I lost $209,640 of my own money trying to start a business

Re:I lost $209,640 of my own money trying to start a business by lnsru on Tuesday January 31, 2023 @09:43AM (#34595557)

I do the dirty tasks for a non-technical founder. Everybody he hires for a task does heavy corner cutting. Technical debt is enormous. Details are not taken care of. I like the guy, so I help him ignoring cost of opportunity. I do all the plumbing and fixing the tiny details and changes at 2 am. But that’s not sustainable. That’s not the way to build a business with prosperous future.

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Re:I lost $209,640 of my own money trying to start a business by TuringNYC on Tuesday January 31, 2023 @10:35AM (#34596377)

Totally empathize with you and I've been there. At some point, it does make sense to exit amicably in these situations. My experience has been that the non-technical founder will see things as they truly are, eventually.

At that point, you can re-establish another engagement where things are budgeted for a balance of speed and longevity.

To be fair, there is a purpose for Technical Debt and for cutting corners, esp for MVPs or demos. But it has to be a balance and the cost of the debt carry has to be appreciated.

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Re:I lost $209,640 of my own money trying to start a business by j2bax on Tuesday January 31, 2023 @09:52AM (#34595701)

Do you have a stake in the business?

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Re:I lost $209,640 of my own money trying to start a business by lnsru on Tuesday January 31, 2023 @03:44PM (#34601740)

No. I don’t. Just helping. Because I like this elder gentleman. And he has growing revenue stream from his project.

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