Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 49 posts

Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#1

Post by matt1 »

I have a friend who is a talented web developer. His resume is filled with the latest and greatest: Django, Prototype, Rails, Ajax yada yada. He makes decent money developing websites for small businesses, but nothing spectacular. I asked him why he didn't try founding a startup, even if just in his spare time. "No ideas, I guess." "Ever heard of Paul Graham?" I asked. "Nope" ;)

As someone who is trying to learn the skills on his resume, his 'no ideas' response frustrates me. That got me thinking: What other qualities do successful startup founders have that web developers don't?

Ideas? Ambition? Family? Why don't more people make the leap?

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#2

Post by cschneid »

The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location.

I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again.

So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in, but it doesn't have the kind of abundance of cash that the coasts have.

So, my plan moving forward is to contribute to open source and personal projects. I'll try to make a few bucks off them, but probably nothing serious. If I hit on an idea that I am really passionate about, I'll work on it more exclusively on the side or whatever day job I have, until it is able to provide decent income by itself.

As far as your ideas question, I have no shortage of ideas, but I have a shortage of ideas that would be good businesses. They are either too small, too hard to monetize, or they are simply that I don't have the passion for them to take them far enough to make them viable.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#3

Post by tstegart »

cschneid wrote: post #2

The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location. I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again. So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in…

Thats funny, I have lots of ideas that would make great businesses, and the passion to work on them, but I don't know any kick-ass web developers. You just don't meet them in my line of work.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#4

Post by bookhuddle »

Everyone has their own reasons, I'm sure. Here are some that come to mind: - They don't have an idea for a startup - They've never thought about entrepreneurship - They don't know how to go about doing it - They might be afraid to try - They just don't feel like it; the commitment involved is not appealing to them - They have other interests in life that are more important to them - Their life situation prevents them from pursuing a startup idea

I don't quite agree that "web developers" don't have the qualities of "startup founders". Many probably do, but might not show them for whatever reason.

Chance plays a huge role is success, so the qualities of "successful" startup founders might not be that different from the "unsuccessful" ones.

Ambition, passion, persistence, motivation, good communication skills, a certain level of intelligence, ability to work with and motivate people are some qualities (certainly not all) that you'll probably find in founders.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#5

Post by tstegart »

cschneid wrote: post #2

The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location. I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again. So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in…

But isn't the core Web 2.0 mentality really that monetary costs have been drastically lowered and location doesn't matter? There are successful companies all over the world founded in spare time on barebones budgets. Middle America can't be that bad, can it?

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#6

Post by cschneid »

tstegart wrote: post #5
cschneid wrote: post #2

The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location. I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again. So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in…

But isn't the core Web 2.0 mentality really that monetary costs have been drastically lowered and location doesn't matter? There are successful companies all over the world founded in spare time on barebones budgets. Middle America can't be that bad, can it?

You're right, the business costs are much cheaper than other business options. But of course, I still want to eat, and have a roof, and basically not suffer. That still costs money.

I'm certainly not just sitting back and doing nothing, instead I'm searching for that idea that really grabs me, and will keep me going in my free time. The idea for a part time business needs to be more engaging and interesting than a full time idea (at least for me), because I've already spent most of my mental stamina grinding through a day job by the time I can get started on the personal idea.

Either way, I have developed and launched http://www.irclogger.com in the last few weeks, just because I wanted this service and couldn't find it. (logging freenode's irc channels). But I have no plans to commercialize it, and wouldn't feel bad if it disappeared.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#7

Post by [deleted] »

tstegart wrote: post #5
cschneid wrote: post #2

The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location. I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again. So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in…

But isn't the core Web 2.0 mentality really that monetary costs have been drastically lowered and location doesn't matter? There are successful companies all over the world founded in spare time on barebones budgets. Middle America can't be that bad, can it?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?

#9

Post by allenbrunson »

tstegart wrote: post #3
cschneid wrote: post #2

The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location. I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again. So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in…

Thats funny, I have lots of ideas that would make great businesses, and the passion to work on them, but I don't know any kick-ass web developers. You just don't meet them in my line of work.

it's almost a cliche around these parts, but still a useful metric: if you're going to do a startup, you need a steve jobs and a steve wozniak. you sound like a jobs, so you need a woz.

as it happens, this very community is teeming with them. i am myself a woz, but not the type you're looking for. web-dev does not come naturally to me. i prefer writing programs the old-fashioned way.

Post reply on HN