Don’t be a solo founder, they said. It’s too hard. You’ll give up without someone to keep you accountable. You’ll burn out. You’ll never launch. It’s too much for one person. It’s too risky and isolating. It’s too ambitious.
I ignored them, and went on to launch 2 software products, self publish 4 books, and earn hundreds of thousands in product revenue completely independently.
There’s a lot of mis-information out there about what it’s really like to start and run a business on your own. And most of it is by people who’ve never done it—not really.
So for my next product, I’m sharing behind the scenes of what it’s really like.
Spoilers: the hardest part isn’t getting to launch day; juggling marketing, design, and coding; or any of the other things they say. The hardest part is the decision making.
I’m sharing every decision I make in this new adventure and why. I hope you’ll learn what it’s truly like to build a product on your own—and not only that it’s completely realistic but that it’s possible to do without sacrificing the rest of your life.
My new business might fail like any other business, but not because I’m independent. Only because of the quality of my work and the decisions I make.
Come see what happens and what it’s really like over at Product In Public. You’ll learn a bit about product design, code, and business right alongside me.
Design's Iron Fist is a collection of essays with advice for both design learners and professional designers. It's been featured as one of the best free design books by the Creative Bloq and the AIGA.
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