But sometimes it's easier and faster to build something
cool than to try to build a useful business product.
I'm facing that dilemma now. Should I focus on the product I want to build and possibly fail months later with nothing to show for the effort and no budget left to live on (I'm still recovering from the last one)?
Or should I build several smaller demo projects as portfolio pieces I can shop to get client work to fund the part-time development of my eventual product? Especially considering that my walled-off enterprise projects are inaccessible and built with tools other than the open source ones I'd prefer to be working with.
Unfortunate, but true. I don't understand why people use services like that so willingly, because companies have to make their money somewhere. For some I guess the amount of personal data provided isn't a big deal.
"The nearly 5-year-old war, once billed as virtually paying for itself through increased Iraqi oil exports, has cost the U.S. Treasury $845 billion directly." [Much more now, I suppose.]
Political views aside, I agree that they'd benefit from a different name. Choose something more accessible, something like "Facebook" but not a derivative.
Jobhop yes, but please be careful--you might just hop yourself right out of the market.
My resume resembles Swiss cheese. I have a whole bunch of short-term jobs, and holes where I've taken off a year or more to pursue my own ideas (I'm "freelancing" during that time).
Fortunately I was able to get another job after the last break, but I didn't seem to be getting as many callbacks as I'm used to. This, coupled with my age, tells me I need to stay put for a while. And I hate that.
My only concern about this would be selling lifetime subscriptions for an embryonic service. What if it fails? This may be built into the terms, but it could also sour customers on your future offerings (or hurt your personal brand).
Otherwise, this seems like a good strategy for testing the waters with a new product.
Depressing that I couldn't even get an upvote. I thought for sure that I could get an answer on HN. I suck.