[smt88]

My relatives work at Amazon and Netflix. None of them have time for anything other than work. The culture at those places seems unbelievably toxic.

I am the same age as them, make more money, live in a more pleasant place (i.e. not an overpriced West Coast city), and have a lot more free time and freedom.

I did this by working at (or starting) boring lifestyle software companies that sell for $10-100M.

[shostack]

Surely you recognize that the odds of getting into a FAANG are higher and the process more repeatable than starting and selling multiple businesses for $10-$100m...

[smt88]

Sorry, my post wasn't clear at all.

Yes, I do realize that. I meant that I have always made better money than people in Silicon Valley make (when adjusted for inflation), and I did it while working for these types of businesses.

Nowadays I do start my own, but if I were just a salaried tech worker, I would still be working fewer hours and have more spending power than someone working for Amazon or Netflix.

[gaws]

> I am the same age as them, make more money, live in a more pleasant place (i.e. not an overpriced West Coast city), and have a lot more free time and freedom.

What is your job? What is this "pleasant place?" How much more money are you actually making?

[dataangel]

Dumb question, what is lifestyle software? Asking so I can make and sell a $10M company someday.

[smt88]

> what is lifestyle software?

Sorry, I meant that it's a lifestyle business that sells software (as a service).

Lifestyle businesses are so-called because they support the owners having a certain lifestyle. As the sibling comment says, this is something that is generally admired outside of Silicon Valley and mocked within Silicon Valley. I feel sad for people who are proud of working their lives away, but that's a different topic...

> Asking so I can make and sell a $10M company someday.

There is a formula to it, but it's still not a guarantee. Here is the formula I use:

1. Meet people in boring jobs or industries, or just make a diverse group of adult friends

2. Talk to these people about what wastes the most of their time

3. Find a way to automate it

4. Get your friends in that industry to sell it for you

The biggest problem is #4. Getting the sales is hard because most industries are stagnant because of deep-rooted complacency. The ideal way to do it is to get someone who can be your first customer, convince them of the potential, and get them to be on your board.

It definitely helps if you're overpaid in your day job and can just pay other people to build prototypes for you. Trying to build prototypes in your evenings/weekends is pretty brutal and violates the whole idea behind this.

[stuxnet79]

An insulting term coined by SV types to refer to businesses which are not "changing the world" / aiming for a billion dollar exit. Instead they focus on providing useful goods or services through modest means (no VCs) thus enabling founders to sustain a non-work post 5pm "lifestyle".