I want to be a manager
Up until now, I have done everything I can not to become a manager. Why now?
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“I want to be a manager.” Now that's a line I never thought I'd say.
“Manager” is a dirty word in Indiehacker twitterland (where I come from). It represents something we all try to escape: meetings, feedback, salary ranges, bureaucracy and career ladders. It has that Linkedin-esque aftertaste triggering a gag reflex.
But if we are being honest, it really depends on the “what” and “who”.
Yes, it sucks being a middle manager in a big corporate where meetings are 90% of your job. Being a founder of a fast-growing startup managing a team of 5 cracked engineers can be fucking epic.
I, however, do not have any experience with this. I have never had a manager. I have never even worked for a company. I’ve always had my own (small) ventures. Currently, I’m running Simple Analytics with my co-founder Adriaan. It’s just the two of us.
Now im thinking about taking it to the next level: building a team.
Why?
More time for creativity
Thinking bigger
Be part of a team
Have the early days forever
More time for creativity.
Creativity is subjective. I’ve never seen myself as a creative person. I was reasonably okay in most things, but never excelled in “creative” areas.
I was shit at drawing, never built with LEGO or got lost in virtual worlds as a kid. I wasn’t interested in Star Wars or Harry Potter or anything that required a bit of imagination. By society’s standards, I am not a creative person.
Fine.
I first felt creative when I started my first business. I had a feeling for identifying growth strategies that others couldn’t. I enjoyed it a lot and started reading everything about growth to improve my craft.
I don’t get to do this a lot anymore.
Building businesses isn’t as romantic as it seems. The initial strategy phase is exciting, but the biggest part is in the execution. The daily grind is 95% of the work: writing new content, social posts, sending emails and the occasional sales call. Day in, day out.
What if I could get some of that “daily-grind-time” back? Less day-to-day stuff, more focus on strategy and testing new growth channels. More time for being creative again. Plus, what if I could share the grind with someone that is better than me in Sales, SEO or Social media?
I know managing someone costs time too. But this would still feel like a win.
Thinking Bigger
Most people love the profitable, calm, bootstrapping story of Simple Analytics. We’re growing at our own pace, no investors, deadlines, or KPIs and almost doing 500K per year. It sounds like a dream (and it is), but sometimes you forget to think bigger.
The business is going well. We have a great salary, enough free time with loved ones (hi Sophie, loveyou), and no one telling us what to do. Perfect.
But… I’m 29. These are the years to think bigger. Swing for the fences and see what’s possible. There is so much potential to take it to the next level, but why would we if everything’s “good enough”?
I want to challenge ourselves. I want to increase speed. Aim higher. Stretch limits and do “our best work.”
We’re not doing that. We’re doing great work, not our best work.
For us to take the next step, would be to create a team. A small team of cracked engineers to push Simple Analytics to the next level.
Be part of a team
I’m not the typical indiehacker/builder who needs to be left alone and write code. I like being part of something with other people. Get shit done together.
That said, one of my best friends leads a development agency. Over five years some people came and went, but a little core team stuck around. Incredible senior engineers and great people. Managing them didn’t feel like managing.
At one point, my friend decided they needed to hire more people to grow the agency and take on bigger clients. He started hiring “talent” and train them in-house. The team grew from six to twelve, but the dynamic completely changed.
New hires needed coaching, 1-on-1 feedback, and more formal employment structures (vacation policies, secondary benefits, salary negotiations). This is completely fair, but managing became a burden.
There’s an inflection point. A point where you shift from a tight-knit team of high performers to middle management bureaucracies.
Balancing this and not overshooting will be a challenge. But one im willing to take to be part of a team.
Have the early days forever
Have you ever spoken to someone who worked at a company from the start? They always talk about the early days. The vibes, the team, the commitment, the after-work drinks. Man, in the good old days everything was great!
And for some reason every company fucks this up.
Reason: They grow. Apparently, to grow you need more people. And if you need more people, you need more rules. More rules mean more managers to make sure the rules are kept in check. Now everyone hates working there.
And this can go so quickly. When you’re with 5 everything is great. When you are with 50 everything sucks.
This isn’t the direction I want for Simple Analytics. We want to grow and have a team, but can’t we just say: “Hey, lets work with max 8 legendary people and cap it there”?
I genuinely think in this time with all the AI tools available, you could build a 10M/year company with 10 people and have the early days vibe forever.
Final Thoughts
I genuinely think managing has a bad rep because it can be a drag in the wrong setup.
I don’t want to be a middle manager doing performance reviews and HR bullshit. I want to manage a team of max 5 people delivering insane stuff. Much faster and better than the two of us could ever do.
Well let’s see how this plays out.
Life is good.
✌️✌️
Cheers,
Iron
I can't wait to read your posts in 10 years and see it end with "Life is great. ✌️✌️"