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AMA: I bootstrapped the product used by people in Tesla, Apple, Oracle... After 12 years - going full indie

by Samuel Briskar

Hey everyone 👋

I got a lovely invitation to start an AMA here on IH.

I have been building side projects for more than 12 years. I will quit my day job at Oracle, and next month, I will start my journey as a full-time indie maker.

I currently work on these projects:
ThreeDee - we are building 3D libraries used by people in Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Lyft, Alibaba...
citizenzNFT - building worldwide NFT brand.

So far, we got:

  • 80k+ downloads of our libraries
  • thousands of customers
  • used by big brands

I instead want to build an ecosystem of products that help each other, then just a single isolated product. In my 12 years of experience, I made/sold multiple projects & of course, some of them failed.

Links to products:
ThreeDee - http://threedee.design/
CitizenzNFT - https://citizenznft.io/

AMA! :)

Samuel Briskar's avatarSamuel Briskar
on February 8, 2022
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  1. 1

    Hey Samuel, fellow 3D founder here. I run https://polygonjs.com, a WebGL engine, and am wondering if there is potential for a partnership.

    It's not available yet, but on top of the engine itself, I'm working on a marketplace where users could give access to 3D tools, such as your character configurator. The engine is node-based, so if you're familiar with blender, it is similar to the geometry nodes (it's actually inspired by Houdini, which pioneered most of node based apps), so that should give you many tools to create configurators.

    Feel free to let me know if that's something you'd be interested to discuss. Happy to brainstorm other potential avenues.

    Gui's avatar Gui
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    5 years ago
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    1. 1

      Hey Gui! :) Wow, this is a nice product!

      I am open to discussions and possible collaborations :)

      We can have a friendly talk over zoom. My e-mail samuel@threedee.design

      Samuel Briskar's avatar Samuel Briskar
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      5 years ago
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  2. 1

    Commenting for better reach!

    Targopizz's avatar Targopizz
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    5 years ago
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  3. 1

    How did you manage your full-time job and build these successful products simultaneously? Is there any secret sauce on how to not burn out?

    ctw's avatar ctw
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    5 years ago
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    1. 2

      Inner motivation has played a considerable role - freedom is a massive driver for me. Just imagining waking up and doing what I want with my time with people I want to was the best thing to get going. I had quite a bad experience with my former employer (not Oracle, they were amazing), which helped the grind.

      The other things like:

      • Small scope of updates & get fast feedback on them to validate if the direction is right
      • Asking customers for feedback often.
      • The 3D field is growing, so it is easier to grow with it.
      • Keep an eye on the market & solve the real and current problems. Nothing huge.
      • Follow the traction
      • If my body/mind was in a weird shape, I stopped working immediately. And I can tell you that a few times it was on the edge :D
      • and of course luck

      I like the idea of trying multiple small ideas - see what works and kill/sell the others. Try & fail fast.

      Samuel Briskar's avatar Samuel Briskar
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      5 years ago
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      1. 1

        Thanks for the detailed answer! You are the best 😎 Good luck further.

        ctw's avatar ctw
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        5 years ago
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