How was 2018

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Written By cnu

It has been more than a year since I posted here and it is already the end of 2018. So how was my year 2018? This is not a detailed overview of the year like others write. But more like a short blog post of what happened in the past 1 year and what I am going to do next.

Quit working as full-time employee

Professionally, a lot changed. I quit my job early in the year and joined another company, and quit that too in a few months. But, why?

I have mostly worked with early-stage startups. I have always loved working on products which are in it’s infancy, where there is a certain uncertainty in what needs to be built. The challenges in building new features for a product are slightly different and interesting than maintaining an existing product and making sure nothing breaks.

When I realized that my contributions to the team wouldn’t match my skill set, I decided to quit. I am happy that I quit at the right moment – before I became too involved with the team.

I am currently back to consulting to startups, helping them to build MVPs and products. And I am not going to just consult for other companies. I have also decided to build my own product(s).

Built ChangeLog.host

changelog logo 280x100 1 - How was 2018
ChangeLog.Host

One such product that I built was ChangeLog.host – a site where you can write your product’s changelogs/release notes. This is useful for product managers who want to keep their users updated about the newest features and bug fixes in the products.

I started building it as part of a 24 hours online hackathon challenge and I did complete the basic MVP level of features in 24 hours. But instead of continued development in a vacuum, I talked to potential customers.

I asked them why they would use such a service and why they wouldn’t use it. And what features are important for them to consider using this. I still am in the process of talking to others and understanding the users. Depending upon the conversations, I would either continue with the development or maybe start building other products.

I also want to release some MicroProducts – smaller products that are useful to a select few people. My goal in building such products is to not worry about the technical stuff, but rather concentrate on the marketing, growth, and sales side of running a business. I will make sure to blog about these “experiments”.

Personal Stuff

On the personal side, I was able to experiment with the Keto diet and was successful in reducing some weight (almost 10%). But I didn’t stick to it and ended up going back to my old weight. At least I found that it does work best and maybe I would try to stick to it more regularly in the next year.

2019?

I don’t want to write specific goals for the coming year. But this is going to be the overall theme.

  • Building Products and MicroProducts (and this means not just software).
  • Concentrate on the non-technical side of a business and blog about my experiments.
  • Consulting for other startups on the side.
  • Spend more time with my kid (now that I am working remotely, I have the luxury).
  • Be healthier.

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