The startup starts up because of money is often time uninspiring. It is a good thing that we have fewer startups like that. If you don't have a good problem, plz don't make a startup for it.
Why Should I Start a Startup?
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Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#32> 1. The vast majority of startups are not successful This alone is why 90% of people will not choose to work at a startup. You will work long hours, for crap pay, and you'll be waiting in line if there is an exit. The odds of there being an exit worth anything to anyone other than a founder are small enough to not even worth considering. If you are a founder you're gambling on your chances. There are ways to mitigat…
The odds of there being an exit worth anything to anyone other than a founder are small enough to not even worth considering.
So if you go to work for a startup, you should demand substantially more money than with an established company.
It didn't used to be that way. It used to be that the first dozen or so employees of a successful startup did very well, and the first hundred or so did OK.
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd argue that if you're thinking in these terms, you're probably not the startup type. There was an interesting RibbonFarm essay on "guardian" vs. "commerce" syndrome that really crystallized this for me: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/04/saints-and-traders-the... Entrepreneurs are the ultimate in "commerce" types, but beyond that, his key point was about bulletpoint #2, "exert prowess" vs. "compete". For most p…
Sure. This is a nice dichotomy. Until you add "living out of a car with your pregnant wife and 2 year old child" to the things you have organized your life to do. Humans are very adverse to ruin, and this has nothing to do with what they want to do or achieve. It has to do with what they do not want to experience or put others through.
While living out of my car is a bit more hardship than I'm willing to endure or put my wife through, I do know people who have voluntarily quit their job and lived out of their car for six months or so, because seeing the country, rock climbing, and camping by the side of the road was more important to them. Heck, my wife lived in a house with 3.5 walls for 2 years (Peace Corps).
Hopefully you are not giving up things that are really important to you for the sake of pursuing your one burning passion. But there is a wide variance in the set of things that people consider important, much wider than contemporary culture considers. You don't have to choose the same goals that everybody else does, nor do you even need to choose a goal at all. Some people just live for the experience.
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd argue that if you're thinking in these terms, you're probably not the startup type. There was an interesting RibbonFarm essay on "guardian" vs. "commerce" syndrome that really crystallized this for me: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/04/saints-and-traders-the... Entrepreneurs are the ultimate in "commerce" types, but beyond that, his key point was about bulletpoint #2, "exert prowess" vs. "compete". For most p…
Sure. This is a nice dichotomy. Until you add "living out of a car with your pregnant wife and 2 year old child" to the things you have organized your life to do. Humans are very adverse to ruin, and this has nothing to do with what they want to do or achieve. It has to do with what they do not want to experience or put others through.
On the flip side, people who are dependent on the good graces of increasingly deteriorating established socialized methods of making a living probably shouldn't be having children either. A lot of people who don't work in startups find themselves in that position too after layoffs and etc.
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#35> 1. The vast majority of startups are not successful This alone is why 90% of people will not choose to work at a startup. You will work long hours, for crap pay, and you'll be waiting in line if there is an exit. The odds of there being an exit worth anything to anyone other than a founder are small enough to not even worth considering. If you are a founder you're gambling on your chances. There are ways to mitigat…
The odds of there being an exit worth anything to anyone other than a founder are small enough to not even worth considering. So if you go to work for a startup, you should demand substantially more money than with an established company. It didn't used to be that way. It used to be that the first dozen or so employees of a successful startup did very well, and the first hundred or so did OK.
> So if you go to work for a startup, you should demand substantially more money than with an established company.
The problem is that most startups can't match, much less beat, established companies on salary, and they'll just turn you down. It's not even malice or greed on their part, it's just that they have a finite runway and a few tens of thousands of dollars a year on a single person can mean the difference between life and death.
No one wants to say it out loud, but I'm starting to think that the startup economy requires people to accept the gamble of shit salary for a chance at the equity lottery. I decided not to play along with that and only work for megacorps, but it's up to each individual.
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#36Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#37Yawn. Yet another millionaire who lucked out dishing his share of "wisdom".
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#38> I cannot promise that doing a tech startup will make you rich (in fact the odds are against you becoming rich), but I can promise that it is one of the most challenging things you can choose to do. It will push you past your limits, force you to learn faster, and maybe show you that once in a while the impossible is possible.
Couldn't have said it better! Bookmarked, thanks for explaining it in simple terms. I find myself fumbling to explain this to my non-startup friends.
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#39Hey folks - happy to answer questions here
Out of curiosity, if you're able to answer it: Does YC now collect, or has it ever collected, (anonymized?) data/survey-responses from founders (YC alums or not) on their original motivations for starting the company, and attempt(ed) to correlate that with outcomes? If so, are you willing/able to reveal any of the things YC learned? If YC hasn't attempted to do this: why not?
No but we should - we are actually building a lot more data collection in the next year
Re: Why Should I Start a Startup?
#40Hey folks - happy to answer questions here
Did anyone ever question your academic background/track record. Did anyone deny you funding and/or not work for you upon inquiring about your track record? In absolute honesty, do you think achieving good grades makes sizable a difference to people wanting to work for you or investing in your company?
No one ever asked about my grades - coming from Yale probably helped a bit - but more importantly, Yale allowed me to meet my first co-founders.