krishnanvs

Yup. For bootstrapped product firms, the founders really have to expect 2-3 years at the minimum before even thinking about paying themselves half of the baseline salaries( SF or NYC ) that they were getting during their employment years. Have personally seen so many of my peers getting burned out both professionally and personally with unrealistic expectations and quitting the software industry completely.

Tech people tend to underestimate costs associated with running a business. Hosting, marketing, sales, salaries, rent. 1k MRR is a great milestone but yes it really is $0 in salary for founders.

Based on the name I am assuming that Op is from India. For Indians it is not laziness but the fact that the current waiting time to get a greencard, which is basically permanent residency and the right to stay in the US for over 60 days after you loose a job, is over 100 years right now - yup over a century, not 10 or 15 years which was the case till 2015.

This is primarily due to a large number of Indians applying for greencards and the rule that only a certain number of people per country can be awarded one. My friends and colleagues from India who have spend their entire adult lives in the USA and now reaching their early thirties have still not yet gotten their residency - let alone citizenship.

It was one of the major reasons for me, as an Indian, to leave the US and come back to India - there was no way to get permanent residency within a reasonable timeframe.

Just got the invite! Best of luck guys!!