Of course! Happens all the time. Go look for 1 person startups on microaquire or flippa. I bet there are dozens of 1 man operations for sale right now for over $1M. A million is actually not as hard to get to as you might think for an exit. (Still very hard I'm sure, I don't mean to downplay it)
I hope it’s not off topic but it seems to show that one person businesses are probably not the way to go for most people- you will have a much more predictable income in a larger organisation and on average you will be better off financially too. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably a VC trying to make you work for them (or fail competing against them)
Not necessarily. It will be a lot harder but by no means impossible, and you can have one more person working on the start-up in the beginning which is actually a benefit.
Indeed, but to a one man shop, being stuck in the flat part of the curve at, say, $2k/month in profit and growing by $100/month/month is a completely different thing to a 10 man shop at the same place.
One venture is about to fold. The other can safely quit its day job and start entrepreneuring full time without having to worry about starving in the immediate future.
1. There are plenty of 1 person businesses. I have run basically a 1 person software product business for 18 years (with a bit of help from my wife with admin). I never lie about it being just me, but I don't shout about it either. A lot of my customers seem to assume that I am a team of people in an office in the US.
2. Just concentrate on getting those first few sales. It may never happen.
3. It depends. If you want to raise funds and recruit lots of people, you should probably be in a big city. If it is just you, you can be anywhere.
4. Big topic. It isn't enough to do stuff, you need to also tell people about it (marketing). The best marketing channels vary a lot depending on your product, goals, personality, budget etc.
5. Big topic. I prefer not to deal with investors and bootstrapped my business with my own savings. Venture capital allows you to launch bigger and faster, but with a lot of strings attached. I suggest bootstrapping, at least to start with, You can always try to raise money later, if you have some customers.
No, I just don't assume that you need to have a million dollars in your bank account to start a business. There's way too many people on HN who think that to run a startup you need investment money, offices, dozen employees, marketing campaigns etc etc.
You don't. You can start small, out of your own bedroom if you have to, and then grow from there. There's plenty of stupid advice like "if you're not making million dollars within 3 years of starting then there's no point" but it's just not true.
I suppose. But it's not my one shot. It's the company owner's. I would much rather tell my grandkids about what it takes to be a successful business owner and show them that it is possible to make it on your own.
I've been a part of a few multi-million dollar companies. My code made it possible. But, if I wasn't there, someone else would have made it happen.
HIBP's M&A process & Troy's hurdles in running HIBP highlights two fundamental points of friction in running a single person company.
Reg. Value of a single person company.
>This was another really unexpected part of the experience - how people perceived me personally and put a value on my brand.
May be Troy really didn't expect that only person running an entity to be bought would be valued, sometimes even higher than the product/service itself; but it also needs to be understood that the company which is willing to buy an entity for a single person is undertaking an extraordinarily huge risk due to the Bus factor.
Reg. Compliances of a Business when running as a single person.
>I still manually verified every breach, hand edited every logo of a pwned company, issued (and chased) every invoice, did the tax returns and prepared the business activity statements.
At-least Troy seems to be located in a jurisdiction with straight forward business regulations. May be, most of the compliances could be automated.
There are countries out there where companies, even if run by a single person needs to comply with literally hundreds of regulations, with a new one popping up each month all to benefit the corrupt bureaucracy i.e. If you want to comply every regulation there, you still need to bribe. But the system and people who help with such regulations(auditing, lawyers) favour those who don't comply just because of larger bribes! So, even if you automate every other part of our business, you cannot automate out of corrupt bureaucracy.
M&A is one of the fundamental hurdles in a single person company, although there are other advantages such as freedom, cost-benefit etc.[1]
My place began with a few people out of the local university and an angel investor. There was organic growth and an actual profit. The exit was a company of about 40 people being sold ($36.4 million in 2019 dollars) to a large defense contractor. That's in Melbourne, Florida.
There are several start-ups in the area created by former employees, generally beginning on personal funds.
This also works in Longmont, Colorado. I have a relative who did a couple businesses starting from personal funds. One sold for millions of dollars, and the other is ongoing with decent success.
Actually that was what I was curious about reading the title of the question. If you are successful as a one person business, it makes sense to scale it past a one person business.
If you be once and win you then can roll the money into lower return legitimate enterprises and sail off into the sunset.
I'd wager that most businesses that start as a single person doing something (be it investing money or detailing cars) start as off the books, under the table, zero regard for regulatory compliance type businesses. It's only when they've made enough on that initial investment outside the rules that they turn around and incur the cost of compliance.
I once worked for a 5-man business that brought in $750k annually, and the two owners were smart guys but no better than me and certainly not as professionally trained.
Now, mind you, I'm not saying it would only be the product, I would also be willing to be a consultant (trading the singular VC for multiple, not-quite-fungible-but-closer-to customers), but making only $130k for your soul and a lotto ticket does not sound like an appealing deal.
I build a product and sell it for more than it costs to make.
It didn't take me 7 years like some are suggesting. I didn't solicite feedback from online wannabe entrepreneurs (sorry but I'm gonna say it) who say the odds are against me and to get a job instead, and I certainly built it and they *did* come.
I never thought I'd be running my own business, but circumstances arranged for the opportunity.
Maybe I won't be running it 1 day/week/year/decade from now, but for the past few years it has been great and no regrets.
If you have a good enough idea, you have 6 months of resources, just do it. You're most likely going to regret not trying.
Or spend 6 months getting ripped. Either one is good. But execute your plan.
Ok so out of all businesses you can do alone, that example is harder, yet not impossible, but that doesn't mean there aren't a million other opportunities to successfully make a living as a solopreneur. You probably don't see many doing this because it makes no sense and it sounds like you made the right choice when things made sense, but that doesn't discount the entire premise of being a solopreneur.
Not just anyone, but the possibility is there. Stories of business owners who made it starting from nothing are not rare (obviously many fail as well) - but do not underestimate the resourcefulness of people who have their back against the wall.
I disagree with this statement. If you want a company that makes a billion dollars, your chances are very slim. I'm on my fifth company and my current one makes over six figures (a few million in revenue).
All of my friends have gone through many hardships over the last 5 years because they worked at other companies that downsized and they were let go. My career has been pretty stable with my own company.
"If it's for passion, ask them to do it as side hobby/business."
This will ensure that it stays a side-business. Most people don't really have the time to work 9-5 (and many times longer than this) and then run a company full-time. Especially if they have a significant other.
I tried many times to start a company and inevitably failed. Mostly because I couldn't really focus on it with a full-time job. If you really want to start a business, I would recommend saving 6 months to a year of your current salary and quitting. But make sure you actually have a real plan to make money. Market testing is a must.
What I've noticed is that there just aren't that many people out there that are willing to sacrifice their time or are passionate enough to stick with a business long enough for it to succeed.
Before my successful company, I tried multiple times to partner with friends that I thought would be a good fit for a business partner. They all failed within the first year. I would end up doing 99% of the work and my business partner would either do the least-possible amount of work or it would devolve into me being the manager/boss where I had to assign them work (which I really don't want to do). One person just didn't want to give up his drinking/partying time with his other friends.
There is this myth on HN that running a business/startup is glamorous and fun. Many people want to start a company because they like this glamorized idea of running a startup and think it's cool. They usually are slapped in the face with reality pretty quickly.
I never started a company for the money, it was always for the freedom. But what I've come to realize is that money is freedom. The more you have, the less control others have over your path in life.
reply