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16 Comments

I quit my business to start an open-source dev tool

submitted this link to Icon for group Building in Public
Building in Public
on July 25, 2022
  1. 1

    This was an amazing read! Congratz

  2. 1

    I can imagine it was hard to write this post :) well done and would like to hear more about how running an open-source project is different than your last company.

  3. 1

    This post is very good thank you🙏🙏🙏

    1. 1

      Thanks for reading! 🙌

  4. 1

    I also started a food tech back in 2015 and life happened so I didn't get to execute the way I wanted. I'd say we have similar experience on that front. :)

  5. 1

    Wow what a crazy story. To live through that horror and to be motivated to still help people thrive. Cheers to Kirill! Ukrainians are so strong.

    And cheers to this:

    "Avoiding things I don't like doesn't mean I will stay away from opportunities that would work best if I did those things. I'll be happy to delegate them. I just want to make sure it's not something that's critical to do at the early stages."

  6. 1

    Being blind to that, we ran 10s of "customer interviews" with almost everybody telling us that having those digital menus would be great. None of those people were running restaurants.

    This sounds great vs. this would work for MY business are 2 totally different types of responses. Can't believe people are still making this mistake.

    1. 1

      You had better believe it because people will be making that mistake forever.

      I guess your comment implies that you don't see yourself making it. Great! You've learned something. So did we.

  7. 1

    Really appreciate the honesty here!

    At best, I went from having no idea to having some idea about what I was doing. At the same time, it made me feel much more comfortable about being incompetent.

    Indie hacking = learning how much you don't know and trying anyway. Learn as you go, and soak up those "second order effects" that the author talks about. They're invaluable.

  8. 1

    Love how you broke down the different steps with so much transparency. Really resonated with me, especially:

    "It was the first time I internalized that the price for all the freedom I felt at the time was the heavy burden of uncertainty"

    1. 1

      Yesss.... this has been one of my biggest takeaways from my journey as an indie hacker. The more you step outside of the comfortable little system that has been created to keep us "safe", the more uncertainty there is (and this applies to more than just indie hacking). It can be so f'ing scary.

      You're essentially giving up "certainty" for "freedom" when you go out on your own. The irony is that being employed by someone leaves you at their whim so there isn't any certainty at all. And being your own boss sometimes feels less free than being employed!

      But at the end of the day there is no doubt in my mind that indie hacking is a better way to live (at least for me).

  9. 1

    That was a good read and i can relate to all that you are saying however i am not sure if it is the best decision to create open source tool for devs ! How do you plan to make money with it?

    1. 1

      Hey, thanks for reading!

      Starting an open-source tool is definitely not a good decision if I was optimizing for money at this stage.

      Instead, for April–October, I optimize for exploration, learning, and serving.

      My previous business generates enough for me to experiment a little bit with which path to take next. Even if Impulse doesn't end up getting traction, I still want to make products for other makers and devs.

      So many skills I've been training with this endeavor (writing for example) will carry over to the next project. So will new contacts and friends.

      1. 1

        cool :-) good to know that.

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