Quit my job in 2024 to build my own products. Moved to India to extend my runway.
Progress: shipped a few things, made ~$1K , killed a project after a year of on-and-off work, failed a lot and exploring new ideas now.
Not exactly a success story yet, but I'm working on it.
there are people nowhere near the work who get uncomfortable when something might succeed without them attached to it
This is why I left my corporate job. I couldnโt take every idea being shot down because of this
In a place like Meta, the idea can literally be crystal clear. The user behavior can be strong. The signal can be there, but you still have to drag it through an org that can't align around it.
The whole process depends on how many people need to sign off. Some need to reshape it, redirect it, or find themselves in it before it can survive.
And, of course, there are people nowhere near the work who get uncomfortable when something might succeed without them attached to it. Just a machine so political, self-interested, and over-involved that even something that that clearly resonated can spend years waiting for permission to exist.
@nestersk In my experience, it's seen as a sign of weakness in men, and they'll get made fun of.
And when women talk about it, they have to deal with people discounting it as woo woo or weakness too I think.
But we should talk about it more. Hiding doesnt work
@nestersk I arrived at the same conclusion, doing what I can now and see what opportunities show up. But still working on the stakes. Mostly trying to ignore it for now, but still in the back of my mind
The loop I've been stuck in:
stakes feel high โ scared of failing โ do the comfortable work (building) โ avoid the scary work (marketing) โ no traction โ feels like more proof I'm failing โ more scared
Fear is the mind killer. I need to break this loop.
Spent the past couple weeks writing down what puts me in flow, what kills my focus, what I'm afraid of, what I keep avoiding and why.
Should've done this a year ago. When I look at the patterns honestly, a lot of stuff becomes obvious that I've been ignoring.