I could see myself running a hotel. A little world where the architecture is otherworldly. And of course, the service is impeccable – because nothing matters more in any business than how customers are treated.
(source) I collected this photo as inspiration ~14 years ago. Feels good to finally use it.
But while it’s normal for one night in a hotel to cost ~$300, most people expect the price of a month of using pro-grade software – some of which cost millions of dollars to produce and maintain – to be closer to a cup of coffee. That’s because software is inherently a volume business. While I’m busy fixing something, the app is still being used by everyone else. And when I ship improvements, everyone benefits.
Does it make me feel better when Kinopio is more reliable, lighter-weight, simpler, more powerful, and faster? Well, I’ve been happily doing this kind of tuning all month. And honestly, if I could afford to, I’d keep doing it forever.
When it comes to volume, Kinopio is in this awkward puberty phase, where it doesn’t have enough paid users to be completely self-sustainable yet. But I also get bug reports, feature requests, student discount requests, and emails from really nice people telling me how much they love Kinopio, everyday.
So as much as I enjoy improving code, I also know that my primary focus right now really should be on helping new people find Kinopio – and giving them a really inviting first-impression when they do.
Switching my brain from coding-for-computers to writing-for-humans is a violent gesture. It takes a lot of force and focus to pull that rusty mental switch. So when writing mode finally does click on, I’d like to stay there for a while.
But staying away from code gets tricky once daily support requests start rolling in.
People have this perception of a founder or a CEO as someone who floats above the business, separated from the day-to-day so they can think high-level thoughts about high-level things. But especially if you’re building organic software, you’ll be sneaking peeks at the sky, while wading knee-deep through mud. The way I do it, it’s not a glamorous job.
How influencers picture founder life.
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