As a Builder, I have participated in the establishment of several entrepreneurial projects. I rejected the offer of Google after I graduated as a graduate student in the United States. As a technical partner, I founded the first serious start-up company with my friends, engaged in cross-border e-commerce, and entered the Incubator Plug and Play in Silicon Valley. Later, with zhenfund’s investment, the whole team moved back to Beijing from the San Francisco Bay Area and rented a small residence in Wudaokou for two years.

Later, for various reasons, the first project was not completed. At that time, in 2016, Beijing was still in the middle of the entrepreneurial boom. I was soon involved in a new entrepreneurial project, sASS service related to retail to B. This project has been done for a period of time, with some good results, but the product has been unable to run because of the lack of a CTO. I also felt full of confidence when I joined in.

Then came three years of fast-paced 996 life, working overtime until 2 or 3 o ‘clock in the morning or even all night is the norm, in the Entrepreneurial circle of Beijing, there is nothing to say about this, everyone is like this. There were several product launches, sales growth, and fundraising highlights, but it wasn’t until last summer that the team began to fall apart. It’s hard to say why, but it took a lot of determination for me to leave, as anyone who’s been in business knows.

I decided to leave Beijing last summer and started the life of digital nomad. I also went back to the United States for a while and thought a lot. Turning 30 last year, I was wondering what I wanted out of my life. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been a different life if I had stayed in the US and worked at Google. However, I do not regret it. These years of experience are valuable and I also know that most of the time it is human, and some so-called achievements may just happen to step on the wind and be lucky.

Having been in the startup industry for a long time, my thinking is sometimes rigid. When I think of “startup”, it means tens of millions of dollars in financing, team building, media coverage and so on. Later slowly learned the indie hacker and digital nomads, found that not only is the United States and the domestic, there are many excellent independent developers, as they do the high quality products, while also get a good income, to grasp their own life rhythm, can saying is the ideal state, I wish I could be like them, too.

Starting The Web App Challenge by Nathan Barry, which I read during The pandemic, is what I wanted to do for myself. As anyone reading this can attest, I want to be transparent and open, and you can see all my decisions in this blog. Whether it works or not, at least I tried.

Web Application Challenges

1.Challenging goals

By October 3, 2020, I want to make a product that generates at least $30,000 in monthly revenue. (I am involved in another part time project, so I will take this challenge as a side project.)

2.Challenging conditions

To make this challenge more difficult, I set some limits for myself:

2.1. The initial capital is 30,000 YUAN

In the process of trying, I invested no more than 30,000 yuan of my own start-up capital. The benefits generated by the product can be reinvested into product promotion.

2.2. Work no more than 30 hours per week

I know from my previous experience that putting in more hours doesn’t necessarily lead to more output, so 30 hours is fine if I’m focused and manage my time well.

The question I get asked the most?

1. Where do your ideas come from?

Start with your own problems.

I’m a developer, full stack, working on different products. I’m not a technical expert, but I have some experience. I also encounter a lot of problems and try to solve them on my own. In the process, I come up with a lot of executable product ideas.

2. Who is your product for?

Based on my own experience and strengths, it’s mostly developers, small teams, and especially Indies who want to increase their productivity as much as I do.

3. What technology stack will you use for your product?

I will most likely use Python as the development language, PostgreSQL database, and Docker for the environment

4. Do you develop independently or with a team?

Independent development. The advantage of independent development in small projects is flexibility. We don’t need team development yet.

5. If you fail?

Even if I don’t reach the challenge goal, I will learn a lot in this process. I will record all my decisions and thinking process, so that both MYSELF and others who have similar ideas with me will benefit in the future and won’t make the same mistakes repeatedly. When does the challenge start?

6. When will the challenge start?

The challenge starts today. I currently have an online product, cloud Box 21, which mainly provides cloud services for small and medium developers, but has not yet generated revenue. I will probably take it as an initial challenge project, try to see if I can make money in the shortest time from the product and market. Or maybe use it as a tool to get my product out faster.

The last

I will publish my project progress every week on my blog, blog.21yunbox.com/. Welcome to pay attention to it. If you have any good ideas or questions, please feel free to communicate with me!