Ask HN: Bootstrapping a Startup Alone
For reasons beyond the scope of this question, I must move to the Salt Lake City area within the next 3 months. I'm looking forward to this move, but it puts me in an interesting situation, and I feel the HN collective will have some interesting insight and advice to offer.
First, a little background about me so we have some context: I am not a US citizen. I will have a green card in about 18 months, but meanwhile if I work, the employer must sponsor me for a visa.
This makes me nearly unemployable. The number of employers willing to deal with the visa process is vanishingly small, consequently there are very few -- if any -- jobs available to me. An additional complication is that I am "too experienced" for many jobs. I have a Masters degree (Software Engineering) about 12 years experience working on commercial software products. In recent years my career has been focused on management/technical leadership roles. That's no accident. I wanted that experience because I have a strong entrepreneurial streak and want to involved in the business side of things. I love that stuff.
However, I'm also passionate about building web products. I code for fun. I'm a geek, and I get a kick out of building cool stuff. I have no interest in being a middle management drone. I'd much rather starve and build something cool with a group of passionate people. I think a lot of people on HN are like that.
I'm thinking my unemployable status might in fact be an opportunity. My wife will be making enough money that we can get by with just her salary. She is happy to support me if I decide to invest my time into building something that has the potential to be turned into a startup when I am legally permitted to.
I always have a few ideas that I'm thinking about, working on, etc and now is no exception. I'm thinking this might be an opportunity to iteratively build prototypes and get market/customer validation for something that I can then really launch once I have a green card.
My questions: Is this something that's viable to do, in your experience? I don't have a professional network in Utah, so at least initially I will be alone on this - and in fact will have to be, since I cannot legally start a business. Also, does anyone have any advice as to how I might build a professional network of like-minded people when I'm in a situation like this? I have the social side of things covered (I participate in a lot of outdoor sports).
I'm happy to elaborate further, I just wanted to keep this question short and to the point.
Published in 2010, this chronicle by @matrix details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
So you like challenges?
You definitely want to talk to a business attorney and pay for some professional advice on the best way to set this up. You really don't want to put the next year of your life into this and then end up in a fight with the U.S. government over it.
You might consider incorporating in Nevada. Nevada and Texas have protections for businesses against piercing the corporate veil, as well as some protections from the IRS. Your business just needs a contact in Nevada, and there are a number of businesses that provide this as an affordable service. If any legal trouble comes up, you can "hide" behind your Nevada contact; the courts have supported all but one case of this, I think.
Make sure you cover yourself for taxes and all the other paperwork. I have no idea how not being a citizen will affect your tax situation.
Be aware that you may be endangering your marriage. Although your wife can support both of you, it would be natural for some amount of resentment to develop if she isn't able to see clear, regular progress on your project, even if she's an amazing person. On the other hand, it may take you weeks of frustration and dedication to produce anything that looks like progress, depending on what you're doing.
Be sure that you have the motivation and self-discipline to spend 8 uninterrupted hours per day on your project, at a minimum. You should clock in, and clock out, and otherwise treat it just like a full-time job. Set goals: at the end of the week, you'll have X done. At the end of the day, you'll have Y done.
Depending on what you're doing, it can also be one of the most challenging things you've ever done -- maybe even grueling. Or, maybe it'll be easy. Easy would be good, because you'll have enough legal, tax, and business challenges as it is.
I boot-strapped a small business, by myself, with no savings, a few years ago. It's not a "startup" in the HN sense, but it's been making money since the beginning, and it's doing really well now. That said, some masochistic streak within me makes me go out and do the hardest things I can find, and this has been the hardest thing I've ever done, by far. The stress from it has resulted in a few minor health problems, and I now have chronic sleeplessness. I have an indescribable amount of gratitude for the help I got recently in the form of a girlfriend that likes me and likes my projects.
So, help is good. "Alone" is not fun. Try to have help.
I've been in Park City (30 min from Salt Lake) for a year and half and have been pleasantly surprised at the vibrancy of the SLC startup community. A couple things to check out:
www.launchup.org - startup "barn raising events", excellent networking opportunity. I met a designer presenting at one of these and we went on to form a company that was contracted to build a Twitter app that eventually sold for 6 figures. Exciting!
Funding Universe's CrowdPitch events. Great for networking even if you go as a spectator.
www.boomstartup.com - Accelerator; you'd need to find a cofounder and not sure if the visa issue would exclude you, but there will probably be networking events around this.
www.siliconslopes.com
BYU Web Entrepreneurs Group
There's a lot more, too. Informal meetups, overlap with social media events (sometimes--other times these can be painfully dull) . . . overall I've found founders here, big and small (and yes they do get big here), to be very approachable and helpful. Get on Twitter and search for some entrepreneurial types here and you can check out the Twitter lists they are on to find more.
I'd offer to meet and help, but I'm moving to Los Angeles in a few days and can only hope I find it as startup-friendly as Utah.
Check out http://webstartupgroup.com
These guys are based in Utah and have frequent events at Brigham University. Mixers are great for meeting your future employees, partners or collaborators. Get in involved and definitely start building a personal/professional brand from day one.
In Toronto, we have the MaRS Discovery District. Which is a mix of private and government money funding startups, hosting entrepreneurship classes for free, office spaces, mixers, cash prizes for app. competition, keynote speakers etc. Outsiders may also find the content useful http://www.marsdd.com
It shouldn't be hard to locate a similar program in your region.
Good luck
Definitely viable!
There's nothing to say you can't be a share-holder in a company - or a director of one you create yourself. You just can't be an employee without a work permit. (although if you incorporate overseas, I think you should be able to pay yourself through that and declare it as income earned overseas. I'm unclear on US law, but that seems universal in most countries I've lived.)
I think you're in the ideal place to take a few of your ideas to market and see if you can gain traction. Good luck with it!
Why 18 months to get your green card? Is yours a recent marriage? Is your wife not a permanent resident? Not sure why a spouse-sponsored permanent residence process is estimated at 18 months for you.
I'm going through this with my wife right now and so far USCIS has been very quick. We're just entering month 4 of the process and it looks like we may have it all wrapped up by month 6.