AAAARRRGGGHHH!!! This Is What It Is REALLY Like To Start A Start-Up

OMG I swear to God I cannot believe how *intensely stressful* life has become.

What I have had to learn about server configurations, GitLab and code repository management in the past few months has blown my brains.  Literally.

And that’s just the icing.  I could turn you on with loads of other sexy stuff I bet you want to know about – such as Drupal nodes and Javascript bumpf, but I don’t think that’s the reason why you’re here.

To be honest, it’s not actually the reason why I’m here either.  Or even the reason why I started this project.  I am not a coder nor a developer, nor do I have any inkling at all about how a computer works.  In my world you just press a button and it turns on.  Press a few more buttons and a few more things happen.  Then when you’re done, you press another button and it turns off.

And that’s how all this crazy journey started.

It started with a “Wouldn’t it be cool if….”

And I naively thought the ending of that sentence would happen auto-magically….I think I may have been lulled into a false sense of security by the auto-complete.

Or maybe I even got a bit persuaded by all the sexy start-up stories you read about.  All this “fun” revolving around boot-strapping and creating MVP’s (That’s a Minimum Viable Product between you and me – although news on the street is that the latest trend is to create a MLP: Minimum Lovable Product).

Hmmm.

Starting a start-up when you’re technically as competent as a melted slice of chocolate cake probably isn’t the most sensible of ideas.  Perhaps a more sensible idea would’ve involved me buying a chocolate cake, cutting off a slice, zapping it in the mircowave for 20 seconds and then eating it.  I may have even whipped out some double cream and my finest china for the occasion.

Because in essence, what started out as a “little” idea seems to have snowballed into an incredibly big, complicated affair which is taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R (it seems) to do.

I have learned that asking a software engineer about estimates is akin to him closing his eyes, sticking out his tongue two inches and predicting the wind direction in three years time.  Maybe that’s harsh, but from my side of the fence (or should that be screen), that’s just how it feels.

And if you’re new to my blog and haven’t got a clue what I am talking about – I’m talking about Biddsy – the property auction app that enables users to find auction property for sale from the leading UK auction houses – which I am going to be launching soon.  Or soon(ish).

I had hoped it would’ve been published in the app store by now, but you know Gremlins seem to have interfered with my rosy vision of the world and scuppered my plans for a pre-Christmas launch.  On the good news front, I can excitedly report that we’re in Google Play – although it’s just Alpha testing at this moment in time.

But, what is so temptingly exciting and frustrating all at the same time – is that we are within spitting distance of the finish line (defined at this moment as being ready to go to Beta testing).  Honestly, it’s so achingly close it pains me.

Like really pains me.  Like it hurts right *here*.

Because it’s just this tiny little thing.  Like it’s probably some erroneous > which some joker developer added to a line of code months ago when he was having a bad day.  And trying to find this little thing is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.  Or in this case – looking for an out-of-place full-stop in a Roget’s Thesaurus.  And it’s jaw clenching stuff.

But, we’re almost there.

So, almost, almost there.

So almost, almost, almost there that I’ve created this little (less than 60 seconds!) Explainer Video to tell you more about Biddsy.

Because despite the set-backs and frustrations I really, really cannot wait to share this with you 🙂