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by JamesSwift
1457 days ago
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For random SAAS/utility things, no. For actual, core, software yeah absolutely. But theres a big difference between solo developer and "literally the only person that will ever be involved". If you are dealing with businesses then you need to act like a business. There needs to be contingency planning and availability. Another commenter gave their story of how one such dev didn't have support triage setup when they took a trip, and so the customer wasn't able to get in contact. Thats the stuff I'm talking about. In reality theres no reason to only have that redundancy during specific time periods (since you want to ensure they know what they are doing already at the point they are actually needed). So my suggestion is to walk the walk from the beginning. If this is the US, you should already be doing admin things like payment and ownership under some corporate structure already (LLC, Corp, etc) for numerous reasons. For the day to day stuff, I think it makes sense to bring on assistance on a regular basis. For instance, you can have a support person help out 1 day a week, or a few days a month, or whatever makes sense for your load. The important thing is that they are being involved before absolutely needed so that when they are needed its not something special. |
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I was a solo dev / sole entrepreneur for ~2 years, then raised. My product could be considered core. This meant that at about 1,5 years in I was basically unable to take a holiday (picture me sitting on the hotel bed during a family outing answering tickets, fixing infra).
Having continuity, support etc. all are basics you need to have once serious customers join. Even more simple, you need code reviews! You need a second pair of brains / eyes to actually make things better. Edit: and don't forget on-call. Being on-call for 2 years straight is not good for almost everything in your personal life.