u/Redivity

Hello everyone,

I have a question for you: how do people actually make good money in tech?

I’m currently a tech lead at a European company. The pay is okay, but from what I’ve seen, even the people at higher levels do not necessarily make that much more. They earn more, of course, but not always enough to make the extra responsibility feel worth it.

I also tried the startup route, and honestly, it went horribly. Not gonna lie.

From what I’ve observed, it seems like most of the serious money is in management, business, sales, or ownership. But what if you still want to stay close to the technical side?

I’ve seen some people transition into content creation, consulting, courses, indie hacking, or building products on the side. That seems interesting, but I’m not sure how realistic it actually is.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. I enjoy software, architecture, problem-solving, and building things. But sometimes I feel like I would rather do the creative and technical work outside my job, through passion projects, instead of spending all my energy solving the next wave of AI-generated business problems at work.

For those of you who managed to significantly increase your income while staying somewhat technical, how did you do it?

Did you move into management, consulting, contracting, content creation, entrepreneurship, or something else entirely?

TL;DR: What is the next step after Tech Lead if the goal is to make more money?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice.

My family has been running a small guesthouse for around 20 years. It has about 12 rooms, nothing fancy, but it has been part of my life since I was a kid. I grew up working there, so I know the business well and I genuinely love it.

At the same time, I built a career in software, and I also love what I currently do. I’m now 28 and slowly approaching a big life decision. My father is getting older and would like to eventually pass the business down to me, while ideally keeping a small percentage as part of his retirement.

The difficult part is that the business is not doing as well as it used to. Times are harder economically, and right now I make more per year from my software career than the guesthouse generates. On top of that, my father has always saved a lot of money by doing many things himself: repairs, plumbing, electrical work, concrete work, and so on. He was an engineer, so he knows what he’s doing, but I know that if I took over, I could not handle everything the same way he does.

Over the years, I’ve tried working directly with him, but we just don’t work well together. We see things very differently. Because of that, I decided to help in the way I know best: I built an app to help him with one of his biggest problems, which is social media and marketing ... he likes it because it is easy to use and does not require a lot of money or stress.

Now he has asked me whether I want to take over the business soon, otherwise he may consider selling it.

I honestly don’t know what to do.

On one hand, the business currently makes less money than my career, and the responsibility of running it feels like more than I could handle right now. On the other hand, this is the place where I grew up. It shaped me as a person and taught me many things.

He also told me that even if he sells it, I would not receive any money from the sale because he believes that would make me lazy. I don’t really mind that, and in a way I understand his reasoning, but it still makes the decision more complicated emotionally.

For hospitality business owners, family business owners, or business owners in general: what would you do in this situation?

Would you take over the business, try to modernize it slowly, keep helping from the side, or let it go?

I know there’s been a lot of discussion around EU Inc lately, and I do think it’s a step in the right direction.

But is the legislative part enough to really start the engine of the European startup scene?

From my own experience, I’m not sure.

I’m building a B2B2C startup, and one thing I’ve noticed is that even if you want to expand across multiple countries — or focus on just one — Europe comes with its own challenges.

People don’t seem as willing to pay for digital products as easily as in the US, at least from what I’ve seen.

Launching in another country is also not just about language. It’s about legal aspects, local behavior, partnerships, trust, and how each market actually works.

Same with investors. I’ve met investors here, and from my experience, many focus more on current value, while the risk appetite feels smaller.

Of course, this is just my perspective, and maybe others have different experiences.

So I’m curious: do you think EU Inc is enough, or do we also need a bigger shift in mindset, market behavior, and risk appetite in Europe?

Hi everyone,

I hope it’s okay to post this here. I’m working on a startup in the digital marketing space for the hospitality industry, and we’re currently looking for someone interested in getting involved with us.

In short, we already have the product live on both the App Store and Google Play, we have a few restaurants and hotels as partners, a team in place, and a registered trademark. We’re also preparing a marketing campaign aimed at users.

One of our main challenges right now is distribution and growing our partnerships, so we’re looking for either:

• someone strong in sales, partnerships, or business development, ideally with experience or connections in hospitality;
• or a content creator with an audience in travel, lifestyle, food, or hospitality who would be interested in becoming part of a growing startup.

We’re not necessarily looking for a traditional employee, but rather someone who sees the potential of the idea and would like to be part of building the project.

I’m happy to share more details in DMs with anyone interested, or with anyone who might know someone suitable.

Thanks!

Hi , I'm a food travel lifestyle startup founder, and recently i tried to do what you are doing, and boy is hard, i see that in the content creation space is always a lot of competitivity , but did you ever thought on focusing more on products ?

Hi everyone,

I’m building a startup in the digital marketing space for the hospitality industry, focused on restaurants, hotels, and travel/lifestyle experiences.

We already have the product live on both the App Store and Google Play, a few restaurants and hotels as partners, a team in place, and a registered trademark. We’re now preparing a user-focused marketing campaign, but one of our main challenges is distribution and growing partnerships in the hospitality space.

I’m looking for someone who could join as a sales / partnerships co-founder or founding partner.

