a8b.io

There's a lot of advice out there on how to build software startups and I find that a lot of it doesn't apply to me. Simply because I am optimizing to be happy and fulfilled. That means I am not necessarily building the best thing I could build in terms of monetary outcome. The act of building software to me at the moment is a creative art. I find myself influenced heavily by @naval, Derek Sivers, and Rick Rubin e.g. in his book The Creative Act. The idea of software being art created for its own purpose, through me rather than by me, is extremely appealing and relevant to me.

I have tried other ways of being. I've started elsewhere. My first project was me searching for an arbitrage opportunity. Finding one, I didn't necessarily like how spammy it felt (this is because it didn't really help anyone), and I wasn't sure I had the will or interest to move it forward because it wasn't worth the headache, and moving on. Then I worked on another thing that was an arbitrage based business, and while I enjoyed some of the software bits I wasn't into the company as a whole. I had issues converting users, and when I realized the "easy arbitrage opportunity", wasn't as labeled on the tin, I got disheartened. I was having trouble converting trial users to paid subscribers. So when it faced issues with the credit card processor I actually just shut it down. There were a few other things, and most recently a Shopify plugin that I did actually really enjoy building, and, though not there yet does somewhat solve a real problem albeit not my problem. I haven't given that one up yet, it's just on hold while I work on this. But when I compare working on Jopro vs. Hypersonal (the Shopify plugin) the difference is night and day.

It's easy to look at all these projects and say that I quit too early. After all that is the biggest mistake you hear everyone saying when it comes to startups. But I quit my job to find something I enjoyed. And if I didn't enjoy what I was doing, and had to force myself to do it, why continue? I wasn't doing these projects for fame, glory, or large payouts. I wasn't even doing it for "freedom", though I've grown to appreciate it, and now prioritize it. I was doing it because I wanted to find more fulfillment. And if I didn't find it here, why not go back to a traditional job? There was a lot I liked and missed about it. Interestingly the thing pulling me back to optimizing for money to some degree, despite me consciously not playing that game or optimizing for it, was the fear of failing, and maybe more specifically and honestly the fear of being dumb. Because of that I constantly self sabotaged to move towards projects that were actually wrong for me.

I looked back at the thing I enjoyed the most in the last few years, which was prototyping, creating, and bringing to market a physical product that solved a real problem I had. I made it just because that thing annoyed me and I thought it annoyed other people too. It brought me great joy to bring it to the market place, and I enjoyed all the little bits of engineering, learning so many new things, and making a good solution that I liked and thought would bring others joy. I was proud of it, maybe for the wrong reasons, but I did genuinely enjoy it. So I decided to do something similar now, which is where Jopro comes from. I write a lot, and I believe strongly in the power of some of these reflective protocols I engage in.

With building Jopro I find it easy to get into flow now. I don't have to use a lot of external tools like I did when working on Hypersonal. I had weekly and daily to do lists, I leveraged flow club, boss as a service, co-working communities (that I still participate in) and mentors to help me move forward. I celebrated putting in effort to motivate myself to move forward. I split my personality into executor/programmer Ameer and planner/manager Ameer. I don't think these things are bad, mind you. They're actually really effective for me. And I don't necessarily dislike being in that state. But it does not feel as playful or joyful or effortless. It's not as sustainable, and I don't get nearly as much done. What I do now feels different. Everything comes bursting out of me, instead of being forced out. I work on this just because I think it's a really cool thing that I want to exist, and I think it will genuinely help people. And I use it all the time. And I care deeply about it. I care about the way the layout flows as you scale the browser to half screen. I care about the saving indicators and how they appear, and if they're too noisy, and the little widgets on the settings page that need custom APIs to work like checking for custom URL availability. I care about all the mundane things that I usually don't particularly. I'm not saying I will always care about every little detail. Or that I will never feel bad and need some motivational help. But I really enjoy the mindset I find myself in at the moment, the joy I get from creating, and the sense of sustainable enthusiasm I have for the product.

In short, what works for me is to not focus on monetary outcome or potential when it comes to a project. And I need to stop tricking myself in to that. Rather to focus on solving a real problem that I have that is important to me and to others. Something that I think needs to exist in the world. And approaching the problem as a piece of art. Having an opinion about the thing and expressing it. I know it won't survive contact with users, and that's okay. That is better than not bringing anything from you to the table and trying to get the market to tell you what to do. That is an easy way to build a product you don't care about.

I'm (finally) taking Naval's advice to find work that feels like play. I'm taking his advice that if you wouldn't work on it for 5 years then don't spend 5 minutes on it (paraphrased). I realize now the difference being motivated intrinsically makes. Not only do I enjoy the work so much more, but I am getting so much more done. This whole process just makes sense and seems to be clicking for me now. Shallow work rarely accrues rewards. While something like Jopro may not have as much market potential as Hypersonal, it solves a real problem that both I and others care about, and most importantly I want to keep on working on because I want it to exist.