By now I can say I have successfully bootstrapped my own software business, starting with some very vague ideas in 2005. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I have made enough progress to gain confidence in my choice – the most precious of all commodities. If you want to achieve the same but substantially faster than me, I recommend these four things:
- Read a book by someone who has done it before many times.
- Come listen to him talk, and ask questions.
- Listen to a guy who interviewed hundreds of people who became exactly that – creators of their own self-funded software businesses.
- Hang out with like-minded people, people who created or are still creating their software business.
That, and a lot of hard work, is all it takes to succeed. But hard work is nothing when you know you’re doing the right thing.
More specifically:
- Buy this book: http://www.startupbook.net/
- Attend this conference in the beginning of June in Las Vegas: http://www.microconf.com/
Tickets go on sale tomorrow April 6th at 9am PST, andthe price will go up in a few days, if not hours. EDIT: tickets are now on sale: http://microconf.eventbrite.com/ - Attend this conference in in early May in Vancouver, BC: http://www.agilevancouver.ca/lean-startup-conference/conference-agenda/meet-rob-walling/
At the second conference you will get a chance to talk with the book author.
At the first conference you will hear the same book author, who will give you depth, my self-funded start-up hero role model Patrick McKenzie, who will give you inspiration, and Andrew Warner who interviewed hundreds of startup founders, and who will give you breadth. You will also meet a lot of like-minded people who will give you valuable peer support and a confidence boost.
This is not a paid endorsement, I write this out of sheer enthusiasm. I wish I could have paid someone money for all of this back in 2005, it would have saved me years of my life. Don’t let yours go by.
If you already know me personally, I can give you a ride to Vancouver. If you don’t, but would like to get to know me, come to either conference and I’ll be happy to get acquainted.
