How should a startup founder handle the distraction of pursuing a new side project versus focusing on their core business?

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Accepted Answer

Hi,

OK, on one hand, you're doing exactl what you should be doing ... you saw a problem. saw that as an opportunity, and built something to address it. You've also experienced the classic entrepreneurial path - where the side project of the core business ends up being the potentially larger opportunity.

BUT ... the AI space is a gold rush, but it’s incredibly slippery. The best new AI companies have to be exceptionally nimble because they must evolve as fast as (or faster than) the underlying tech does. The risk with building a middleware layer like TimeAware is that Anthropic or OpenAI could solve temporal presence in their next model update, rendering your product obsolete overnight. And I'm certainly not an AI tech expert, but the models and projects I've build and use absolutely do look back at previous conversations, different threads, etc. Maybe not in the TimeAware manner, but it's hard to believe they don't have 8 or 9 thousand people working on that already.

But the real risk here isn't the AI market, its a potential lack of focus.

You’re already building Pluarius—landing contracts, navigating government procurement, deploying physical SSDs. That is a massive, complex mountain to climb. Focus is an entrepreneur’s secret weapon. I'm not saying you don't end up deciding that TimeAware is the bigger opportunity, I'm ust saying that the decision to pick one or the other is the big choice.

Good luck

-M