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Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

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Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#21

Post by ruswick »

rfugger wrote: post #18

Consulting is a job. You have one or a couple clients, and you only have to satisfy them to get paid. You can work during the day, relax at night, take vacations, and generally let work come to you, since there is massive demand beyond supply for your services. A startup is your whole life. Your job isn't just to satisfy a couple focused business people, but generally thousands or millions of fickle consumers. There…

It getting paid more than you need really an issue?

The average person could sustain themselves on very little income, and yet most jobs pay far beyond than that amount.

Everyone wants nice, nonessential things, and so they want salaries beyond what they "need." It's a standard for people to get paid way beyond what they need so that they can go blow it on thing they don't need.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#22

Post by alecbenzer »

mattdeboard wrote: post #20
rfugger wrote: post #18

Consulting is a job. You have one or a couple clients, and you only have to satisfy them to get paid. You can work during the day, relax at night, take vacations, and generally let work come to you, since there is massive demand beyond supply for your services. A startup is your whole life. Your job isn't just to satisfy a couple focused business people, but generally thousands or millions of fickle consumers. There…

> There is a high probability you won't ever be paid for your work, and if you are paid, it is often way more than you actually need. Way less you mean? Getting paid way more than you actually need is the part of why people start a business isn't it? :P

I think he did mean "more". If you could choose between being more or less guaranteed a certain amount of pay, why take the risk of working and potentially getting nothing out of it? The answer might be because if you do succeed, the returns are much higher, but if you don't care about the higher returns, then you're taking the risk for no reason.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#23

Post by alinajaf »

dalke wrote: post #19
alinajaf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are literally thousands (if not more) Like who?

Me. I started working for myself in 2000. Certainly I've had ideas for a product, and a few that I've prototyped, but nothing more than you might expect from someone trying out a few things at home, away from their actual job. (Strictly speaking that's not quite correct. I have released a few open source "products", but I charge no money for them. My revenue for the last 12 years is from consulting and training.)

That qualifies as "in some capacity" as far as I'm concerned.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#25

Post by Mz »

An awful lot of startups fail. Some people don't want to break new ground or change the world or whatever and certainly don't want the exposure to risk that is involved. They just want to pay their bills. There is nothing really wrong with seeking an honest day's pay for an honest day's labor.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#26

Post by thegoodlab »

Most do.

37Signals, Pivotal, Zurb are great examples of companies who have transitioned from client based to product, or are currently doing both.

I'm a freelance developer and based on my situation and those of my peers, everyone is working on side projects. The reason I choose to consult and have clients is because it lets me be my own boss and create a business doing other people's (clients) work. I can craft and hone my skills doing client work, while always brainstorming an idea or product to launch in my spare time. When the moment strikes I will already have all the resources and knowledge available to make a great stab at the startup scene.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#27

Post by zacharytamas »

I'm almost twenty-three years old with schooling for Computer Science and Business doing freelance full-stack engineering work primarily for the flexibility (fiancée has a few years of school left so I'm delaying "settling in" because there are no interesting tech companies around her University), and I would love to start a startup.

However, as some other posters have said, a big burden is the regular pay. Freelance work pays now when I need the money, verses startup work being, in a lot of cases, basically an "option" to be paid later...maybe. I'm working on a pretty ambitious start-up idea in spare time but unfortunately I can't afford at the moment to focus my entire work life on it. Ideally I would try to bootstrap it but other expenses (cough student loans cough) take some precedence.

It really is a frustrating position to be in.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#28

Post by neutronicus »

alinajaf wrote: post #10
geoffw8 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really short-sighted view, there are literally thousands (if not more) of freelancers and development companies who have no wish to work on their own products. It just isn't in some peoples mindsets. They literally just don't care. Just because in our dimension every development agency, or freelancer writes a blog doesn't mean they're the only guys who exist.

> there are literally thousands (if not more) Like who?

Me.

We're just quiet about it, because we'd rather not draw the attention of all the people who think we should be.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#29

Post by alinajaf »

neutronicus wrote: post #28
alinajaf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are literally thousands (if not more) Like who?

Me. We're just quiet about it, because we'd rather not draw the attention of all the people who think we should be.

I don't think you should be doing anything you don't want to. It was an honest question.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't freelance hackers and development companies create startups?

#30

Post by garethsprice »

Perhaps the question should be why do people who could be billing their time to enterprises for $100+/hr or on 6-figure salaries spend years of their life trying to build a startup that has a very small chance of becoming profitable. Consulting or even full-time employment is debatably a more economically rational choice.

Thankfully, people are not rational economic actors so there's a healthy ecosystem where talented hackers are basically free to work on whatever they like. Here's to the freedom of being able to do what we love, whatever that may be.

I personally like consulting work as it's very low overhead, get to meet lots of smart/interesting clients, high cashflow, exposure to lots of exciting new projects. I even enjoy the hustling and pitching part of the business. I'd like to build a successful product one day (as most consultants do) but it's hard to find an idea I care about enough to dedicate years of my life to, especially when I have a steady stream of consulting work that pays well and satisfies my need to create.

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