| I started a company, by myself, November 2012. I'm still in business but haven't released the original intended product. 1) What was my motivation?
I was tired of working for someone else, I'd had it with commuting, working with people that kept bringing diseases from their kids in daycare and hence getting colds and flus mutliple times per year, living in a state with absurd taxes and cost of living. Working hard to afford a "condo" that might be paid off once I hit 65 was beyond stupid. Oh and I wouldn't work in an "open office space" setup if you paid me $1 million a year. I don't do headphones, ever. 2) Is this idea worth my time?
The idea was an iPhone game, I did complete it, but never released it. They released new phones, new ipads with new resolutions, so I was in the process of adding that capability when a consulting opportunity arose (work 100% from home). I could get into why I abandoned releasing iPhone and Android apps, but have decided to redo it in HTML5 and free myself from the rules the stores impose and cut they take. But ultimately I had decided even if my product only generated $30k a year that was good enough. To own and control my time and product was worth that drastic cut if it came down to it. 3) What have you done to validate this idea?
I did research into the potential market size, I used to play a similar game on yahoo games before it was shut down and they would have 10's of thousands of players every day. I looked at similar games on iTunes that were pathetic weekend hacks that left much to be desired and they had downloads, so the market existed. And I really liked the game, still do, I play my game on an ipod touch that I hacked to an older date so the certificate never expires. My UI, and the options that I added also made it far more enjoyable to play. I had big plans for multiplayer. 4) Are there real customers for this?
Yep, see above. Maybe it won't make me a millionaire, but I could live off of it. 5) Do you have the endurance for the marathon version of your company?
Absolutely, I worked non stop for 2 years when I was about to release. I did not make any money during that time, in fact if I had a "real" job I would have given up. A regular job sucks away all mental energy and leaves one like an empty shell at the end of the day (at least that is my experience). 6) CMO (Chief Marital Officer)?
Don't have one, did have a girlfriend back then but we lived in different cities so going for a visit was a nice vacation from the work. 7) Is quitting the right next step?
As far as I'm concerned you are either all in or it's a hobby that is going nowhere. If I kept working I'd never even had developed a prototype non the less a full working product, with multiplayer server on the back end. So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job. You can't do both, period. Where is my company now? Well, I've gotten side-tracked with consulting business. I've never met a customer on site, I work 100% at home. They send me their devices, buy whatever compiler licenses so I can do the work. I work when I want to, so if I want to take a week off to work on a project at home, or take a trip I do. Last year was crazy, I moved to Wyoming to drastically lower my taxes, even Nevada was not low enough. Bought a house, while taking care of multiple clients sometimes work ing 260 hours a month. Billables were just under $250k last year. Now that I'm settled in the new house, which cost less that just property tax payments in CA, I've cut back the work to maybe $150k this year, which will free me up to migrate my Objective-C app to HTML5. All the valuable code exists on the game server anyway, so no risk there. Was it worth just quitting and going for it? Absolutely.
Did it turn out exactly as planned? Not even close. If anyone else out there is trying to decide and wants to know more about my adventure, send me an email. I'm happy to share what I've learned if it helps others to escape the rat race too... |
Please tell me more about your business and philosophy because this feels very similar to my own journey. I quit my job in october 2016 and try to build html/mobile gaming stuff. My plan assume make 10 000$-15 000$ in this year.