Another week has passed and like many before, there's been much to learn and much to discover. This week I wanted to discuss the unexpectedly small world of tech startups, some lessons in reliability, and some international issues you might face if you too embark on an international adventure. Lets start with startups.
If you've been following along you'll know that there is a global movement among corporate refugees called 'indie hacking' (which has a strong overlap with solopreneurship and the startup world). This movement is about building and selling technical products and services, and managing the entire process from inception to launch and beyond using the resources of just one person (teamwork is possible, but not as broadly publicised). Here in Da Nang (Vietnam) there is a one-month program where several indie hackers have come together to live, work, and socialise, whilst they work on their projects. A cool thing about this program is that on Fridays anyone nearby can attend, chat to the residents, eat pizza, and learn. And guess who's in Da Nang right now...
I didn't stay for long but did get talking to two veterans of the startup game, and got some deeper perspectives on things like the future of AI workflows for engineering, which types of problems might be interesting to focus on, and more. But one thing that stood out was the sharp distribution of success (in the financial sense) in this small group of roughly 40 people. Now I don't know concretely how many assets and liabilities each person in the room had, but from some googling and napkin math I'd say that most incomes (myself included!) would not be competitive against a European software engineering job, let alone a senior engineering role in London. However, those that had been successful were dramatically successful, with exits in the millions plus all of the lessons that come from that process.
But, financial motivation is only part of the story here. Almost everyone I spoke to was interesting and interested, engaged in whatever project they were working on, and motivated to improve and learn from others (of course, they're at an indie hacker social!). So the question then is; is this all worth it? and was this sample representative? I don't think the sample is representative, in fact I personally know several solo developers who have found success with no public profile at all, and therefore are not engaging in any of the same contests, forums, or anything like that. As to whether it's worth it, I believe it's still a yes, if only to see how it feels.
Leaving the corporate world has been eye opening already and it's only been 4 months. Financially of course it's been a bit of a pancake so far, but that's okay. I see it as an ongoing seminar in personal development, and with time to work on both tech and marketing it feels much more rewarding than purely engineering roles. Plus the ownership of the outputs of course, but 100% of nothing is still nothing 😉
In other news, in my quest to automate away the boring things in my life, I've written a social media post scheduling tool for Threads and X. During a routine update one of the workers didn't fully shut down, the result of which was roughly 30 posts (one per minute) going out to my personal threads account all saying the same thing. Thankfully it wasn't one of my finely tuned rage-bait political essays (just kidding), but still a fun reminder that tests will always be important in software engineering.
Finally, I'm having some difficulty with becoming a Meta Verified Business, as their process requires a phone number formally associated to my account (and crucially that I can receive texts to that number). The kicker is that I can't activate the SIM card for the number (despite having boots on the ground in the UK (many thanks Ryan!)). I've started the tech support process but fingers crossed it's resolved in a reasonable time, since without it I'm unable to publish any technology atop Meta's infrastructure.
Another international issue is the expiration of my personal bank card, which means I'm unable to make withdrawals as to my knowledge there are no cashback style checkouts which you might see in western supermarkets. The lack of Dong isn't a huge issue though, as all essentials and bookings can be bought with Apple Pay, but hopefully this is a lesson you can learn vicariously too since I find myself now unable to buy a Moncler jumper or Prada bag at the nearby bazaar.
Anyway, I'll be attending the Hacker Residency again this Friday and hope to report back some more useful lessons and findings, and will continue talking to people, building tools, and learning, so that this newsletter can be as useful as possible for you. Hope all is well wherever you are!
Thanks and all the best,
Oliver
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