Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#51

Post by maximilian » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 3:40 AM UTC

mrtron wrote: post #31

pavelludiq wrote: post #27

I'm still in high school, but this summer i had a chance of getting a job. I didn't get one, instead i decided that i need to learn to program better and learn a few new languages. I also learned to draw, and I've been working on my writing style and my English. I also learned a lot of otter stuff(how to meditate for example). I don't know if I'll ever get a "real job", but I'll avoid it if i can. I probably will get…

I really recommend you take a real job at some point in your life for at least 6 months. Some of the best lessons in life come from contrast. Being able to remember what it was like at a regular job provides a lot of motivation for people to continue working hard at their own company. You will also learn some good lessons about what to do, what not to do and make contacts.

One of the "best" corporate experiences I had was when I worked for BMW for 5 months. I now understand how large corporate engineering companies work, and that I NEVER want to work for one. Sometimes you have to do something that sucks, so that you know that you don't want to do that and to look out for it in the future.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#52

Post by ptn » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 3:56 AM UTC

anamax wrote: post #50

ptn wrote: post #19

Im in Peru, so I first have to figure out a way to move to a startup hub and only then can I start. I'm possibly going for a scholarship to do a masters, which would delay me (I must finish it, being a scholarship I can't drop out), but at least would get me there. This is kinda frustrating, because to get a scholarship I must have good grades, but studying steals hacking time... In the meantime, I'm honing my progra…

As someone who makes fun of folks who say "{place} is just as good for startups as SV", I want to point out that you don't have to move to a startup hub to do a startup. There are advantages to doing a startup where you are. If/when you move, it will take you a while to learn as much as you currently know about the resources where you are now. In addition, you can start now instead of waiting.

There's just no way to rise funds here :(

My plan is to program some big stuff myself, so as to learn about design; read the code of some open source software, to learn how others design; and program something from scratch with someone else and submit patches to an OS software, to learn how to work with other hackers. I hope that teaches me what I need.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#53

Post by iigs » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 4:30 AM UTC

Is it influence, decision making, and direction setting? Well, we kinda fall down there. Many cooks in this kitchen, and most have greater influence than is available to him. His voice is heard of course, and great ideas are easy to spot no matter who they come from, but if he expects his voice to win out every time I can't provide any assurances that it will be so.

That's probably the biggest one, if I had to guess. I don't know what this individual's motivations are, but if he has his heart set on something you're best not to pull a subtly different direction, the impedance match will eventually cause something to give, and maybe not on the best terms.

Now, maybe you can flip this from a specific role to a personnel management pattern.

You've clearly found someone who has been a valuable member of your team. You might believe that some of the things that would make someone a good entrepreneur would make them a good employee for your company, and from the outside, at least, that seems pretty sane. Someone who is intelligent, has drive, and is interested in all aspects of the business seems like the kind of person you'd want to have working for you.

If you know you can't hold on to good people like this forever, maybe you could build a culture of growing people up and out. I don't think it would take a whole lot -- open, "face-up" handling of the business in the presence of your employees, a positive attitude towards contractors, mentoring and maintaining good relationships after they've left, and the opportunity to come back should the gig not work out and you have a position available, are all non-cash things that seem to basically be heresy to the standard beige manager, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. They also are generally things that you can do toward the end of the employee relationship where you appear to be now.

Don't throw him out of the nest, of course, but definitely encourage him to spread his wings. Think of it as putting a little "Sponsored By: OurCo, Inc" on his brain. He'll either fail at his task and possibly come back as a better, more mature employee, or he'll soar, and he'll be thinking of your company in a positive light when he is networking like no tomorrow. Sounds like a win for you either way. :)

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#54

Post by briancooley » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 1:21 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #6

Nothing, I'm on my second one. Oh, and to answer your question, what made me go start my own business is I couldn't stand the way things were done in the big corp world. I'm impatient. I want to get things done. I want to achieve things. I cannot stand the idea of being given orders. I have no respect for authority, only for competence. I want to realise my potential. The tedious and endless game of corporate politic…

Life is so much more varied and interesting. I only ever do things that I think are worth doing. I work at my own pace (which is 10x faster than anything I ever observed in the corporate world). I work exclusively with brilliant people, doing something which I think is worthwhile.

I have no personal experience with the statement above. Perhaps the closest I have come was telecommuting and doing project work for a couple of years.

