Awesome idea. It sounds a lot like the 'Think and Grow Rich', in which the author (can't remember his name),sought to find and write about the common traits among successfule people at the time. Updating the idea for entrepreneurs, particularly for the sw industry, could be an interesting read.
Ask HN: Am I crazy?
91–95 of 95 posts
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#92As a 30 something man with corporate career, a wife, child, house and mortgage I say do it. Do it now before you have something to lose.
Doing something like what you're propose, you may find a life path that you could never of dreamed of.
also, check out the life story Napolean Hill. He made a life out of writing about successful people...
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#93Yes you are crazy. And yes, I say do it. It seems the vast majority of the time, that the less crazy an idea is, the less it's worth doing.
Also, I'm an entrepreneur in Ann Arbor, MI, which could be an option for a closer stop if you want to do a trial one close to home first. We have an extra couch you could crash on.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#94You can either do it, or always wish you did. Your choice.
You sound like you have nothing holding you down and a great trip ahead of you. Once the job and bills start rolling in it becomes more difficult to break away and do it. Not impossible, just more difficult.
Just do it! I'd recommend doing the west coast bit if you leaning that way.
My way would be Chicago -> Seattle -> San Fran.If time and money and/or your desire permit then swing down the south for Austin -> New Orleans -> NY -> Boston.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#95You are young so it is a good time to make mistakes. Even if it all goes down the pan you should have something interesting to say at your interview when they ask you what you did after graduation.
Just one niggle, serendipity doesn't make house calls so you should not make plans based on it. make things happen. Once you get going however you might be able to give talks about your journey at tech meets, which should bring up more leads.
I think that your case studies would need to be days rather than just an hour, they would also be more valuable that way. Watching what people do will tell you a very different story than asking them what they are doing. Very few people are willing to admit that their success is down to plain luck, they will tell you all about vision and skill and all that other rock star bullshit. Dumb luck plays a bigger part than people are willing to admit and you will only see that if you spend much more time with people otherwise you could end up just acting as unpaid PR for these people.
Also people lie, which is something that is hard to detect in a one hour interview.
You know, with hard work and a bit of luck ('cause we all need some) this could be a lot of fun