Building a community alone

Most weeks I get asked why I'm only accepting Patrons / donations and won't accept technical help developing SoSa

This question seems to be coming up more and more so I thought I'd make a post about it.

SoSa is a social network, with lofty ambitions, I'd be crazy to build the backend, frontend, apps and infrastructure all by myself, right?

Well maybe, but I have my reasons...

1. Corruption

Most of the major platforms at the moment either have one or more investors, they have armies of people with different ideologies and beliefs building them.

When you're building a business, this is great, cash flow isn't a problem, you can hit deadlines easily, sure you've got a set of fancy core values and you can build something that "people really believe in"

Allegedly... But there's almost always a corruptible factor.

There's always that one person who will sell all your secrets for money, will use the project to satisfy their ego and vanity (the irony of this statement isn't lost on me), will over promise, under promise, encourage the collective to push in a direction that will make more money etc etc.

I believe building something with such a large community focus requires a person/s who's main focus and goal for the platform has nothing to do with money, that won't sell out the community for a few extra bucks. That can proceed with a single vision.

Whilst I am motivated by money but I will never sell my ideals, or my integrity no matter how much you offer me and as for my vision - whilst I do take council for what i'm building from the community it's being built for, I'm able to direct everything with a single vision.

2. Art

For me, software development is an art form.

It would be easy to build another Facebook clone, honestly I could probably do the core functionality, quick and dirty in a few weeks if I worked full time.

But i'm not just building another Facebook, that isn't the point of this.

Every piece of code, every asset, every part of the underpinning lore is being intricately weaved together to build a master piece, SoSa is my Sistine chapel.

I just happen to want to let other people doodle on it after I'm done :)

3. Professional pride

So many developers call themselves fullstack, but the level of quality I see varies considerably from websites made of sticks and glue to great architectural feats that only the gods can understand.

For me to fund SoSa in the long term, without needing investment or to go hard on the business side of things - I need to earn and invest my own money.

To ensure i'm always able to get work, I need to prove time and time again that I am an expert at my trade (Software engineering), so that's in part what I'm using the SoSa build for.

I'm using it not only as an opportunity to grow, adapt, improve and learn but also prove that I have the skills I say I do on paper, so that people keep hiring me, investing in me and that allows me to invest in SoSa.

4. Confusion

At a high level, I know exactly what I'm building, but I don't know what I'm building.

With this type of thing, there is a lot of nuance and things changes as I build them out, I don't have a long list of features just the high level concept.

This would make it really difficult to effectively collaborate with people who can't see inside my head and see the adorable little scene I've set myself for SoSa.

How can I tell you what I want to build, if I can't envision it myself yet?

5. Time

Last but not least is time.

Much like 4, there is a lot of time needed to effectively manage developers for a project this scale.

It's hard enough coordinating writers and designers, but reviewing code, talking through ideas and resolving conflicts, part time whilst also wanting to work on it myself is just not going to happen.

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Will I ever work with others?

I already do, currently I work with a couple of designers and writers to help me build out both the design and under pinning lore of SoSa.

But also, I work with a sort of mentor, who helps me by letting me talk through my ideas, problems and successes, on the community level we currently have a handful of Alpha testers that help test through each iteration of the app and I work with a group of members dubbed "The Council" who tell me when my ideas are stupid!

When SoSa is launched, from a tech perspective I am 100% onboard for other developers helping with the platform from an open source perspective, that will happen once I'm at the point I can focus on growing and fully engaging the community.

In platform, there will be plenty of ways that other developers and creatives can contribute to SoSa

But until then, people can support my efforts on Patreon, Sign up to the beta list or just sharing and engaging with the content I share about it.

#community #startupjourney #startupstory