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Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#41

Post by maxander »

Thriptic wrote: post #33

Get domain expertise in something other than programming and make things to solve real business problems for people that aren't technical. Alternatively, partner with people who aren't technical. There are a million developers working on programming tools / knowledge aggregators and very few are ever successful because the community wants everything to be FOSS and they won't pay you. Far fewer people are working on a…

Seconding the "learn a new expertise" bit. Many fields that aren't programming are full of untended problems that are ripe for automation; these opportunities stay un-taken because outsiders never realize they exist. Learn something new, the practice of some other profession or even hobby, and even if it looks cut-and-dry when you're starting out you'll find that there are complexities and difficulties that, potentially, could be calling for some new kind of service to fix them.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#42

Post by sixhobbits »

The most important thing is consistency. Pick one idea and stick with it (I'm a hypocrite here), and work on it every day for years.

It's hard to keep anything going only during weekends as you spend 90% of your energy just trying to find momentum.

Re "But after one day of programming for my job, I am exhausted and I cannot extract any brain-juice any more. And if I try to work during the week-ends, I can't rewind enough for the next week" -- I had exactly this problem too. It depends a lot on your other commitments, but after years of failing to do anything productive in evenings and weekends (evenings, too tired; weekends, too easy to procrastinate), I partially solved this by spending 30-60 minutes every morning on side projects. Waking up earlier was hard, but I managed to get into the habit of spending some time in a cafe on my way to work. The change in environment (not home) and the very limited time (often I only have one well-defined goal for a morning session) makes me super productive.

I still battle with consistency, but I create a lot during these times. One thing I'm working on is a guide on how to start your own company in 30 minutes a day. It's still at idea stage, but there's a (currently partially broken) website slowly being pieced together[0]

[0] https://startyourown.co/

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#43

Post by dabockster »

Alex3917 wrote: post #35
keeptrying wrote: post #9

I've seen Mark Cuban use "wannapreneur" many times on his show and I've heard others use this term. I spent a good week trying to figure out what they meant because the term never seemed to correlate to the size of the success of the pitch they were hearing. At one point someone came in who has built some kind of underwater propulsion device which was the culmination of 3 years of work. He had a pretty polished proto…

You're a wannapreneur if: - You talk to people about your ideas, but never build anything - You build something without first talking to people - You build something and never try to sell it If you build something that people say they'll pay for and then they don't actually pay for it then this is problematic, but also normal and doesn't make you a wannapreneur. At that point it's just part of the struggle.

> You talk to people about your ideas, but never build anything

Adding to this, you're also a wantrepeneur if you actually manage to start a business but don't end up involved at all in the core product (an "idea person").

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#44

Post by eastdakota »

What you sound to me is lonely. I say that not to be flip, but trying to create something on your own is exponentially harder than doing it alongside a partner. My 2¢: throw yourself into work at your company. Learn as much as you can. Meet colleagues. Make friends. Don’t see it as the place you’ll be forever, but as a place you can build resources. Hang our outside of work with the colleagues you feel inspired by. Talk about plans for the future. Riff on eachother’s ideas. When something seems interesting to a group of you, take some time to build it out as a fun experiment or hobby. Think of these as play not work. At some point one of these hobbies will inevitably find an audience and get some traction. You’ll know it’s right when you and your “cofounders” — though if you’re doing it right you won’t even think of each other that way yet — can’t stop thinking about it and working on it feels invigorating not exhausting. Once you’re there the path to creating a business will get a lot clearer. But trying to get there on your own, while not impossible, is very lonely and very hard.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#45

Post by vi1rus »

landon32 wrote: post #37
john_moscow wrote: post #25

Just my 5 cents on making linux-commands-examples.com into an actual business: 1. Do a Google Trends research on the Linux commands people search for (and get trouble with/get confused with). Pick ~5 most popular ones. 2. Find 2-5 pages on the Internet for each command where people asked for help and didn't get a 100% satisfying reply. 3. Write a description page (or article) for each of those commands, explaining th…

This is a great process for becoming a nice-cashflow side project, but I doubt there's enough people searching for linux commands for this to ever be huge. Not saying this isn't a great idea, just saying that it's wise to hedge expectations and not expect this to be a get rich quick scheme. I think if you wanted to turn it into a larger business, the next step would be to determine an adjacent niche that your readers…

There is no need to search for a unicorn at first. It's about starting and doing something

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#46

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

You're definitely not a Wantrepreneur. You're trying things. So I think you've definitely got what it takes to build something great.

As a developer who has built a few decent side projects and turned down some investment money -- if I can give engineers any advice, it's:

Stop trying to build services on your own.

Sure, if you're REALLY passionate about something SaaS-y or if you're REALLY determined to be a billionaire, I guess starting your own VC-funded SaaS is the way to go.

You seem to be like most people who just wants to build/run your own thing and make a decent living, maybe a living a bit better than what you have currently.

If that's the case, I really recommend trying to sell a product instead (and not a software one). It's not quite as satisfying, but it's much less time-consuming and the odds of generating a meaningful profit in a reasonable amount of time are MUCH higher.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#47

Post by hazz99 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #35
keeptrying wrote: post #9

I've seen Mark Cuban use "wannapreneur" many times on his show and I've heard others use this term. I spent a good week trying to figure out what they meant because the term never seemed to correlate to the size of the success of the pitch they were hearing. At one point someone came in who has built some kind of underwater propulsion device which was the culmination of 3 years of work. He had a pretty polished proto…

You're a wannapreneur if: - You talk to people about your ideas, but never build anything - You build something without first talking to people - You build something and never try to sell it If you build something that people say they'll pay for and then they don't actually pay for it then this is problematic, but also normal and doesn't make you a wannapreneur. At that point it's just part of the struggle.

Damn.

I'm definitely a wannapreneur.

Time to get out there.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#48

Post by dang »

java_script wrote: post #7

Maybe not a wantapreneur but more of an entremanure.

If you continue to post comments that break the site guidelines we are going to have to ban you. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules. Personal swipes in particular are right out.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#49

Post by jxub »

com2kid wrote: post #10

YCombinator Startup School heavily emphasizes leaving your day job and committing 100%. I'm trying to start something similar to your Come Dine With Me, but out in public instead of at people's house. (plug: https://www.thawd.net coming to Seattle soon!) Devoting 100% of my mental energy to it means I have been able to iterate on the idea itself quickly, spend time talking to people about it (which is itself exhausti…

Not relevant to the OP, but the thawd website has a really nice design (I'm not in Seattle though).
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