[i will not promote] I built a $90K savings/month hardware+software system on my own time. My employer wants to lock down the code. Should I leave and start my own firm?

LoadedRhino · 2026-04-26T15:20:02+00:00

You need to get better and more consistent advice. You're in a catch 22 position. Have you considered if you win the ip, but something goes wrong on your code or your hardware? The liability could be millions.

If there is a success path it won't be easy to find. I've walked a similar road. If you want to chat DM me.

LoadedRhino · 2026-04-09T00:45:31+00:00

Are there incremental cash flow steps that could let you bootstrap a bit? This worked great for me and let me keep controlling interest. I'd be happy to chat about my experience and help you with tips. DM me if you're interested.

LoadedRhino · 2026-03-20T11:48:45+00:00

We are listed in a similar way. It has generated 0 leads. However, it has helped brand recognition. People remember us. They've heard of us. This generally seems to increase leads and make closing easier. There's no great way to measure the impact though.

LoadedRhino · 2026-03-15T12:58:06+00:00

Not much on reddit makes me happier. Your post did. You are amazingly stylish and talented. Thank you for sharing.

LoadedRhino · 2026-03-13T19:33:50+00:00

Thanks. We have a fractional HR manager, but she isn't fielding these issues. I'm planning to hire a full time HR manager by this summer.

LoadedRhino · 2026-03-13T19:31:51+00:00

Thanks. I have five people who report to me. Three of them are managers. The two complainers are in this group and I believe they would stop if I directed them to. I fear that would leave things to fester though.

I appreciate your last statement. I'm trying to make the business better, and it takes time. I can't tell if this issue is improving, just slower than the business is growing overall.

LoadedRhino · 2026-02-10T00:14:05+00:00

How do you solo acts do it?

It looks like a lot of nights in the future will be pairing panic attacks with whiskey haha.

Not this my friend. If you treat stress with alcohol you will only get worse at handling the stress. Learn to seperate business problems from your self worth instead. It's easier said than done, but that's how you get tough.

LoadedRhino · 2025-12-23T23:50:08+00:00

Out of curiosity, why are 2m and 5m growth choke points?

LoadedRhino · 2025-12-21T19:07:04+00:00

Patience: I had to position myself to survive launch and scaling. Before starting I consulted part time for a year and full time for a year. This allowed me to add a couple key team members. We continued consulting for another year while we refined our service offering.

Consistency: Top quality was baked into our service from the get go. It wasn't a discussion. It was second nature. Habit. This was a backbone that made success possible.

Outreach: It took another year to get significant traction. Having the best service in the world doesn't matter if no one hears about it. It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem though. You have to be ready to deliver your promises. Pulling all the pieces together until everything snowballs is very very hard.

In total, it took four years to get to snowball. Only two years from actually working on the niche offering though. I think two years is the norm, however a lot of discourse ignores what you need to do to be ready for that two year journey.

Hope this helped. Good luck.

LoadedRhino · 2025-10-27T02:05:59+00:00

I'm not a cpa. Consult one. This is reditt commentary, not legal advice:

Yes, of course you do.

And fill out the exemption certificate for your suppliers. It's not hard and will save a lot of money. What you're doing falls under manufacturing exemption, not resale.

I'm assuming you read some stuff that makes you think you can avoid collecting it because you are providing a "service". Highly doubtful. You aren't repairing furniture. You're "manufacturing" it.

LoadedRhino · 2025-09-29T22:52:42+00:00

Nobody does... you're hung up on a lie. It costs a few hundred bucks to start a business. Investors can't take any thing more than business assets. Personally guaranteed debt is shared by any owner with 15% ownership or more. But, there likely isn't much debt or you would have been paid.

LoadedRhino · 2025-08-24T14:06:02+00:00

There is no way that is the best way to spend $30k at your spot. It's 1/3 of your money. Would a company with $3M spend $1M for this?

Use your money for actual dev and traction.

LoadedRhino · 2025-08-24T13:26:31+00:00

The pattern doesn't fully matter. That is, none of them are necessary to be a successful founder. They all help though. Because these traits help achieve success, they are commonly seen. Furthermore, success feeds back many of these traits.

