TMBA 638: Judging When To Jump On The Tailwind Of a Side-Project

Thai Gongs and other items from Thailand

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‘Side hustles’ are a long running theme on this show: those ‘weekends and evenings’ projects that many entrepreneurs have in their back pockets. Many don’t work out but when one does, it’s a great opportunity to run with something which has the possibility to evolve to the next level. But how do you decide when that tipping point is?

In today’s show Ben Dowling joins Dan to describe how coding a simple API, to solve a problem he was experiencing while working as the CTO of Calm, lead him to found a Software as a Service called IPinfo, which create datasets about IP addresses:

“So many projects I shipped .. felt sort of uphill pushes. And some of them had some moderate success, but it was always an effort. Whereas IPinfo, the traction was sort of straightaway .. And so I think if people are struggling with a project, ‘Hey, do I just need to keep working hard on it?’ It may be best to try something different .. I had no expectations for IPinfo .. but it very quickly sort of started going in that direction”.

Listen to this week's show and learn:

  • A new API feature at Dynamite Jobs 10’06”

  • The differences between startup culture in the UK and US 26’32”

  • Starting IPinfo as a side hustle 31’50”

  • Why people are so important to SaaS 43’

Mentioned in the episode:

Before the Exit – Our New Book
Partner With Us
The Dynamite Circle
Dynamite Jobs
Post a Remote Job
Dynamite Deals
Tropical MBA on YouTube
Dynamite Jobs – Remote Recruiting Sales Page
Paul Graham
Alex Tew
Facebook
Instagram
Fortune500

Enjoyed this podcast? Check out these:

TMBA370: The Saturday Morning Side Hustle
TMBA378: “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try Try Try Again.”
TMBA495: Going All In on a Side Project

This week's sponsor:

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Thanks for listening to our show! We'll be back next Thursday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Dan & Ian

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TMBA 639: Agency Break

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TMBA 637: Our Favorite Books In The Time of Pandemic