Working on two things at the same time?
I've read "Antifragile" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and one of his points about dealing with uncertainty (i.e. starting a business, picking stocks or making any sort of bet) is that the way you want to look at it is by making small bets that follow this criteria 1. If they go bust they won't make you bankrupt or hurt you gravely 2. If they do come to fruition (pop off) then you make it big. He calls it "sampling" and for the most part the probability of these sorts of gambles of succeeding are low but if they do (as the criteria mentioned) you'll be greatly rewarded.
So just like starting our side gigs if they don't work then 🤷 but if they do they can be greatly rewarding (personal, wealth, whatever matters to you). This has made me think... why not try working on two side gigs while I can? I am still sampling and placing bets in two things rather than one. They say 9 out of 10 startups fail so why not build 10? I also get experience building, prototyping, gain business knowledge from both so I am learning so much as well.
One clear downside is that it becomes hard to not neglect one or the other sometimes, but I am in no particular rush. Therefore, I wanted to get everyone's opinion if this is a good train of thought, or am I missing some things?
(This is my first ever post on IndieHackers...)
I very much agree with NNT regarding sampling. It is how professional investors think.
But, investors are using money, which is fungible. Time is not so much. Whatever time you spend on side project B cannot be used for side project A--ever. Time on failed projects (other than learning, which is valuable) is lost time that can't be invested in other projects. Assuming non-trivial side projects, this likely leads to both being failures.
Also, the idea of sampling requires many, many samples. Two won't bring much diversification of risk. 10 or more start to have some benefit. This is why venture capitalists try to get into every good deal they can.
Thomas Edison said at one point the reason he was so successful (at least his lab) was his ruthless focus. This feels more valuable than diversification of focus when it comes to our time and outcomes.
Of course, you can have multiple side projects. That's the best thing about being an Indie hacker (or maker).
But there are times when you should only focus on one thing at a time.