We know Big Tech. We know them so well, we think we want to be like them.
But we don’t have to be.
Some of us dream of starting our own small tech company, or work in one. We’re hoping to be a part of building something we care about, with real technical and creative freedom to do our job. We’re looking for a team where people know each other beyond small talk, care about each other’s professional well-being and genuinely like working together every day.
Our goal isn’t to keep scaling up. What really matters to us are sustainability, satisfaction and a sense of security so everyone in our team can still have a decent and fulfilling life.
Trust me, I know what this dream looks like. I’ve been a bootstrapped Tiny Tech founder for over a decade. And I’m here to tell you that it could be something for you as well.
It’s the reason that I’m writing this. More than sharing stories and hard lessons learned, I want to connect with those who also believe that good tech doesn’t always have to be a product of large corporations or well-funded startups and scale-ups. It can also come from us: ordinary (yet uniquely exceptional) people who never make it to the news nor appear as dots in the dizzying stock exchange live charts.
So is Tiny Tech right for you?
Find your true reason
Very few of us walk around this planet knowing exactly what is right for us. This is also what I said to one of our early-career colleagues, who called me for an impromptu mentoring session to ask, “Have you always dreamed about founding a tech company?”
My answer was straightforward: “No, not at all.” And the question was quickly followed by, “So why did you do it and still keep doing it?”
I took a long pause before replying; not because I didn’t know the answer, but because ten years of shaping that answer is hard to sum up in a sentence or two.
There are many reasons to be in Tiny Tech. If you’re looking for reasons that will resonate with you, I suggest that you start by being honest with yourself.
I gave my honest answer. It wasn’t in my plan to start a tech company. It wasn’t even in my plan to study computer science nor to move to another country to work as a software engineer. But I knew that ever since I started learning programming in 1998, I was hooked (because why else would I spend a good chunk of my teenage years glued to a computer screen late at night, trying to make sense of Turbo Pascal and those crazy brackets?). I also knew that tech could fix people’s problems, and that it could be cool to have that as a profession.
But I wasn’t only a geek. I guess I was also a hopeless romantic and a fierce fighter. I knew that I wanted to discover the world beyond my little hometown, and be with the right person to do it with. I also had my kids when I was still almost a kid myself. That's why at twenty-one, I already knew, without any qualms, that I would do anything to love and raise them the best that I could, despite all the hardships that we would have to face.
I didn’t exactly know the plan, but I knew who I was. Every decision I’ve made and action I’ve taken (including letting go of an opportunity to work in Big Tech) reflected that person, whether intentional or subliminal. And all those choices somehow led me to founding a tech company in a foreign country and fighting to keep it alive.
Sometimes, you don’t need a reason other than following your heart. That is, if you know how to listen to it the right way.
Don’t be foolish
Listening to your heart doesn’t mean being blind to reality. Your heart is connected to your brain; listen carefully and it will also tell you when a choice is unreasonable. Ignoring the harmony between reason and emotion is foolishness and you don’t have much room for that in Tiny Tech. Letting it go unchecked will sink you faster than an iron ball thrown into the dark and raging ocean.
The first reality check: Do you really like being in tech? What I mean is, can you spend days on end thinking nonstop about how to make technology work, that you can’t focus on anything else until you find a solution? It doesn’t specifically have to be a technical task. It could be in design, commercial, operations or any task that eventually enables people to use and rely on this technology as you intend.
Implementing technology is hard. Even a simple app requires a lot of thinking, coordination and compliance. AI has significantly improved the product development process, but it still doesn’t guarantee that the product will be useful, profitable and safe. Achieving all three takes a lot of work, more than generating code.
If you’re only half-hearted about being in tech, save yourself the trouble. There’s no reason for you to feel the pain of bringing a piece of technology out to the real world. Especially not in Tiny Tech, where every second and every resource is precious and limited; it only has space for the wholehearted ones. And we’re not that hard to spot.
The next reality check: Are you willing to believe what the numbers tell you? It may not give you the full reality; it could be incomplete or misinterpreted. But whatever it gives you is not a lie.
The most important numbers are the basic ones: revenue, expenses, available cash and time. If you don’t know how to use these, find someone to teach you, preferably one who can tell you something that you can’t just read anywhere. Numbers are there to help you decide, but your situation is almost always unique, so you need context as much as instinct.
