🛠️ Startups Update: October 2024
Closed UX Remotely, decided on the next chapter of my entrepreneurial journey
Hello friends!
I was on an extended break travelling around Europe for almost 2 months total (France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic). We created lots of memories for the whole family. However, at the end of my 2 months vacation, I didn’t feel much rested =) There was lots of sightseeing though 😎 I think iCloud Photos increased by a hundred gigabytes 🤪
I decided to shut down UX Remotely and decided on the next endeavour. I wrote a retrospective for UX Remotely subscribers and am re-posting it here for you.
PS Since publishing that post, I decided to change the name for the next project to Mav Hub -
After taking an amazing (2 months long 👻) summer break, it’s time to turn the page. It’s important to reflect on this project, and capture key takeaways, what went well, and why it failed.
Outline:
What went well
What didn’t go well
Key lessons
Thank you-s
Next steps
Announcement
👌 What went well
First of all, I loved working on it. The problem resonated with me on a personal level. I was my own customer, in a way.
Second, I love bringing value to people. Judging by all the kind words I received from many people, I think it was a valuable resource. It helped several people find remote jobs, which is amazing!
Next, I learned a lot. How to build a platform using no-code tools, automate data scraping, parsing, and cleaning, and write Google App Scripts using ChatGPT. Very valuable learnings!
Lastly, earned a little money. 433 euros over 7 months, max 133 euros MRR. This was a significant milestone for me - getting to monthly recurring revenue of 100+ euros 🤑.
👎 What didn’t go well
Many things 🥲
Automation challenges
The most critical thing was that I failed to automate my efforts in a meaningful way. I did manage to optimize and find lots of ways to reduce manual tasks. But this wasn’t enough. I roughly calculated my hourly labour cost and it was around 3 euros per hour 😂
I tried soooo many things… but nothing was enough to solve the problem of a complete lack of standards of how job postings were structured and written. There is just too much variety and inconsistencies. Often gaps in essential data points (eg remote location limitations).
There was a hope that ChatGPT could become a huge help in automating of data cleaning, but it was a loooong way to go without any guarantee of better results. I was again, dealing with the problem of too much variety and inconsistent job postings’ structure.
Small target market
I quickly realized that the target was very limited. After an initial good growth trajectory, it plateaued very quickly. I’ve estimated how much more could I grow if I added other UX-related jobs (eg User Researchers, UX Writers, etc.) and this wouldn’t make much difference. Expanding to other jobs would not be aligned with the UX niche.
Values misalignment
After struggling with the growing pains of tedious manual work and fading hopes for a reasonable path to better automation, I pondered the foundational dilemma 🧘♂️.
I’ve evolved to have a strong belief that many more people should become independent from their paycheque and employment.
If I truly believe this (and I do), helping people find their next employer is not aligned with my core belief. The goal is opposite to what I truly want to see - more people becoming entrepreneurs (on that later).
This resulted in questioning the current path and if I should keep investing my sweat and tears into something that’s fundamentally not aligned with my vision for the future.
You already know the answer 🫠
📌 Key lessons
The problem has to align with my core beliefs, otherwise it’s hard to persevere through the slumps.
Automation is essential, doing stuff manually is OK for the short-term initial experimental phase, but long-term it’s a killer and adds to burnout.
Asking for advice from a developer can significantly speed up the progress on automation and overall system design.
Timing is critical. With more and more companies cancelling their WFH benefits the remote job market has dried pretty quickly.
🙏 Thank you-s
I am grateful for all paid subscribers, it means a lot when you can find people who want to give you their money. This means they see value in what you are doing.
Also, I appreciate all the DMs I received with very kind and reassuring words. This problem resonated with quite a few people in my network.
And a special shout-out to those who were open enough to share their feedback. This was very valuable and helped me add more valuable things to the platform.
🏁 Next steps
The website and database are already shut down. All refunds have been issued. This email is the last step to close this page.
Now…
📣 Announcement
I spent many months going through an identity crisis, trying to figure out my ikigai and what good I wanted to do and for whom.
Perhaps, it’s my mid-life crisis (I turned 41 a couple of weeks ago) 😅
Long story short - I made a decision on what I want to devote myself to -
I am building an educational platform/community to help people (like myself):
open their eyes to the world of entrepreneurship;
understand why entrepreneurship is better than employment;
learn how to launch different businesses without coding;
learn skills that make it easier to launch and grow businesses (and future-proof yourself);
connect with like-minded entrepreneurs.
I have a big vision, and it is a long game. I’ve launched dozens of side projects and startups and learned many things that I will be sharing.
Have a look at my manifesto -
…and join the waitlist -
Ciao ciao!
Kirill 💟
PS I am taking a break till the end of the year, and will start publishing content on Mavericks Tribe in January. Happy upcoming holidays. Stay tuned 📡