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I started https://ipinfo.io https://ipinfo.io as a side project, and eventually transitioned to working on it fulltime by myself for a while. I really enjoyed t

I started https://ipinfo.io https://ipinfo.io as a side project, and eventually transitioned to working on it fulltime by myself for a while. I really enjoyed that time, but as things progressed it was a huge relief to bring in other people to help. Offloading support to people that were better suited to dealing with customer issues, and enjoyed doing that more than me. Then offloading design work to someone who can actually do a good job of design. Then getting help optimizing some DB queries. And before you know it we're a team of 17 globally :) I sometimes fondly remember the times that it was just me working in a coffee shop by myself, they were certainly simpler times. But the business would never have been able to get to the stage its at if I was doing this by myself.

ilrwbwrkhv 5y ago
Any tips on hiring as a solopreneur? Where do you start and what do you tell them?
- vladsanchez 5y ago
  Why hire if you're "Solo"?
  - count 5y ago
    Because sometimes you want to tackle things that are bigger than you can do alone, or that are well outside of your personal wheelhouse (say, UX for an infra person or vice versa), and you want someone with more 'skin' in the game than a contractor. At least, that's why I've hired as a solo founder...
- coderholic 5y ago
  Initially it was mostly through upwork.com, and the HN monthly who's hiring posts. The first hires were either for specific project work, or part-time contractors. I kept giving the best ones more and more projects or hours until they eventually wound up full time :)
dustinmoris 5y ago
Have you blogged or documented your journey somewhere? I love reading solopreneur success stories like this!
- coderholic 5y ago
  Yeah I've talked about it on a few podcasts. Here are a couple that focus a lot on the journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79AuXgTy-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79AuXgTy-4 https://saasclub.io/podcast/ipinfo-ben-dowling/ https://saasclub.io/podcast/ipinfo-ben-dowling/
  - dustinmoris 5y ago
    Awesome, thanks!

ilrwbwrkhv 5y ago

Any tips on hiring as a solopreneur? Where do you start and what do you tell them?

vladsanchez 5y ago
Why hire if you're "Solo"?
- count 5y ago
  Because sometimes you want to tackle things that are bigger than you can do alone, or that are well outside of your personal wheelhouse (say, UX for an infra person or vice versa), and you want someone with more 'skin' in the game than a contractor. At least, that's why I've hired as a solo founder...
coderholic 5y ago
Initially it was mostly through upwork.com, and the HN monthly who's hiring posts. The first hires were either for specific project work, or part-time contractors. I kept giving the best ones more and more projects or hours until they eventually wound up full time :)

dustinmoris 5y ago

Have you blogged or documented your journey somewhere? I love reading solopreneur success stories like this!

coderholic 5y ago
Yeah I've talked about it on a few podcasts. Here are a couple that focus a lot on the journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79AuXgTy-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79AuXgTy-4 https://saasclub.io/podcast/ipinfo-ben-dowling/ https://saasclub.io/podcast/ipinfo-ben-dowling/
- dustinmoris 5y ago
  Awesome, thanks!