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Ask HN: Am I missing something?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I missing something?

#11

Post by ScottWhigham »

Another old-timer here... It's all in how you define success. Various definitions of success might be:

- Someone that Crunchbase wants to interview for every late-breaking tech news story

- Someone who runs a single person company that makes $60,000 profit after taxes

- Someone who has earned FU money by building their own company(s)

- Someone who has over $1m in the bank in cash

- Someone who has built a recurring revenue stream from just an idea

- Someone whose business hasn't failed yet

- Someone who built a company from an idea and that business sustains them

- Someone who built a company that has employees

- Someone who was able to buy a company and turn that company into a better, more profitable company/outcome

- etc

There's not just one definition. So what is "a successful startup" to you? Your definition of success goes a long way to defining your happiness, I think.

Re: Ask HN: Am I missing something?

#12

Post by xauronx »

I try to see it as more of a hobby. Some people try to perfect their free throws, wood carving, guitar playing, etc. A lot of the time they're going to "fail", or see flaws in what they've produced. It's just a matter of keeping at it, being good enough until you've succeeded in some way.

The other thing you need to be careful of is getting blind to your small successes. There are probably 10 things a day that I do that people new to programming would be confused by, or wish they could do. They're so commonplace to me that I just do them with no appreciation that I did something someone else would find difficult.

Re: Ask HN: Am I missing something?

#13

Post by leejw00t354 »

cup wrote: post #3

I guess it depends on what you're looking for out of all this. If you're just trying to create a product so that you can offload it down the line then maybe you should question your initial intentions, there are other ways of making money after all. If on the other hand you want to change society or improve the lives of people and you have recognised a way of doing so then don't give up. Treat your choiec as a journe…

Thanks for this. I've noticed I'm a very status driven individual and consequently I find the journey to be often a hard thing to appreciate. I also know I'm always extremely discontented by what I have and I question whether I will ever find that holy grail of success I'm looking for where I will stop worrying about all of this and just accept I made it.

I think the only answer is to force myself to focus more on my journey. Try to enjoy the highs and lows as they come. My friend has rather good philosophy on this where he defines his personal success by the action he takes and not by the amount of money he makes or some other external measurement he doesn't have total control over.

Plus I'll be updating the blog very soon!

Re: Ask HN: Am I missing something?

#14

Post by mailarchis »

leejw00t354 wrote: post #13
cup wrote: post #3

I guess it depends on what you're looking for out of all this. If you're just trying to create a product so that you can offload it down the line then maybe you should question your initial intentions, there are other ways of making money after all. If on the other hand you want to change society or improve the lives of people and you have recognised a way of doing so then don't give up. Treat your choiec as a journe…

Thanks for this. I've noticed I'm a very status driven individual and consequently I find the journey to be often a hard thing to appreciate. I also know I'm always extremely discontented by what I have and I question whether I will ever find that holy grail of success I'm looking for where I will stop worrying about all of this and just accept I made it. I think the only answer is to force myself to focus more on my…

Someone wise once said.... The journey is the reward.

All the best.

Re: Ask HN: Am I missing something?

#15

Post by dany007 »

leejw00t354 wrote: post #13
cup wrote: post #3

I guess it depends on what you're looking for out of all this. If you're just trying to create a product so that you can offload it down the line then maybe you should question your initial intentions, there are other ways of making money after all. If on the other hand you want to change society or improve the lives of people and you have recognised a way of doing so then don't give up. Treat your choiec as a journe…

Thanks for this. I've noticed I'm a very status driven individual and consequently I find the journey to be often a hard thing to appreciate. I also know I'm always extremely discontented by what I have and I question whether I will ever find that holy grail of success I'm looking for where I will stop worrying about all of this and just accept I made it. I think the only answer is to force myself to focus more on my…

I think you have to hang in there if this is what you really want. Perseverance is a key factor and from what I see you have it( you did it for 6 years ). Money is a measurement of success (it shows that you have made something people want and are willing to pay for), it is not the only measurement, your service could be free and still be valuable to others.

Re: Ask HN: Am I missing something?

#16

Post by lacker »

tagabek wrote: post #9
lacker wrote: post #6

Yeah, I felt like that before I started Parse. This isn't like X-Factor. You will never really know if you have what it takes, until either you succeed, or you give up. That's just how this works.

Was there a specific moment in time where knew Parse was going to be huge, or did everything just evolve gradually to you?

Gradually.
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