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Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#91

Post by ccantana »

First of all, I respect your self-awareness. I’ve been in a similar rut.

I disagree with some suggestions here that you should watch things like Startup School. Those videos, while well-intentioned, can make you feel even more inadequate and “behind” when you feel stuck.

If you’re losing a game of basketball, it’s not terribly fun to watch somebody else make dunk after dunk.

I currently run one of the largest newsletters in tech (https://techloaf.io), which I started purely as tiny side project to force me into action while in a similar rut. It started with just me writing up satirical jokes and sending out and email to a few friends each week, to now a project with about a dozen writers and a wide following.

As unhelpful or vague as this might sound, I’ve found that just doing something can have a snowball effect. Pick the smallest possible task for the easiest possible side project and start doing. For me, that was literally just telling a few people that I’d send them a funny email each week.

Best of luck, you’ll look back on this and smile once you’ve got your next project off the ground.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#92

Post by meerab »

thecolorblue wrote: post #77
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…

> YCombinator Startup School heavily emphasizes leaving your day job and committing 100%. Is this true? I am participating in startup school now and nobody has encouraged me to quit my job.

Do it 100% was on the first lecture in Startup school.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#93

Post by nojvek »

ilamont wrote: post #74

To me, "wantapreneur" is synonymous with the people who are big on talk or the trappings of startup life without actually making anything or are constantly looking for someone else to build out their big idea. At least you're building something on your own! Of the many pieces of pg startup wisdom cited or linked to on HN, the one bit that sticks with me is just five simple words, from one of his early essays (1): Mak…

I’ve always resonated more with a slightly modified version in a much more powerful way.

“make and sell something people want”

It’s not a business unless money is getting transferred!

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#94

Post by bloomer »

nojvek wrote: post #93
ilamont wrote: post #74

To me, "wantapreneur" is synonymous with the people who are big on talk or the trappings of startup life without actually making anything or are constantly looking for someone else to build out their big idea. At least you're building something on your own! Of the many pieces of pg startup wisdom cited or linked to on HN, the one bit that sticks with me is just five simple words, from one of his early essays (1): Mak…

I’ve always resonated more with a slightly modified version in a much more powerful way. “make and sell something people want” It’s not a business unless money is getting transferred!

I think the most correct version is

“Make something people will buy from you”

There are actually plenty of things people want that you can sell but they won’t buy, for example because they can get it cheaper or free somewhere else.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#96

Post by johns »

someguydave wrote: post #84
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…

So, basically "real" entrepreneurs are salesmen?

Salespeople...but, yes.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#97

Post by vermilingua »

earenndil wrote: post #52
landon32 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

A friend of a friend owns and runs google ads on linux.die.net (linux manpages). It pays his mortgage.

But I'd wager that the audience of people looking for an article on a command, and the people that want a manpage up on a non linux device (a second screen, a phone?) are mostly disjunct, and that the latter is far larger.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#98

Post by brainless »

I have been a wantrepreneur for a very long time. Like yourself I have tried and failed multiple ideas. I have worked with about 10 startups (including some my own). I know (and have had honest reflections from others) that I have caliber to work things out. But I have realized the biggest issue is lack of perseverance - I jump ideas too often. Any idea (unless I am super lucky) will need years of patient hand holding. I give up/get bored easily.

So on Jan 1, 2018 I promised myself I will stick to one of my ideas. I did, now we are a tiny team seeing traction. Not revenue though. I had already started a second idea in between, that is how fickle my mind is. But I dropped it after detecting my brains own devil. So I am still sticking to the one I started this year. As a team we have good goals till Dec 2018 and then first quarter 2019. We have not planned beyond.

What I mean to say is: stick to one. Things may not go well, but keep trying solutions in the same product, experiment a lot. Give yourself at least 2 or 3 years of "honest" effort. I do not over work, strict 8 hours a day. I consult to raise the funds for our product. I have promised myself time till end of 2020 to see where this goes. I am 35 years old, been into startups since 22.

The bare minimum as of now: https://travlyng.com/

Edit: I used the wrong year 2017 instead of 2018. Sleepy head.

Re: Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

#99

Post by alangibson »

someguydave wrote: post #84
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…

So, basically "real" entrepreneurs are salesmen?

Salesman is not the preferred nomenclature. Please, salespeople.
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