Persisting as a solo founder
Solo founder here.<p>Make a product that people want <i>and are willing to pay for.</i><p>The product may be in what appears to be a crowded field. Identify niche opportunities or cases where an established leader is doing a poor job.<p>It&#x27;s fine to do some consulting on the side to pay the bills. Of course it will take time away from the product you are building; just be able to recognize when it&#x27;s too much and scale back consulting or turn off the spigot completely once product sales take off.<p>It&#x27;s fine to work according to your own schedule and needs, not some idealized &#x27;100 hours&#x2F;week&#x27; VC fantasy schedule.<p>Investors don&#x27;t care about you, they care about their returns. As you don&#x27;t fit the pattern of what they expect for a successful startup, they will either ignore you or make very unreasonable demands - find a co-founder, work twice as hard, follow this or that model. Ultimately, it&#x27;s a waste of time at best, a loss of control and failure at worst.<p>Once you have cashflow, offload certain business tasks to pros who can do it better and cheaper than attempting it yourself. Hire when you have sufficient cashflow + cushion.<p>Take pride in what you are building, the customers you attract, and the skills you are learning.