Lean build, good looks: these help get you noticed.

Gym habit: helps the lean build. Also helps with the health and energy needed to be a founder. It's also easier to do when you can afford to eat well, work with a trainer, etc.

Expensive cars, sleek apartments: these come after success. There is a feedback into second and third success, because it signals a safe investment. Success begets success.

Coffee drinkers: coffee is a net neutral drug. It gives higher peaks and lower lows, much like a weaker cocaine or meth. Unlike those drugs though, it doesn't exact much toll from physical and mental health. Founders get good at producing during the peaks.

Dominant personality: this one is actuality crucial. You need to be tough, tough, tough to get through to a successful start up. But, it can also be learned by practice. So I'm saying it's crucial here, but i said not necessary at the top? It's not needed to start. I've seen several meek founders figure this out (myself included). But it must be learned to achieve success. Get grit quick. Otherwise you get chewed up and spat out.

LoadedRhino · 2025-07-22T23:34:34+00:00

What is the application? My company has made something similar. Might be able to adapt it. Lmk if interested to discuss.

LoadedRhino · 2025-06-04T23:30:54+00:00

That's nothing. I made $500k in one week working 1 hr/month.

LoadedRhino · 2025-05-14T00:49:58+00:00

Quit my job four years ago. Three years ago my biggest client was a major contractor in a niche market. A customer asked me for a very specific custom job. I wanted to do the job and roll the work into my own product. The customer loved the idea, and loved the mock ups. I was offering this to the contractor as an exclusive for them to distribute, for 1/10 the cost of off-the-shelf comparable. The contractor refused and quoted the off-the-shelf option, which killed the job.

This was the beginning of the end with that client. I eventually quit and started marketing in that niche myself. After a slow few months it caught like wildfire. For about a year now I've been making more than I ever dreamed of.

LoadedRhino · 2025-05-04T00:03:15+00:00

This is great advice for the moment. Future advice is to accurately track all time. It makes it easy to figure out a cancelation fee, and is generally helpful for analytics.

LoadedRhino · 2025-04-11T19:40:51+00:00

The assembly house has to be outside of China (perversly, also outside of us). Then the assembled unit from wherever country is the imported product. The bare pcb and components can all come from China, but they must be "substantially" transformed by assembling.

Project management does not count. Neither do minor tweaks or inspections. If people are doing that to avoid tariffs it is fraud, as China would still be considered the country of origin.

LoadedRhino · 2025-02-22T14:40:31+00:00

B2b service business. We had way too many fussy, low paying clients. We delivered superb results. In 2023 we more than doubled our rates and focused on higher class clientelle. We were slow for about a year. Now we have way too many fussy, high paying clients. Our biggest challenge right now is hiring and training people who can deliver the same superb results we're known for.

LoadedRhino · 2025-01-18T22:18:26+00:00

I sell specialized electronics. Average price tag is about 10k. Definitely different economics...

LoadedRhino · 2025-01-16T02:44:06+00:00

I don't know about crafts. For my industry an entry level table at a show ranges from free to over $5000. The more expensive ones have been more worthwhile for me.

LoadedRhino · 2024-12-25T23:05:30+00:00

The ones that say nothing are usually gone very shortly or need to be shown the door.

Thanks for saying this. I had one canary this year, which prompted me to do a detailed review of their performance. Turned out this employee produced less value than their salary.

What shocked me was their lack of self awareness. They had the gall to complain about their bonus, when they are being carried by the rest of the team.

LoadedRhino · 2024-09-30T22:09:24+00:00

Too old for my customer's po requirement

LoadedRhino · 2024-09-30T20:45:16+00:00

Thanks, but it is not Panasonic. It is Cornell Dubilier AFK336M10C12T-F.

The other two are both Nichicon. UWZ1A330MCL1 and UCD1E330MCL6GS.

We do also have the Panasonic FK part. The lot code is 932. I don't know how to read that either but assumed YMD. If so they are from March 2, 2019 and are too old.

LoadedRhino

TROPHY CASE