Product to Market
Back in June I switched jobs. I went from a giant/huge software monstrosity to a start-up.
The start-up is run by a friend of mine. I worked for him before at his last start-up, but it was well established by that point.
This time it’s still a start-up. There are only 5 full time employees. There are two more, but they mostly work remotely and are not involved in my day-to-day activities (CEO/CFO types).
We have no customers at this point. We have no product to show them (that’s not completely true), but we have great ideas and great people.
In the little over two months that I’ve been there, I’ve learned a lot about the product and tried to build as much as I can (in a programming language I never used before). I think I worked every day in August except for the days I drove to and from Maine for the vacation I didn’t exactly get.
I’m not complaining. This is the best job I think I’ve ever had, but we have no sellable product – yet.
I’ve been telling myself the more I work, the sooner I’ll get this done and the sooner I’ll get paid from customer earnings and not some venture capitalists pocket.
Working like this can be painful. There was a week in August when I was experiencing inexplicable neck pain. Lately it’s been gastro-intestinal (though that could be all the coffee) weirdness.
… but I keep telling myself just a little longer, just a little more.
The most difficult part about this is that this type of work is very similar to what I was doing at the previous software monstrosity. Though they were very large and established with lots of “maintenance dollars”, they were very keen on getting new product out the door. They wanted not to be known so much as the largest software acquisition company but instead be known as a successful software development company. For two and a half years I busted my ass for them in “Product to Market mode.” Back then the motivation was different. I wasn’t worried the funding was going to dry up and we all get canned. I just wanted to get noticed. I had an opportunity to be seen and elevated. I had exposure to all the right people and ownership of the right product. In the end, by no fault of my own, that didn’t work out.
so I keep telling myself just a little longer, just a little more and hopefully this time it all works out.
– b