Re:Ask HN: Learning the business-side of things as a developer?
by amirathi on Monday May 04, 2020 @12:17AM
(#23064499)
Maybe you meant to link Traction[1] by Weinberg & Mares? You've probably linked the wrong book with the same name.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Cu...
Re:Ask HN: Learning the business-side of things as a developer?
by antonzorin on Saturday May 02, 2020 @08:18AM
(#23051304)
Document almost everything you do. Spot on. That’s something we missed entirely.
Re:Ask HN: Learning the business-side of things as a developer?
by dwqvewfbfeab on Saturday May 02, 2020 @09:06AM
(#23051541)
We're bootstrapping SaaS service as two co-founders for two years already. I would say don't document anything except the code (if you really want to). Don't track anything, don't create any reports of some sorts for the sake of creating.
Only thing you should really care about is how you product solves pain points for the user. Measure user retention and revenue.
As a young enterprise you should only care about how to survive and how to get users. Nothing more, nothing less.
Re:Ask HN: Learning the business-side of things as a developer?
by ksahin on Saturday May 02, 2020 @09:09AM
(#23051560)
When I said documenting, I was thinking about publicly documenting what you do, in order to create an audience around your company.
That's really great, especially if people buying your software are also interested in entrepreneurship.
Re:Ask HN: Learning the business-side of things as a developer?
by hieunc229 on Saturday May 02, 2020 @12:17PM
(#23052664)
More like blogging, which is a really good way for long term growth
Re:Ask HN: Learning the business-side of things as a developer?
by formercoder on Saturday May 02, 2020 @12:25PM
(#23052736)
Not to bring too much of a traditional business view to HN, but measuring margin is arguably more important than measuring revenue.
For example, being a solo founder running a profitable bootstrapped SaaS business requires different skills than a venture-backed B2C social mobile app!
If you want the former, I suggest you read interviews and follow companies on IndieHacker: https://www.indiehackers.com/
You'll find lots of resources and case studies of people that made the switch from developer to founder.
I quit my software developer job two years ago to build a SaaS API business with a co-founder. We're at $4500 MRR and we are documenting almost everything we do: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/scrapingninja
About business books, Traction[1] is a must-have in my opinion as a developer. You'll learn a lot about marketing, which is often the problem most developers face when launching their first company.
I also love "Start small stay small, A developer’s guide to launching a startup with no outside funding" by Rob Walling.
If you need solid advice in terms of code & technology choice/architecture to launch a startup, you should read Hello Startup.[3]
With these three books, you'll have a solid understanding of what to build, how to build, and how to market your software.
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/19... [2]: https://startupbook.net/ [3]: https://www.hello-startup.net/