For years I worked as a concierge programmer, and it was the most fun that I ever had, mostly because of the one-to-one relationship I had with my clients. All of them were in the same circumstance, which is that they had inherited a large amount of money, and they had an idea for a website. I was able to offer 2 different skills: my skill as a programmer, and my experience in the world of startups. In all such cases my clients were non-technical and inexperienced in the world of startups. They had no interest in being angel investors, instead they wanted to dive in and use their own creativity to find out how hard it was to build a business around software. They tended to be reasonably interesting people, and I enjoyed working with them, and I enjoyed shaping their vision into something that could exist in the real world. All of the projects eventually grew (for a time) into something larger, at which point I would help put together a team of what was needed (typically some mix of backenders, frontenders, QA, writers, and customer service support).
I did make good money during those years (2002 to 2009) but what I recall most fondly is how much fun all of it was.
I think that world has now largely died out, as even the earliest stage startups now belong to a scene that is somewhat professionalizing. But the earlier web was unprofessional, and that was the best thing about it.
Still I find, even now, even in New York City, there is some of the same energy among those dreaming about doing very early stage startups. Certainly the creativity and excitement is still there. The problem I've run into lately is the large number of people who are so sure that their idea will someday be worth billions that they do not want to pay cash right now, they only want to pay in equity. And that kills all of the fun for me.
For years I worked as a concierge programmer, and it was the most fun that I ever had, mostly because of the one-to-one relationship I had with my clients.
I still do this sort of work, and still love it (London though, not NYC). As you say it can be a lot of fun if your clients have interesting problems and rely on you to clarify and reify their ideas. I can confirm that world has not died out, and I suspect it won't, because there will always be a stage where people have some money to spend but not enough to take a risky bet on an untested idea and start hiring employees, which is a huge fixed cost - consultants will always be better for that sort of work.
When they're spending other people's money, of course companies are more willing to take on employees and fixed costs even at the start, so in some ways VC funding does distort this market.
The problem I've run into lately is the large number of people who are so sure that their idea will someday be worth billions that they do not want to pay cash right now, they only want to pay in equity. And that kills all of the fun for me.
If they were sure their idea would someday be worth billions, they wouldn't want to give any percentage of that away... IMO the reason they want to pay in equity is to spread some of the risk that this idea won't work - it's all upside for them if you are not paid in money now but in hypothetical money which they only have to pay if things go incredibly well.
As someone in a somewhat similar situation, this is the first time I've heard the phrase "concierge programmer" and Google doesn't turn up any interesting matches for the phrase either. What a great concept!
Totally agreed on the equity vs. cash thing. I think most of us know enough about the last dotcom boom to be wary of going down that path.
> people who are so sure that their idea will someday be worth billions that they do not want to pay cash
I think the opposite is more likely true. If you really believed your idea was worth billions you would want to keep all that equity for yourself. I don't consider equity-only offers worth the paper they're printed on.
I've more than once encountered people who genuinely seem convinced that they are "billionaires-in-waiting" and that everything in between is just a few formalities, and that even if they were to give away a sizeable chunk of equity they'll still be swimming in cash, and so giving away equity is no big deal.
In that kind of situation there is a subset of people that can hardly wait to start spending the money on their lifestyle, and conversely would rather not spend their cash on their business if they can spend equity instead.
In my experience these are the same type of people who go into a casino expecting to win because they feel lucky today.
At the same time, they can be so blinkered that they don't get it when someone else don't see it as an amazing chance when offered equity over cash, often at inflated valuations. Sometimes people take personal offence, because rejecting their equity offer means rejecting an idea they're extremely deeply emotionally invested in.
I did make good money during those years (2002 to 2009) but what I recall most fondly is how much fun all of it was.
I think that world has now largely died out, as even the earliest stage startups now belong to a scene that is somewhat professionalizing. But the earlier web was unprofessional, and that was the best thing about it.
Still I find, even now, even in New York City, there is some of the same energy among those dreaming about doing very early stage startups. Certainly the creativity and excitement is still there. The problem I've run into lately is the large number of people who are so sure that their idea will someday be worth billions that they do not want to pay cash right now, they only want to pay in equity. And that kills all of the fun for me.