undyingtrillion

Are there any resources on how to colocate as a hobbyist? Every colocation service makes it seem they only deal with big contract.

I'm imagining a setup that can work like this:

- I can purchase/lease from some vendor (maybe even a used dell 1U) and have it sent directly to them and they construct and install (same with ssd replacements, ram upgrade, etc.).

- They can setup remote KVM over IP access if needed.

- I never have to drive to their facility, but based in the US.

I'm willing to trade off some control and turnaround time here. The idea is to have something like a $500/month VPS but with a higher upfront cost and lower monthly cost for space, power, and bandwidth.

What level does your buddy need to be to successfully pull these strings?

I actually had this happen to me one time, and my buddy was the CEO, got funding, and we worked together in the past. I don't think it would happen in any other setup.

I also use Fedora only because it seems like Debian's nvidia driver installation is a big pain, Fedora made it as easy as Ubuntu.

Don't forget elbow lashes, those are brutal.

Soldering and like just enough experience with an Arduino, electronics, and Ohm's law to not hurt myself.

I replaced USB ports of some DJ equipment that became unusable after a USB cable got yanked.

I clip off annoying USB lights.

Instead of throwing away my MX Master mouse I gave it another life as a backup. This involved me trying to replace the battery but completely man handling the delicate tiny port, and still make it work.

Once I got comfortable opening up the guts of electronics I also got comfortable with general repairs.

I replaced my switch joycons that got the drift.

Replaced my cracked phone screen.

Replaced the rotating clutch in my microwave.

So much more.

Silly me I didn't realize I had uBlock Origin on. Turned it off and everything works.

I'm a YouTube Premium user and logged in. I see the same empty landing page.

I spent a bit of time thinking over this for back end code but decided not to pursue the idea.

If you are careful with the clients you bring on it can be lucrative. But it didn't seem like it would be easy to begin delegating the coding work quickly. My wife and like to take nice vacations and that would be a big conflict. Additionally at a personal level I believe it would have taken me a long time to build the staff and actually free my time up as I don't have recruiting or management experience. At the start it would take up a considerable chunk of the day. Considering all this we agreed this was not worth it.

Maybe it will work for you, especially if you have the prior management experience or timeline to begin delegating.

Ban IPs. If they are largely coming from a country you are not marketing in, consider blocking off that country as a "stop the bleeding" measure.

See what other patterns you find and ban IPs based on those.

Edit: I also remember people putting in fake fields that are not visible to the user. If they have any value in the form submission they are scripts and can be rejected.

After reading "The Mom Test" I took a step back and tried to first figure out if the thing I was building was really needed. Now I don't start off immediately writing code for an idea (which I have a bunch) and instead try to focus more on researching if the problem is a real one in the first place. Turns out some of mine are not.

Another reason is my next solo adventure would be bootstrapped. So some types of SaaS are out of the picture.