[egypturnash]

Maybe the friend just doesn't want to make a Serious Business out of this yet, maybe he just enjoys having this side project. Maybe he's still refining the physical design of these signs along with the software with every one he builds. Maybe he's got enough sources of chaos and craziness in his life already from work/family/the hairbrained schemes of his buddy Trevor and he just wants a nice little hobby where he can fiddle around. Maybe he just does not need a Side Hustle in his life right now.

Maybe this is just what he's playing with instead of putting together model kits, y'know?

It's quite possible to get lost in the weeds planning stuff with no forwards motion. It's also possible to make really, really expensive mistakes by plowing forwards. I've done both of those. There is an alternate reality where the friend has been looking for people to make this thing fast and cheap, and is now sitting on a pile of these things that he can't sell at a price point that will break even, much less make a profit, with an order of magnitude more money than he is comfortable losing sunk into them. And maybe that reality's Trevor just wrote a blog post talking about how this friend should have done their research first, what kind of idiot doesn't do their research?

I'm not saying forging ahead is always bad. I've done it a lot in the past. Sometimes it's worked out, sometimes it hasn't. And when it doesn't work out it is a shitload of hassle and stress and I can only take so much of that at once.

[antt]

> I've done both of those. There is an alternate reality where the friend has been looking for people to make this thing fast and cheap, and is now sitting on a pile of these things that he can't sell at a price point that will break even, much less make a profit, with an order of magnitude more money than he is comfortable losing sunk into them.

Been there, done that.

"Customers" that love the product, at the price point of the raw materials.

Charges that come at you from nowhere because you didn't hire an import agent that knows widget X has anti-dumping duties attached to it for the next six months.

Warehouses that look good until it rains and then your whole stock is ruined. This one was actually the best thing that could happen, because between the insurance and accounting the business finally broke even and I walked away from it.

Hardware is different to software. It's all downside all the way. The only thing I learned is that you should do the most pessimistic accounting you possibly can for sales and manufacture and then divide the first by 10 and multiple the second by 10 and you will be right for what will happen in the first year.

[iliketosleep]

> It's quite possible to get lost in the weeds planning stuff with no forwards motion. It's also possible to make really, really expensive mistakes by plowing forwards.

An excellent point which is often omitted in such articles. Finding the right balance between careful planning and plowing forwards is of great pertinence. I look at planning as a risk minimization exercise. Once risks associated with failure are minimized, I can then forge ahead. Hence, the time planning is a function of the project's risk profile, which can vary drastically.

[patsaw]

I think the friend making signs is a bad example - he is actually doing something, having fun and making money. The reason he is not modifying his business plan is likely more complex than "building a tower of research"

However, the overall point of the article is still meaningful, it's something I find myself doing a lot - plan and think about a project but not actually getting started in any meaningful way. Obviously some amount of research and planning is necessary for everything, but doing that endlessly is the problem being described.

[sharno]

As always, the right answer is somewhere in the middle