Ask HN: How do you start a startup in your 30s when you have wife/kids/mortgage?

• wundergraph

  108 2,159 9.5 TypeScript

  WunderGraph is a Backend for Frontend Framework to optimize frontend, fullstack and backend developer workflows through API Composition.

  

Hey, I'm Jens. I'm 34, married, with two kids (1 and 3), and I'm also the founder of WunderGraph (https://wundergraph.com).

I've done exactly what you're trying to do. Let me give you the playbook.

In preparation, I've done years of research in the field I'm working on (APIs, Integrations, developer experience). So you need a clear advantage.

Next, choose a topic that you're thrilled to be working on for many years. Doing this means you have to eat a lot of glass. It's crazy.

Commitment. Be ready to work through weekends and nights. You will feel bad because you won't have time for kids and wife. Your wife must 100% support your endeavour. It will be tough. Don't kill the relationship.

You need co-founders. Don't try this alone, it sucks. Build a small team around you. I found 3 amazing co-founders, a COO, a marketing genius, and a hacker. You can use tools like YC cofounder match. A lot of people will be a bad match. Meet a lot of them and try out things.

Build whatever you can to get one single customer, that's a person who pays you money. For us, this was enterprise support from the first customer at $2k/month. This changed everything.

How do you do this? Fuck everything. Stop building. Talk to potential buyers. Get someone to give you money for what you're doing. No money, no value. Whatever it is, get some MRR.

The last one was my biggest issue. I kept building because I loved building so much. But I was just coding, not creating Business value. If you're able to ship any kind of MVP with your co-founders, you're able to get some MRR, that will give you angels, and finally you can raise a seed.

All of this can be done on the side. Keep your job as long as possible. Get that one customer, get the angels and a SAFE for 6-12 months and then double down on that first customer, improve the tool, get a second customer maybe and raise the SEED.

It's possible. It's going to be tough. But you can do it. If you need my help, I can mentor and give you the right intros. Best of luck.

• SurveyJS

  surveyjs.io sponsored

  Open-Source JSON Form Builder to Create Dynamic Forms Right in Your App. With SurveyJS form UI libraries, you can build and style forms in a fully-integrated drag & drop form builder, render them in your JS app, and store form submission data in any backend, inc. PHP, ASP.NET Core, and Node.js.

  

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