I graduated from university a few months ago. Through time there, I have accumulated knowledge in various topics: mobile development, web development, product management, data analytics, machine learning, etc. It's not that deep, but it is enough to build an AI model or code an MVP with a few days or weeks of research.
The question is whether I should find a job or build my product.
What's the goal? - Make money - Have fun - Learn and progress as an individual
Below, my thought process for the two choices is presented in a simple yet straightforward way.
Job: - Salary: $1k-1.3k monthly is considered pretty high on average in my country - Scalability: going let's say from $1k to $2k monthly will require a year or two with an upper limit on $7k-$10k as an employee - Personal growth: the job will provide me with consisting feedback on my work as well as I will have some mentors - Direction for growth: clearly defined, look up to senior members of the team - Freedom: 8 hours per day
Own product: - Salary: of course, I might be biased here, but finding 100 users that will pay a $10 monthly subscription to achieve $1k MRR seems like a feasible option - Scalability: going from $1k MRR to $2k or $4k seems - Personal growth: more horizontal, i.e., more shallow knowledge in the different fields - Direction: pretty vague. What should you do next if you go into specifics - Freedom: I have no illusions that a startup will require more than 8 hours per day, but for some reason, it feels more like freedom because the product is yours
Note: I had experience participating in the local startup acceleration program with a b2b startup (which didn't go further than customer discovery). I am familiar with lean startup methodology, iterative approach, hypothesis testing, value proposition canvas, etc. Moreover, I am sure I can raise a $5k initial investment from FFF.
At this point, I understand that I didn't share a lot of other variables that take part in my decision process, such as social anxiety (working on it) and love for engineering and math (although I don't feel accomplished there).
Please share your thoughts on the topic. I would be glad to engage in the discussion.
You need to search for a job and do your project at the same time.
Don't neglect sleep or you will burn out.
You can do everything you want if you time-block appropriately and be consistent.
I made https://rhea.run from nothing and grew to a few hundred users with slight profit.
I can tell you right now that marketing and user onboarding will be your hardest challenge.
I found that organic growth trumped ads on reddit etc.
Facebook ads are a dead end, you will be engaging with bots or deep state conspiracy folk.
Working on product will always challenge you with unexpected hurdles, something that sounds like a day of work may end up taking a week or more in research and implementation. It's all a learning experience.
If you land a job, you can gain further experience while getting paid.
Feel free to reach out and prompt me for any further advice.