I have been working on building mobile apps to tackle problems I'm passionate about solving, and teaching myself as much as possible, and I feel comfortable now with building web/mobile apps, backend services, and I understand a bit about cloud providers and navigating AWS/GCP. I also been reading books through the pandemic on design and product management, and also learned to use various tools like Figma and notion to organize.
How can I best utilize my 20k and do something meaningful with that amount this year? I don't know any 1st hand connections/friends who own their own software business, so I want to ask here.
Should I use that amount to register a business, so that I can release apps under that entity?
Should I use that amount to hire a professional designer to build landing/product page so I can focus on building the app/service and talking to potential users?
Should I move to the bay area or another big city center? Unfortunately I don't have any software engineer friends in my area as I work remote..
Please help me out, I need some inspiration and advice. Thank you.
The best chance of success will come from having more development time. So don't spend your money. You could also find partners, but make sure there is a peaking order (one of the founders has a plurality). So join someones existing project or sweat enough over your own that other founders would be willing to join at a lesser cut.
I would not register a business. Waste of money (dev time). You can wait till there are other founders or you have revenue and want a tax advantage. Assuming you are in the US you default to a sole proprietorship under your name anyhow, so no worries there. If you want a cool sounding name you file for a "Doing Business As" I would not hire. At 20k the best bang for the buck would be your time. I would not move. Again, costs. If you want to meet people you already seem to have a knack for it. :) Also, hunter321 and yuppie_scum are wise men, hahaha, and I don't see any bad advice on this page. Add a contact to your about and I would be happy to chat.
2. You don't need a complex landing page. Just something to explain your product, and collect an email. Use open source landing page templates.
3. Having software engineer friends does not automatically guarantee you anything. Move to an area where you can attend startup oriented events so you can meet founders and investors. They are the people that will teach you things and influence your success the most.
I am currently doing something similar, but I have more experience and money saved, several apps already in progress, and trusted developers that I work with.
Maybe our skillsets won't match, overlap too much, or we won't find a common goal, but you never know.