Who we’re looking for:
Someone strong in sales, partnerships, business development, or relationship-building, ideally with experience or connections in hospitality, restaurants, hotels, travel, or lifestyle.

We’d also be open to a travel/lifestyle content creator with a relevant audience who wants to be more involved than just doing a one-off collaboration.

Compensation:
This is not a salaried role at the moment. I’m open to discussing equity, revenue share, commission, or a hybrid structure depending on experience, contribution, and commitment level.
approx 10% depending on what you bring
Part-time to start, around [5–10 / 10–15 / 15–20] hours per week, with the possibility to grow into a larger role if there is a strong fit.

What we’re bringing:

• Live product on iOS and Android
• Existing restaurant and hotel partners
• Team already working on the product
• Registered trademark
• Upcoming marketing campaign for users
• Clear need for someone to help with sales, partnerships, and distribution

We’re not looking for a traditional employee. We’re looking for someone who sees the potential of the idea and wants to help build the business side of the startup.

Happy to share more details in DMs with anyone interested.

Thanks!

Hi , pretty straight forward, :D I built a startup for food travel and lifestyle, the classic , but i'm a tech person, and hate all the distribution part, if you think you are interested let me know, I'm eu based .

Hi everyone,

I hope it’s okay to post this here. I’m working on a startup in the digital marketing space for the hospitality industry, and we’re currently looking for someone interested in getting involved with us.

In short, we already have the product live on both the App Store and Google Play, we have a few restaurants and hotels as partners, a team in place, and a registered trademark. We’re also preparing a marketing campaign aimed at users.

One of our main challenges right now is distribution and growing our partnerships, so we’re looking for either:

• someone strong in sales, partnerships, or business development, ideally with experience or connections in hospitality;
• or a content creator with an audience in travel, lifestyle, food, or hospitality who would be interested in becoming part of a growing startup.

We’re not necessarily looking for a traditional employee, but rather someone who sees the potential of the idea and would like to be part of building the project.

I’m happy to share more details in DMs with anyone interested, or with anyone who might know someone suitable.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I hope it’s okay to post this here. I’m working on a startup in the digital marketing space for the hospitality industry, and we’re currently looking for someone interested in getting involved with us.

In short, we already have the product live on both the App Store and Google Play, we have a few restaurants and hotels as partners, a team in place, and a registered trademark. We’re also preparing a marketing campaign aimed at users.

One of our main challenges right now is distribution and growing our partnerships, so we’re looking for either:

• someone strong in sales, partnerships, or business development, ideally with experience or connections in hospitality;
• or a content creator with an audience in travel, lifestyle, food, or hospitality who would be interested in becoming part of a growing startup.

We’re not necessarily looking for a traditional employee, but rather someone who sees the potential of the idea and would like to be part of building the project.

I’m happy to share more details in DMs with anyone interested, or with anyone who might know someone suitable.

Thanks!

Salutare tuturor,

Sper că este ok să postez aici. Lucrez la un startup în zona de digital marketing pentru HoReCa și suntem în punctul în care căutăm o persoană interesată să se implice alături de noi.

Pe scurt, avem deja produsul lansat pe App Store și Google Play, avem câteva localuri și hoteluri partenere, echipă formată și trademark înregistrat. În perioada următoare pregătim și o campanie de marketing orientată către useri.

Una dintre provocările principale acum este distribuția și creșterea pe partea de parteneriate, așa că ne-ar interesa să găsim:

• o persoană bună pe sales / relații în domeniul HoReCa;
• sau un content creator cu audiență pe zona de food, travel, lifestyle, care ar vrea să se implice într-un startup aflat în creștere.

Nu cautăm neapărat un angajat clasic, ci mai degrabă pe cineva care vede potențialul ideii și ar vrea să fie parte din construcția proiectului.

Pot oferi mai multe detalii în DM celor interesați sau celor care cunosc pe cineva potrivit.

Mulțumesc!

Hi guys, so the idea is that I'm part of a startup, we are about 5 guys, 4 are technical (swe seniors ) and 1 is business and sales, We've been working on a startup for the last 2 years (no ai slop bs ) and in theory the idea sounded amazing, we have an app that has 2 parts: for business and for users, the users can see the events and places that are in their city and match their preferences, and make reservations to partner restaurants, and the businesses can accept the reservation request, and post form the app a picture to their social media. But it seems like it's super hard to get traction , The business guy is barely involved and I feel like we wasted 2 years without even trying ... (the team was bigger on marketing but apparently they were not getting along with the business guy..) i know that distribution is hard but it just makes me wanna give eveything up and start solo ... How do you keep going even if you see no results ... ?

I’ve been playing League since Season 1, and honestly one of the best parts of the game for me has always been playing with friends. Climbing with a duo feels amazing when you’re on the same page, but it can also feel really awkward when your champs don’t work well together.

I’ve had friends try to get into the game, or come back after a long break, and one thing that comes up a lot is how hard it is to know what to pick. Do you just lock your comfort champ? Do you pick around your duo? Do you care about what’s strong on the current patch? Or do you mostly just play whatever sounds fun?

For people who duo a lot, how do you usually decide your picks? Are there role combos or champion pairings that you think make the game easier to learn or climb with?