Or Questions I wish I'd asked myself earlier on.
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It's been about a year since a few old friends and I started working together, trying to build something of our own. Six months of informal collaboration followed by another six months of getting serious about company formation. One thing's been abundantly clear - I would not have been able to reach where I find myself today in the journey without the support from all of my partners - SD, NJ and AA.
But Here are the questions I wish I'd asked myself earlier, along with what I learned along the way.
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"Am I moving slow because I'm being thorough, or am I just afraid of the plunge?"
Late 2023, I was itching to work on projects. The motivation came from a deep-seated frustration with my professional growth pace and a visceral need to build things. I've since realized that creating stuff is essential to my mental well-being. Bonus points if I actually ship what I build, and nothing like it if people actually use what I shipped.
But I kept delaying. I told myself it was because:
----
It's been about a year since a few old friends and I started working together, trying to build something of our own. Six months of informal collaboration followed by another six months of getting serious about company formation. One thing's been abundantly clear - I would not have been able to reach where I find myself today in the journey without the support from all of my partners - SD, NJ and AA.
But Here are the questions I wish I'd asked myself earlier, along with what I learned along the way.
----
"Am I moving slow because I'm being thorough, or am I just afraid of the plunge?"
Late 2023, I was itching to work on projects. The motivation came from a deep-seated frustration with my professional growth pace and a visceral need to build things. I've since realized that creating stuff is essential to my mental well-being. Bonus points if I actually ship what I build, and nothing like it if people actually use what I shipped.
But I kept delaying. I told myself it was because:
- I didn't have enough coding expertise
- ChatGPT wasn't quite there yet to support
- The pieces I had were too complex to do alone
- My ability to break down bigger pieces into micro-tasks wasn't developed
Looking back, these were partially valid concerns but also convenient shields against action. The real breakthrough came when I started:
- Breaking down complex problems into smaller steps
- Getting better at learning itself
- Using LLMs as learning/coding partners
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"Why are we obsessing over incorporation before building anything?"
Around April 2024, we got caught up in company registration and administrative setup. I led this entire thing, primarily driven by my initial reasons for wanting a company structure and, honestly, my impatience. We focused on getting quotes from different providers, understanding processes, and setting up banking - all before having a clear product.
The irony? Being methodical about administrative setup while being chaotic about product development. As my friend SD later pointed out, "Were we all being non-methodical or unscientific? I think, yes, as a group we were."
But few benefits did emerge:
- It brought us together as a "team"
- Added structure to our discussions and actions
- We learned about processes and got over inhibitions
- Basics like payment gateway setup became easier
But was it the right priority? Probably not.
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"Are we actually a team, or just friends trying to work together?"
The excitement of working with friends was great! The extraordinarily long times to make decisions - not so much.
We struggled with:
- Being new as colleagues despite being old friends
- Having two strong voices (me and SD) with different preferences
- Others having ideas but not as clearly defined preferences
- No defined roles beyond all being directors
- Mixed communication patterns (WhatsApp vs. structured tools)
As one of us noted: "...we did not consume previous content before generating new. I felt like there was too much re-work on re-decisioning things."
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"Am I expecting everyone to care as much as I do?"
And is that even fair?
By June, after months of mixed feelings about differing contributions and goals, I made a mental shift - deciding to view my friends as "benign investors." This came from my frustration with the speed of progress and scope creep.
But as SD pointed out, this was "a recipe for a crash – a full-blown HR disaster waiting to happen." He was probably being hyperbolic. But there was a kernel of truth. The real question wasn't about others' commitment levels but about:
- How to work with different availability levels
- Creating accountability without creating pressure
- Building systems that work for everyone's pace
And I can see that today, when NJ is so pumped up, firing all cylinders while I am feeling conflicted about the pace and priorities.
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Looking forward: Questions we're still answering
We're still figuring out:
- How to maintain momentum on current projects while exploring new ones
- Building better async communication patterns across time zones
- Creating structured ways to make faster decisions
- Balancing methodical planning with quick execution
As we move forward with our current project (ThePhotos.org) and explore new ideas, we're learning that the right question isn't "How fast can we go?" but rather "How can we build sustainable patterns that work for everyone?"
The journey continues, and the questions evolve. But at least now we're asking better ones.
Amit
(building NextFive)
(building NextFive)