Even if there wasn't more money in the long term, this is an infinitely preferable lifestyle.

After 11 years working for some of the biggest companies in the world and becoming increasingly miserable, I sincerely hope this is true. Sounds good on paper, anyway.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#55

Post by briancooley » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 1:25 PM UTC

Let's not forget the other things that corporate life provides that Start Ups simply can't compete against: we've got cash which means all your standard developer care and feeding: snacks, beverages, free lunches. With cash comes profit sharing, job security, benefits, paid vacations, etc.

These are the kinds of things that "concerned" family and friends will point out. They're nice things, but I think the arguments about their value just amount to FUD to a person longing to make a move. They are reasons not to leave, not reasons to stay.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#56

Post by wheels » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 1:29 PM UTC

anamax wrote: post #50

ptn wrote: post #19

Im in Peru, so I first have to figure out a way to move to a startup hub and only then can I start. I'm possibly going for a scholarship to do a masters, which would delay me (I must finish it, being a scholarship I can't drop out), but at least would get me there. This is kinda frustrating, because to get a scholarship I must have good grades, but studying steals hacking time... In the meantime, I'm honing my progra…

As someone who makes fun of folks who say "{place} is just as good for startups as SV", I want to point out that you don't have to move to a startup hub to do a startup. There are advantages to doing a startup where you are. If/when you move, it will take you a while to learn as much as you currently know about the resources where you are now. In addition, you can start now instead of waiting.

Agreed. It's a lot harder to start a startup away from a hub, but really, it's going to be hard to raise funding, and even harder to succeed in your first startup anyway. You might as well go through the motions once to learn how to do it before the stakes are higher. At a minimum you'll learn what running a business is about. Plus, if you're living somewhere like Peru with low cost of living and focusing on an international market, bootstrapping is a lot more practical.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#57

Post by unalone » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 2:47 PM UTC

I'm slow to develop mine for the worst reason in the world: I can't program.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I have a coder's mind. I'm content with sitting down for hours and nitpicking code until it works just fine. It's just that I don't know the languages I need to know, and so development happens slowly.

It's happening, don't get me wrong. But if I could actually program, this thing would be out in a week, rather than a month or more.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#58

Post by icey » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 3:02 PM UTC

I jump between working for myself and working for other people somewhat regularly.

Right now for example, I have what I think is the perfect job. The pay is good, I work on interesting problems, I drive all the dates and functionality; basically I am getting paid to make all the IT decisions and I have enough budget to do things the way I want to do them.

But even though I have the perfect job, it still feels like servitude. So, at some point I'll have the next idea I think is worth striking out to try, and I'll be gone. It won't be because I dislike my job; but it will be because it's in my genes to go out to the frontier and pan for gold.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#59

Post by olefoo » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 3:31 PM UTC

unalone wrote: post #57

I'm slow to develop mine for the worst reason in the world: I can't program. Oh, don't get me wrong. I have a coder's mind. I'm content with sitting down for hours and nitpicking code until it works just fine. It's just that I don't know the languages I need to know, and so development happens slowly. It's happening, don't get me wrong. But if I could actually program, this thing would be out in a week, rather than a…

I'm wondering if you have the same issue I do, the day job is pulling more of your programming bandwidth than you think it is.

In my case I'm dealing with a virtual river of shit, and when I get home, I don't want to touch the computer at all. And when I do make time for programming, it's very hard to get into flow because it's usually 'sandwich time' stuck between other responsibilities.

Re: Ask HN: What keeps you from beginning your Start Up?

#60

Post by mellampudi » Sat, Sep 13, 2008, 5:18 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #10

swombat wrote: post #6

Nothing, I'm on my second one. Oh, and to answer your question, what made me go start my own business is I couldn't stand the way things were done in the big corp world. I'm impatient. I want to get things done. I want to achieve things. I cannot stand the idea of being given orders. I have no respect for authority, only for competence. I want to realise my potential. The tedious and endless game of corporate politic…

Oh yeah, and one more thing... all your standard developer care and feeding: snacks, beverages, free lunches. Really? At your company, can I stay in bed or spend the day doing something else when I hit one of those days when I don't feel like working? Can I work in my dressing gown? Can I prepare my own food in my own kitchen? Can I have a 10-second commute from my bedroom to my office? Can I have a nap whenever I wa…

Well, I get all of these, except for the preparing food part( which I anyways can't). And I work for a really big company :)