When I say numbers, it doesn’t necessarily mean having big money. This is where you also need a deep reality check. How much do you really want to earn and why? Write this number down and let it sink in. Money is good but everything has a tradeoff.
Sadly, our industry is still full of folks who are only here for the big money. But big money isn’t always there, especially not in Tiny Tech.
If that’s the case, will you still stay?
Passion isn’t enough
You’ve heard this before. So what else is important?
I’m not here just because I love being in the business of making tech. In fact, I don’t always feel comfortable, since I’m not a natural entrepreneur (more about this in another article).
I did say that once I got started in trying to make technology work, I couldn’t stop until it was done. If given a chance, that’s all I’d do at work. I guess that’s what you call passion.
But making technology is not the same as making a living out of it, especially not in Tiny Tech. Competition is tough and daily operations come with the usual business challenges, which often have nothing to do with the technology that you’re making.
I’ve made countless mistakes in the business of making tech, and still am. Many of these mistakes almost made me give up, or almost forced me to. But I still haven’t, and that made me want to keep writing about these lessons while they are still fresh in my mind.
If I could time travel to meet my past self from ten years ago and give her just one piece of advice to save her from all the troubles, here’s what I would say to her:
Acquire Fast, Let Go Faster
In Tiny Tech, you need to be quick at acquiring what you need: a few loyal customers and a small but high-performing team.
The most effective way to acquire these is to start with your trust circle.
Pause for a few minutes and name the first three people you would invite to join your company (and who would most likely accept because they trust you). Then, name two people who would put their name on the line to refer your product/service to a company that would most likely buy it.
If you’re unsure whether you have a trust circle, don’t give up. It could be that you haven’t thought much about it yet. But it’s best to put effort in figuring this out before you start.
And even if your Tiny Tech is a one-person team, you still need help from trusted people who are not only there for moral support or advice (even though these are also important), but who can also contribute in running your business. It could be a friend or family member who can help you with administration, marketing or sales, or even someone willing to help you at home every now and then when you’re too busy.
Tiny Tech is founded on trust, and to a large extent, with friends and family. This means runway and speed.
I’m fortunate to have a very strong trust circle, even if that circle is not a big one. I’m surrounded with kind and talented people who are willing to join our company and good customers who give us a chance to show what we can do, even when we don’t always get it right.
Our very first customer was a referral from a good friend who was willing to put his name on the line because he trusts that we can deliver with integrity. Our first teammates were colleagues from my previous companies, who I’ve now been working with for decades. Our biggest account was through a wonderful person whom I met at a tech meetup, after I presented the first cloud solution that we implemented back in 2016. We have our trusted financial and legal advisors. My sister helps with accounting, and occasionally, my 86-year-old father sends tax filing reminders on our family group chat. I’m immensely thankful for every single one of them.
The thing is, I don’t think that my story is unique. This is the bread and butter of Tiny Tech. If you can’t form a trust circle, there’s something else that needs work: You can’t have a trust circle if you don’t trust anyone or no one trusts you. If this is your situation, you have to go back to the first part of this article: Be honest with yourself. Everyone can grow if one is willing to change for the better and understand who they really are.
The hardest part
Even after talking a lot about trust and great people, the most important lesson I learned, which was also the hardest so far, is the last part of my advice: Let Go Faster.
In Tiny Tech, trust can be broken—from both sides.
Unfortunately, unlike bigger companies, we don’t always have the luxury of time and money to build or rebuild trust in Tiny Tech. We can’t spend a year in a complex sales cycle with a potential lead who can’t decide to buy from us. We can’t pour all our resources into fixing a bad collaboration, especially if we’re losing money and other opportunities. We can’t keep everyone in the team if we don’t have a pipeline. We can’t make everyone happy. And we can’t keep trusting our ability to turn our passion into revenue when we’re running out of time.
Letting go is not the same as closing down. The first one means pivoting; the latter is stopping when there’s really no other way. You would know the difference if you’ve been honest with yourself, listened to your heart and believed the numbers.
Let go fast, but don’t give up too easily. That’s a must in Tiny Tech. And I’m still learning.
If you find this piece relatable and you’re also into Tiny Tech, I would love to hear from you. Write a comment, share this post, and let’s start a conversation.
~Marilag