All pretty niche services mostly in the real estate and home improvement type sectors. None have/had the potential to really be unicorns but all have/had the potential to be million dollar+ businesses.

I didn't start off hiring employees. In the beginning I did everything myself (programming, marketing, customer support, accounting, etc.). A year in I hired my first customer support employee and throughout the years employee count fluctuated from just a couple to 13 at most. Many of which were part-time and worked remote. I have also had offices throughout the years but now focus totally on remote. I don't like the burden of an office.

I think my #1 tip for a newbie would be to look for something niche that solves a pain point or allows your customer to make or save money. For example: if your customer can spend $10/mo on your software and make or save $30/mo from that, you will have no problem getting & keeping customers.

#2. Don't focus on becoming a unicorn. You can make some serious money and build a very comfortable life running a $300k to $1m dollar business, and your chances of succeeding at that are much greater.

#3. Look for things outside of tech. There are so many problems to solve in small businesses. Many will say there is no money to make with small businesses. My response to that is re-read #2.

#4. Learn everything you can about advertising. Get really good at it and be willing to spend money on advertising.

#5. Be willing to kill something off quickly if it doesn't make money. Test your market early to make sure people will pay for it. I have made the mistake of not doing this and I have lost a lot of money because of it. Now, I need to be able to see a positive ROI on my spend within 3 to 4 months. So if I spent $100 to acquire a customer, I want to be able to get that back + more within 3 to 4 months. I know this timeline is probably really short for a VC funded company, but I have always been bootstrapped so don't have the luxury of risking a longer time-frame for return.

I would also like to add one more.

#6. It is not easy! Prepare to put in long hours especially in the beginning. Prepare for it to take a mental toll at times. You will second guess yourself, feel insecure, be consumed oftentimes with your business.

You will now have thousands of bosses rather than just 1 or 2. Your customers are now your bosses and many of them will be requesting different things. You will have to learn how to filter through all of that noise and decide which to listen to and what to implement into your software. That is harder than you think.

I think a lot of people have un-realistic expectations on being your own boss. I am not saying the 4 hour work-week hasn't worked for some but it has never been a reality for me. Maybe someday ;)

I don't want to make it sound bad because it is not. It is just not as easy as many make it out to be either.

> You can make some serious money and build a very comfortable life running a $300k to $1m dollar business, and your chances of succeeding at that are much greater.

This is gold. This is an end result I can see a path to, which gives me clear goals to work towards.

All the points are gems. Thanks