Why Running a Side Project Could Ruin Your Startup
If you’ve been paying any attention to startupverse recently, you’ll have heard the same thing about a million times.
Side projects are the best thing you can do for your business
You’ll see examples like how Crew saved their startup with Unsplash, awesome tools like the StatusPage Error Page builder, and how startups like Baremetrics started as a side project.
For them and many others, side projects have been awesome. They’ve made their companies a ton of money. They’ve helped their startups succeed.
I just started a side project of my own: an email newsletter and publication.
But side projects have a dirty secret. One that people don’t talk about so much.
Side projects aren’t always a good thing.
Money
Nothing in life is free. The same goes for side projects. However cheaply you do it, it’s likely that you’ll have to pay at least some money to get set up.
Every business has startup costs, even side projects
Email lists, landing pages, hosting costs, development. The list goes on.
You can keep the costs down, run lean, code yourself, and fund it from your main project. Eventually maybe you can use it to fund your main project. Either way, money’s a factor.
You may not be able to afford to set up a side project. Or you may not be able to afford not to.
Time
If you’re not paying money to set up your side project, you sure are paying in time. And time is money.
I like to look at it as an hourly rate. Say a project’s taking 10 hours out of my week. If I were consulting (oh, those were the days) how much would I charge someone for that time? $300? $1000? $2500?
And what time impact will this have on your main project? Are they hours that you would otherwise be spending on your main project, or have you conjured them up from the ether?
You need to think about the time you spend on side projects as if it were money. It’s not something you can throw around with reckless abandon.
Attention
Time aside there’s also a strong chance that working on a side project will take attention away from your startup.
I’m talking about those moments you spend problem solving before bed. In the shower. On the way to the coffee shop.
If your attention’s being spent solving problems for your side project it’s not being spent solving problems for your startup. And that’s a problem.
Attention is a renewable resource, but it’s not unlimited
You have to be sure it’s worth it.
Enjoyment
Everything else aside, startups are really hard. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve written that recently.
People like me love that. Working on hard problems, never having enough time or money, it’s all part of the thrill.
Throwing a side project into the mix makes everything a hundred times more stressful, and that can take a serious toll on your enjoyment.
If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, kill one of the projects
The flip side of this is when you start to enjoy your side project more than you enjoy your startup. That happens. A lot.
Then the best thing to do is work on the side project full time instead. After you’re sure it’s going to work, of course.
Should you start a side project?
OK, that’s all pretty bleak. So should you be starting a side project after all?
I have no idea. It’s totally up to you. You have to think about all the costs— there’s loads—then decide for yourself.
I totally get how unhelpful that is. The point is, it really depends on you and your situation.
The most general advice I can give is to do what you love, and keep doing those things. That might be no side projects or a hundred. As long as you enjoy it (and can afford it) you’re doing the right thing.
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I’m just a guy from the UK that’s okay at writing, better at startups, awesome at making coffee.
This is day 64 in a 365 day writing experiment. You can check out why I’m writing every day here.
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