I’ve been in an emotional roller coaster ride running my social media / dating platform. As a solo founder, i designed and developed everything. Both website and iOS app. The website did really good when I first launched it due to SEO, getting 1M monthly visits. Knowing the traffic might disappear, I launched the app. The site traffic vanished due to ever changing Google algo and lost my revenue. And the app is growing slowly. I’m now in 10k credit card debt. So I decided to apply for a job. I get a lot of interviews, one being FB and bomb them. Looks like I need to spend a month brushing up CS fundamentals and practice leet code and interviews. Now my app has grown 1000% in the last 3 months getting 200+ downloads daily and $1k monthly subscription sales. The site now has 200k members mostly US geo. I know i can get the app to millions of users with features that I still need to implement. But sometimes I just feel burned out because im past the 5 years I put limit on this endeavoir. If you are in my shoes, would you focus on getting a job or growing your own app? Maybe i just need a long vacation.
Hiring the right people to support your vision is a key aspect of a successful founder. You can’t do everything yourself.
True!!!
I would either raise VC money or get a job to fund my app development.
You need more people to support your business at this level. You’re feeling overwhelmed which is absolutely understandable if you’re the only one running the ship! With the numbers you’re mentioning you should be able to invest in more people. Figure out what will help the business grow AND alleviate the burden you’re feeling. Is it a dev to implement features? A business partner to handle to budgeting, paperwork, etc?
Unfortunately, the business is not making enough revenue to hire a team. I will when i get there. I think i need to raise VC money and use that to build a team around me.
Have you decided what to do?
Still working on new features on my app. Revenue and downloads are growing. Looks like I’ll be making enough to pay my bills. The growth forecast is positive. Close to 10k downloads per month. I still haven’t launched the feature that will improve app Network Effect. Subscription is growing. I believe i can get the app to millions of users by 2020. So I’m just gonna keep on grinding.
Can you find a business partner and delegate?