[d7z]

Confidence - never thought it would be an issue when you're leading your own company. I quit a great job on the east coast in 2012, went to grad school and moved to Silicon Valley after graduation (2014) to work on my startup. I've been learning and building constantly for the past 4 years. I would rather my work speak for me, so I don't draw any attention to what I'm doing or to myself until I have great results to report. I don't have a co-founder because the people I would ask are not financially independent enough to take the risk without a salary. I'd rather make some money and hire them with as much equity as they can handle.

My first project stalled because of poor architectural decisions that overlapped with not-yet-profitable product-market fit (and too much networking instead of product work) and a baby. I learned that lesson and turned into a hermit to rewrite it completely - the market is there, but not immediately lucrative. I'm also writing something that makes money first. I'm hammering day and night with nothing else in my life but my family and the product. My second project is written in GO, wonderfully cheap to run, and about to be ready for launch. Not sure how to turn on that swagger button yet.

Selling to customers is one thing, but how/when do I start selling to investors and employees when few people know me in SV because I've been hammering instead of networking for almost 2 years straight.

[juiyout]

I was in the mindset of letting my work speak for me. Then I quickly learned why technologically-inferior products can often get more sales than other superior products in my field(b2b). Without accurate product presentation or inspiring sales effort, I can watch companies with clueless devs outbid my product with their all-powerful sales people.

[jimnotgym]

My tip for selling a product you are perhaps too close to is to explain it to ordinary people.

I mean any random person, your Dad or Grandmother. Work out in layman's terms what problems your products solves, and how it is going to be a business.

Investors and even customers may not be at all interested in how GO is very quick at garbage collection...They want to know how your product will make them richer. Practice on laymen, practice a lot

[cpayne]

Lol - welcome to the club! (the confidence) find yourself a good business coach. You may burn through a few but that's all part of it.

I can relate to your comments, I was there about 18 months ago. You would be surprised just how many people talk about confidence (or lack thereof). Also, look for a good mentoring group. Find people that are on the same path (family / business / financial).

If I can help, my email is in my profile.

[superplussed]

I'm in a similar position. We should create a group for the subset of solo founders who are inclined toward product and not sales. It is a tough position to be in for sure (though I imagine the inverse has its own problems).

[jakobegger]

I'm a solo founder (of a slow growing 'lifestyle' business, not a fast growing startup) who is inclined towards product. The trick is to build a product that requires minimal sales effort.

My app costs 40€, and is geared towards individual users. You don't need a sales team to sell a 40€ app -- just a few emails to announce your product on the right mailing list, and a few cold emails to key influencers.

And a lot of patience, because unless you are very lucky, noone will buy version 1.0.

[superplussed]

Good advice Jakob, thanks. Yeah my app is essentially a video language learning application, think very broadly of it as Youtube crossed with Duolingo. So it definitely isn't the kind of app that requires a traditional sales team. It's going to be all about influencers and language learning forums in the early days and building from there.

[late2part]

Sounds like you could use a friendly advisor or mentor - ping me if you want to talk.

[alexchamberlain]

So, what's the link?