Can this be considered as overengineering?

Question

Hey people,

is working alone full stack + marketing + community building a bit too much for one person?

Marco · Accepted Answer

Sounds like the usual solo entrepreneur story to me! In the beginning you have to do everything yourself and as the tasks grow you have to decide wether to invest more time or outsource to services or people. Just start simple and keep track of the time you're spending on different parts of the business

Andy Dent · Answer

Like @ryanwilson I'm doing this myself with https://www.touchgram.com/ and, yeah, once you get past the initial product 1.0 it becomes a mix of radically different tasks. I try to maintain a pool of things to do in each area so if my mood is to do marketing, I have a task ready to go. I *always* have a massive dev backlog with a long Roadmap https://www.touchgram.com/press#roadmap

Nenad Golubović · Answer

@hosea_varghese thanks for reply Hosea! I thought the same :)

Sumit Datta [dwata] 👋 · Answer

Hey Nenad,

I am a solo founder and I struggle with juggling between things a lot. I am re-reading some of the YC material and the one thing that is very clear is that I need to do 3 things only:

1. Find and talk to customers - as directly as possible, LinkedIn, Email
2. Build gradually, make sure they get used by customers
3. Reflect/Retrospect and Repeat

On the side I am always looking for better ways to connect to growth stage Startup Founders (my target audience) but the above 3 things are slowly helping with not getting overwhelmed.

I reach out to about 15 Founders per week but not as consistent as I want. And responses are low too. I will try more reach outs steadily. I have 2 customers and I am super focused on the first Startup to get onboard.

Hope that helps,
Sumit

Ryan Wilson · Answer

I'm trying to do this myself with https://polished.app

It can definitely feel overwhelming at times. I think the key is being organized and staying motivated. Setting and sticking to specific times for dev work, market research, and community building is important. Structure it all in a way that you won't get burnt out. Consistent work over a long period of time is how you'll get there.

I've burnt myself out many times and it only makes me go way slower than if I just didn't try to do so much.

Hosea varghese · Answer

I guess it depends on how much time you have. If you choose the self made path, it probably will take a long time.

Can this be considered as overengineering?

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