2024 was the year I realised the downside to selling your company, working 3 years in-purchaser, and then taking a year out to heal. You can get totally out of the groove.
I launched stuff, I pivoted, I embraced new tech; but I also saw where the landscape of software entrepreneurship has changed, and made next to no revenue all year.
| Start of 2024 | End of 2024 |
|---|---|
| No start-up projects in hand | 4 Launched projects, 3 in hand |
| No velocity | Decent velocity & momentum |
| Never dealt with AI | AI weaved into my workflows |
| Knew well how to launch a product in 2020 | Know now that the market has changed substantially since I last launched big |
| Out of my start-up/engineering groove | Thoroughly back in my groove |
This is not what I’d hoped for, nor what I expected.
Coming back fresh from a year building a cabin should leave you limber, right? Ready to slay? Nope. I still had my skillset, but I had let my tools get a little rusty. The landscape had changed and external life influences destabilised me nearly all year.
But despite that, I think things went well.
AI now feels like a force multiplier.
The two start-ups and an email course I have ready to launch feel more viable.
I start 2025 less wrong. LFG.
Here’s a run-down of my year, as much for me as for you 🙂 If you want to see my plan for 2025 it’s here.
Things that went well
Overall I consistently committed to labour, spending about 80% of my time developing and 20% marketing. While this might have worked in 2020, I don’t think we can do this distribution in 2025, not at least without master marketing skills I do not have.
- Work
- Got back into my product-making groove, despite external challenges
- Fully adopted Cursor/other AI tools into my workflow
- Setup a repeatable github system for each project
- Reconnected with kanban via Github
- Days to MVP massively reduced (~3m at start of year to ~5d at end)
- Rebooted lots of my old business systems, including tracking sheets, idea matrix, and overall business checklists
- Retooled my brain to set myself up to catch grace. Used sales safari, rather than forcing startup ideas
- Sharpened my ability to cull floundering projects
- New camera setup (Sony Alpha 7)
- 240hz monitor reduced migraines
- Refreshed desk setup for focus & efficacy
- Projects:
- [Shipped] Rebuilt WoodyHayday.com
- [Shipped] Rebooted Project Pages
- [Shelved] BuildProfit.io built in the right vane, but shelved for now
- [Shipped] BurnoutNutrition.com to get the concept out of my head
- [Shipped] Built a micro bet – CoupleFlow for Telegram
- [95%] Mobile app MVP in 5 days (2025 Q1 release)
- [Ready] Built NicheReports (2025 Q1 release)
- [In-hand] Drafted 25% of my new 1 year startup course (which pivoted into a new AI entrepreneurship challenge) – Profit Swarm .ai
- Got back into my product-making groove, despite external challenges
- IRL:
- Finished Cabin build:
- Interior
- 3.5m Ash Desk
- Cladding
- Welsh reclaimed slate roof
- Stove installed, Custom heatshield (acid etched Henry Thoreau passage)
- Compost loo started
- Quad Port
- Lots more, (thanks to Evan)
- Makes:
- Food Forest 3 planted
- House finished (bathroom)
- Trailer Mods
- Garden steps x 2
- Seagull defence
- Saddle stool prototype
- Garden beautification
- Gym in garage started
- 240hz monitor for migraines
- Gave up smoking
- Gave up gaming
- Brought my truck back from severe chassis rot
- Travel:
- Hertfordshire x 3
- Budapest
- Tenerife
- Cardiff
- Visited my Dad plenty
- Sadly missed a trip to Prague
- Japan & Seoul with Bro
- Christmas in Portugal
- Fam in Fishguard
- Friend meetups x 7
- Finished Cabin build:
Things that didn’t fly
Failure is information, and I got a chunk of it out of 2024. But I’m happy; I still have runway and am now much more in my groove.
