Hello fastlaners! Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend. I'll begin with a quick introduction of myself, where I am standing business and skills-wise, and then get into the meat and potatos of my problem.
So, I'm a CS graduate who will be leaving my decently paying but backbreaking job as a tech lead at a startup by the end of this month. Why? I got into an argument with the founder about scaling the tech team (consisting of me and an intern, in a "tech" company of around 20 people), and migrating frameworks in order to allow the enterprise to scale. We're operating on bubble.io, which is a no-code framework, and because of this I've had to deploy systems that would make Frankenstein look at his monster with love. Tight deadline after tight deadline, workaround after workaround. A classic MERN stack would have saved us a lot of headaches tomorrow and today, but bubble is what the founder knows and he's been hesitant to let go or even plan the migration.
What really broke the camel's back for me is when my boss sold a product to a customer that I explicitly told him could not be ready by the due date he established. After a late night and early morning of work, we had a malfunctioning demo that had dummy data inserted to make it look presentable. I could get more into the details of my "F*ck this" moment, but in summary it was waking up at 5am, working until 12:30, and getting a call to present myself to the office by 4PM.
Anyhow, I've been making my moves. A few years ago, while I was still a student, I got contacted by an uncle's friend who is the owner of a hunting ranch. He had a lot of problems measuring the quanity and quality of his fauna, specifically white tailed deer. He told me he had to hire a helicopter and get one of his staff to count the animals with binoculars. Software engineer in training that I was, I asked him if he had phone signal in his land, and as soon as he told me yes, I started designing a management system that would gather and weigh the animals population via geolocation, manual polling, and deer photos. The project was a success and he's been paying me an anual fee to maintain the service.
So, I solved someone's problem, and he's paying me a decent amount to do it! Best of all, the upkeep of the app is not backbreaking labor, and I have plenty of ideas on how to improve the service! I was too young and dumb back then to see that a gold ingot got literally dropped in front of me. But using CENTS, I have become able to see it.
Control: I am the sole owner of the app, and unless animals evolve and develop facebook they're not about to start tracking themselves. The appstore / playstore are a bit whiny with their requirements but it's not too big of a hassle. Chipping wild animals to track them is dangerous and expensive, much more expensive than taking a simple pic...
Entry: Nowadays with AI it's a bit easier to code applications, if they're small enough. Sorry to say this, but software developers still have the monopoly over the creation of *quality* digital goods and services. This might change over the years, but without a problem solving mindset and understanding of tools, I don't think my position is too challenged. Also, hunting circles are a closed, tight-knit group. It's not a cool, techy, or fashionable industry, which works both for and against me. I don't think SaaS bros are thinking too much about serving rural areas XD
Need: Well, I already solved someone's problem so my guess is that there's more people out there with the same need. I'll have to research more in depth to learn about my customer and market, how much they're willing to invest, how can I present myself as someone trustworthy to them, and how to best soothe their pain points. Of course, I have to also learn about all of the methods they use to solve their problem, and how I can offer it to them cheaper and/or better.
Time: If I had 10 customers I'd make the same I did working my full time job, but only working around 20-40 hours a year. Enough said.
Scale: Again, if I solved one ranch's problem, there's probably others in the same position. I just have to adapt the software to work with N ranches instead of just 1. Also, I don't need to sell to a million ranches. If I sell to 100 I'd be in an incredible position, with still very low maintenance.
Sounds pretty good, no?
Well, now here's my problem. I tried using my uncle's friend as a contact to introduce me to the hunting world multiple times, but he's shrugged me off over the years. Fine, he's a busy man and I'm a pasty programmer. I've delved into the internet to see ranches in my area, and the internet prescence is scant, as to be expected. Most content I see is from the 2000s XD. Right, I might have to cold call them, but I have not the demeanor, nor presence, nor knowledge about homesteading, hunting, or ranching. I want to have some preliminary knowledge before introducing myself.
How would you guys go about aquiring leads? Should I join a hunting club and work myself up? I've been asking everybody I know if they have a friend or family member involved in hunting circles, but I've yet to find a way in. Should I just say, "ah F*ck it" and contact them through their website / phone number?
