I have become a big fan of Rob Walling's Startups for the Rest of Us and Sam & Shaan's My First Million podcasts. In particular, I find Rob Walling's focus on "independent" software startups intriguing. These operations stand apart from Venture Capital backed businesses by being bootstrap funded by their founders, or with a minimal amount of seed/angel funding. Goals can range from supplementing a founder’s income to full-on seven or eight-figure businesses with multiple employees.
If you’re a developer who listens to a few episodes of these shows, you will start to think “I want that” or “I can do that”. Daydreams will fill your head of leaving the 9 to 5 and living up life. Naturally, it’s not enough to daydream, we have to actually act to make this a reality. With that in mind, I present my 2022 goal and how I intend to be accountable for achieving it.
“In the year 2022, I will establish a bootstrapped startup that will achieve $2,000 monthly reoccurring revenue(MRR) with a take-home value(after taxes/expenses) of $1,000 or more. I will also only invest up to $3,000 of my own money to achieve this outcome.”
Do notice I have not pegged myself into only software. I believe a software startup though would have the greatest growth potential for a man with my skills, and will probably be my primary focus. I have decided that a smaller dollar goal would not be a success in my eyes, but I am not naive enough to think that I could achieve a better outcome than this in my first year. I want to emphasize too that this needs to be MRR. In the past, I have had ideas of running a Kickstarter to meet an ill-defined income goal. One-time sales of a product or piece of content will be excluded unless it is coupled with a recurring revenue stream.
My starting point does not include a business idea. I know what you are thinking, but the quote “Motivation comes after starting.” is at the forefront of my thoughts on this matter. Waiting for inspiration or the right idea has never worked for me in the past. Setting this goal is my first step, finding the right niche idea is next, then I will need to prove a market exists for this product or service.
To remain accountable I will provide updates on my progress to a family member and friend in addition to public updates here on this blog. The frequency of updates will be bi-weekly.