What It's Like to Run Your Own Brewery Link

I think there are some nice parallels between between opening a brewery and developing an app. There are clearly large differences. Brewers have infrastructure costs in the $100,000 range and working in a coffee shop will get you arrested.

But this, from Andrew Nations, really caught my attention as a parallel between the two:

“Most breweries are struggling with staying relevant. A new brewery is opening every single day in America. Consumers have so many different options.”

There’s plenty of similarities, like the unexpected market forces, long days, and tons of responsibility but there are also a lot of uniquely different “thrills.”

I think app development feels much more like being a professional gambler these days. An expert can make a good living but they are likely just a few bad moves away from disaster.

I’m reminded of this 2013 article about brewing (since deleted from DigBoston.com and preserved by archive.org):

Mostly a brewer is someone who spends 40-50 hours a week in a loud, ass-hot factory pushing around liquid.