So, I'm a CS graduate who will be leaving my decently paying but backbreaking job as a tech lead at a startup by the end of this month. Why? I got into an argument with the founder about scaling the tech team (consisting of me and an intern, in a "tech" company of around 20 people), and migrating frameworks in order to allow the enterprise to scale. We're operating on bubble.io, which is a no-code framework, and because of this I've had to deploy systems that would make Frankenstein look at his monster with love. Tight deadline after tight deadline, workaround after workaround. A classic MERN stack would have saved us a lot of headaches tomorrow and today, but bubble is what the founder knows and he's been hesitant to let go or even plan the migration.
What really broke the camel's back for me is when my boss sold a product to a customer that I explicitly told him could not be ready by the due date he established. After a late night and early morning of work, we had a malfunctioning demo that had dummy data inserted to make it look presentable. I could get more into the details of my "F*ck this" moment, but in summary it was waking up at 5am, working until 12:30, and getting a call to present myself to the office by 4PM.
Anyhow, I've been making my moves. A few years ago, while I was still a student, I got contacted by an uncle's friend who is the owner of a hunting ranch. He had a lot of problems measuring the quanity and quality of his fauna, specifically white tailed deer. He told me he had to hire a helicopter and get one of his staff to count the animals with binoculars. Software engineer in training that I was, I asked him if he had phone signal in his land, and as soon as he told me yes, I started designing a management system that would gather and weigh the animals population via geolocation, manual polling, and deer photos. The project was a success and he's been paying me an anual fee to maintain the service.
So, I solved someone's problem, and he's paying me a decent amount to do it! Best of all, the upkeep of the app is not backbreaking labor, and I have plenty of ideas on how to improve the service! I was too young and dumb back then to see that a gold ingot got literally dropped in front of me. But using CENTS, I have become able to see it.
Control: I am the sole owner of the app, and unless animals evolve and develop facebook they're not about to start tracking themselves. The appstore / playstore are a bit whiny with their requirements but it's not too big of a hassle. Chipping wild animals to track them is dangerous and expensive, much more expensive than taking a simple pic...
Entry: Nowadays with AI it's a bit easier to code applications, if they're small enough. Sorry to say this, but software developers still have the monopoly over the creation of *quality* digital goods and services. This might change over the years, but without a problem solving mindset and understanding of tools, I don't think my position is too challenged. Also, hunting circles are a closed, tight-knit group. It's not a cool, techy, or fashionable industry, which works both for and against me. I don't think SaaS bros are thinking too much about serving rural areas XD
Need: Well, I already solved someone's problem so my guess is that there's more people out there with the same need. I'll have to research more in depth to learn about my customer and market, how much they're willing to invest, how can I present myself as someone trustworthy to them, and how to best soothe their pain points. Of course, I have to also learn about all of the methods they use to solve their problem, and how I can offer it to them cheaper and/or better.
Time: If I had 10 customers I'd make the same I did working my full time job, but only working around 20-40 hours a year. Enough said.
Scale: Again, if I solved one ranch's problem, there's probably others in the same position. I just have to adapt the software to work with N ranches instead of just 1. Also, I don't need to sell to a million ranches. If I sell to 100 I'd be in an incredible position, with still very low maintenance.
Sounds pretty good, no?
Well, now here's my problem. I tried using my uncle's friend as a contact to introduce me to the hunting world multiple times, but he's shrugged me off over the years. Fine, he's a busy man and I'm a pasty programmer. I've delved into the internet to see ranches in my area, and the internet prescence is scant, as to be expected. Most content I see is from the 2000s XD. Right, I might have to cold call them, but I have not the demeanor, nor presence, nor knowledge about homesteading, hunting, or ranching. I want to have some preliminary knowledge before introducing myself.
How would you guys go about aquiring leads? Should I join a hunting club and work myself up? I've been asking everybody I know if they have a friend or family member involved in hunting circles, but I've yet to find a way in. Should I just say, "ah F*ck it" and contact them through their website / phone number?
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