[puniaviision]

Do you work in private equity or something where you buy out businesses and run them?

I'm technically a type 3, but an idiot one that wasted a lot of time chasing sexy ideas with no connection real-world problems. Trying to get better now.

[csa]

> Do you work in private equity or something where you buy out businesses and run them?

Yes.

I’m basically like Andrew Wilkinson and Tiny Corp, but not as far along the curve as he is (tiny is valued at ~$500m+ USD currently).

https://www.tiny.com/about

I have some cash cows. I buy tech businesses and streamline the business side.

> but an idiot one that wasted a lot of time chasing sexy ideas with no connection real-world problems

I hope you aren’t beating yourself up for this — that’s the kool-aid that is being served, and your path is very common.

The cool thing is that you probably developed some useful knowledge and skills along the way.

For full disclosure, I “wasted” a lot of time in my former career as a research professor. I’m glad I did it. It helped me grow as a person. It gave me opportunities to learn important things that I did not know. It was where I needed to be for that part of my life.

That said, although it’s time I won’t get back, I’m very happy about the path I’m on, and I’m not sure a younger me could have navigated this path as successfully.

[puniaviision]

Thanks for the perspective.

Cool hearing about your story! How did you get the initial capital to buy businesses, just from your savings as a research professor?

[csa]

> How did you get the initial capital to buy businesses, just from your savings as a research professor?

Much like Andrew Wilkinson, I started an agency. Agencies are great cash cows.

In retrospect, I could have just started with savings (I had enough). It probably would have added stress I wasn’t looking for.

That said, the agency was and is still great cash flow. It’s also a useful business space for learning how to build a business that (mostly) runs itself.

[ericjmorey]

What is an agency in this context?

[csa]

> What is an agency in this context?

Successful tech agencies that have been started by people I know:

- programming

- digital marketing

- social media

- web development

- SEO

- data science

- AI (this is emerging)

The agency is a business that goes to other businesses and offers to solve one or more of their business problems for a fee. Sometimes these fees are one-time payments, sometimes they are recurring, sometimes both. I recommend having recurring payments being baked into your agency model.

It’s a relatively easy way to get “ramen profitable” (or more!) along with some money to invest.

[akaljotc]

question(s):

would you consider a small saas product in this realm? that is, is there a clear distinction for what could be considered an agency vs a saas product? or is the line blurred in some contexts?