment- I can definitely understand it's hard to leave things you put in so much time and effort into behind, but it's a learning experience and I am sure you grew so much from that experience: it brought you here! So it's not lost. It is extremely difficult being a solo founder- it is alienating, and you are alone, and all the doubt that comes without having any revenue with the product you're working on hits you five times harder, because you have no one to bounce back from. I started joining a lot of founder groups- there is a Solo Founders Group here on indiehackers as well, and they meet once a week. There is the YC Startup School, which holds group sessions once a week as well, and there are plenty of Slack channels- both tech and just conversational that you can join, as well as YC Startup School's Discord channel for quicker feedback. I think it's most important to get an informal network first- there will be other founders that you speak to, and that struggle just as much as you do, and you'll just become friends, and update eachother over the progress you're making. I would start with this. Afterwards, you'll need a professional support network- mentors. And for mentors, it will be a more intentional search, as you need to find people with serious skills, background, experience and charisma to help you out on your journey. If you have more stuff you want to discuss, you can 9000% email me at andreea@mean-bean.com :)