- Revenue – I made under $1k all year. I put this down to:
- Me being out of the entrepreneurial groove
- The software space moving on since I last started fresh (SEO, Launches, AI-built stuff, and just generally the now more frothy nature of the space)
- Sales Safari + Re-matrixing ideas – out of practice, I chose suboptimal bets for ⅔ of the year. Startup brain is coming back slowly
- External life effects destabilising me a lot
- Launches – the landscape has changed since I last seriously launched products ~6y ago. Launches, and indeed distribution, has evolved. I’m catching up with this curve in 2025
- SEO – this has changed to. Oh the good old days of grey hat ranking, (I owned spot 1-3 for ‘modified cars’ for years before). Managed some success towards end of year, but generally I needed a refresh of my skills again here
- Developing a week-in-out schedule – I tried splitting my week several ways, but in the end, as per history, I was just trying to fit too much in. I’ve let go of that assumption, and will be building a better, leaner weekly ‘system’ this year
- #buildinpublic – I tried to get involved in this movement on X, but I found that while there were some cool people around it, it has also become a bit of a copycat low-strike-rate minefield
- I refreshed my SLR with the intention to build on YouTube (maker videos and business stuff). I did use my camera a bit, but not at all how I’d envisaged. I hope to make more use of it this year, but it’s not realistic to balance small bets & maker stuff with my current state of health & household
- Scattered notes – I still have notes and writing scattered across Evernote, Notion, Telegram, Google Docs, various phone writing apps. This is an endless struggle between ADHD/ASD natures, but I do still believe I will find a system to match my nature, eventually
- I admit I got a little distracted by memecoins 🤑
- Migraines: I’ve made gratingly little progress overall, though I have found a balance where work is totally achievable; provided I regulate the plethora of other things I’d set myself to do IRL
- Hospitalised for 4 days at one point
- Tried a lot of therapies/pharma solutions this year, approached the bottom of the list of possible ‘cures’: Myofascia, Rimegepant, Pizotofen, Botox, etc. etc.
- Have found a healthy balance with work by the end of the year though, work’s good now
- Alexander Technique drop off – I have started to notice the effect of dropping my routine AT lessons; bad backs that I have not had in 10y or so
- In the polytunnel: My old lemon tree is still plagued by Scaley bug, the peach tree by red mites, and the fig tree has rust. Otherwise the growing season is set to be very good in 2025
All in all I’ve had a great year despite all of the challenges. I’m very grateful to have had the runway and capital to recover my tools, travel with my peeps, and make some cool things.
I look forward to further refining my product building/launching loops in 2025; to less external knocks, more focus, revenue and stability.
I hope you have a great 2025!
P.S. If you want to keep up to date with my business adventures, and tool up your software entrepreneurship in 2025, Join ProfitSwarm.ai (launching soon).
Doubling back from my 2024 small bets post, I said I’d answer a few questions, so I’m going to do that here:
Is it possible to get iterative benefits while exploring disparate small bet models?
Yes, I definitely saw iterative benefits despite my small bets being a bit scattershot. I’d say there’d be more iterative benefits if the bets had been aimed more closely at one audience, primarily in the fact I ended up building a few different email lists/target audiences, which I couldn’t cross-sell to.
Technology wise, though, there are definitely stack benefits to building different models; e.g. I now have a good base to build mobile apps, telegram integrations, AI wrappers etc. that can be applied this year to a single audience.
Might it have been better to go all-in on a single idea?
I don’t think so. Mostly because my startup-idea validating brain was out of practice. I think all my ideas had merit, and to some extent it was my rusty processes which meant they produced only meagre returns.
I think being nimble and exploring a range of ideas was good for me to get my mind back in the game, to learn the new landscape, and to fully iron out the kinks from my workflows.
What code libraries/scripts did I build which will be useful going forwards?
Lots! Telegram, AI, Turnstile, and Stripe integrations. A nice new ‘domain for sale’ lander. I learned Flutter and Dart and built a decent MVP mobile app.
I suspect lots of these libs/scripts will be useful in 2025.
Did I hit my targets?
Nope. Not by a long shot, though I am fairly confident I know the reasons why, and am pivoting in the right direction. I don’t want to let my bias sugar coat the fact that I made next to no revenue, but I do think it’s rational I’ll get there in 2025.
Did I move towards a greater authenticity?
Yes, I think so. I’ve been doing this (software entrepreneurship) for most of my adult life, mostly successfully; it feels authentic and right. I started 2024 in a less authentic place than I ended it.
Having been working on the rock face all year I reconnected with that natural builder in me, saw that I can build well, fast. Most importantly for me I accepted that my aspirations were, as usual, unrealistic (to moon shot a small bet, finish building a cabin, plant a new food forest, sustain a nurturing family household, make stuff IRL, etc. all with chronic migraines).
By dialling back my aspirations, doubling down on this entrepreneurship focus, I hope and expect to make more progress in 2025.
Am I excited to carry on this experiment in 2025?
Yes! It’s my authentic self to be making new stuff to help others solve problems. I really look forward to launching, iterating, pivoting, and generally delivering good outcomes that produce win-win results.
Long live makership!
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