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Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

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41–50 of 88 posts

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#41
Every time I've entertained the idea of joining a startup, it's always an "all we need is a developer" situation, or its cousin, the "we had a great developer (who invariably stunk) who'll get you up to speed."

So it seems I'd have to go it alone, and my ideas are too big for my time. If I had some simpler ideas I'd definitely see if they held water, however. I definitely have the application, server, and DB skills to make it happen.

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#42
post #37
post #24

TODAY I'm meeting a friend I haven't seen for a quite a while at the pub after work, and it would rude to cancel on such short notice. After that I probably should be getting to bed since I have to work tomorrow.

Is that a funny way of saying that you dont want to start a startup or that counts a real excuse for you?

I believe he's implying that his priorities are close at hand.

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#43
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be that startup is not for you. I'd suggest to stop reading HN(as it can be very dangerous for you mental happines-constant glory tales to founders) and find a way to increase your salary on f-t position. I dont know what are you doing but i think you can set goal of making 2-3x of you current salary. There are better resources to read to archive that goal DISC: Above is just my imho, listen with caution, i…

Well, I've been reading HN since before it was called Hacker News and I don't think I'll stop any time soon. It's not HN news which it making me want to start my own business but a desire to work on meaningful projects which fulfil my need to turn my imagination into reality... and ultimately provide a stable financial circumstances for my family.

My imho(i am not such a long time HN reader): HN is all about startups and its pushing you to start your company. Period. Its not really a core recourse for programmers/hackers and there is a very small %% of tech material here. Why? Just remove news. and /* from this page URL to find out )))

In other words: NH will not help you to become better programmer/hacker. Just look at http://news.ycombinator.com/ at this moment and see that there are only few tech links there - rest is about "why facebook is better than google" bs.

My point is: If you ultimate goal stable financial situation for your family you can less risky archive it by becoming better programmer.

On meaningful projects: is working on google/apple/any company you like meaningful enough for you?

All above is just my imho of course..

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#44
I actually did start and was able to quit my job about a month ago.. and a week later I was in a drowning accident and ended up in the hospital with heat stroke, dehydration and acute kidney failure.

Now I'm in limbo trying to recover as quickly as possible. I still have lower back pain near my kidneys which makes it hard to sit in a chair.

It's not that bad actually, I'm just finding it really hard to get the motivation to work consistently.

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#45
post #9

Simple. Not come up with the right idea yet. Whenever I do come up with something, I either find that someone has done something too similar, or I talk myself out of it.

Competition is a good thing. It's confirmation there's actually a market there.

You're far better off with a small slice of a big pie than a big slice of a tiny pie.

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#46

I suffer depression. Mostly it's not that bad but it does mean that I never sustain the passion/effort required for a startup (or even modest personal projects). hmmmm, I think everything else is either fall out from the depression or an excuse to avoid facing fear. Fear of personal failure, fear that I'm not elite, fear that I don't "have what it takes", etc. I'm also "old", 40yr, and I hate to say it but I feel les…

Ok let me say this again. Its 100% fine not to be a founder and work for somebody. It is NOT a shame! You can leave full and happy life without it! Many do that!

It might be that you read way too much HN - This resource pushes towards starting company. Its not the only way to go for hacker! Relax and enjoy your life!

PS I was super surprised to see that so many replied about being stressed about not starting a company today. I am sorry about that, did mean to push anyone when asked this question. I think that you can only start company being in a good and optimistic mood! Stress/scare is a first warning sign!

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#48
I did a startup in my 20's that was an intense experience. Now I have a sweet job at an amazingly run video game company where I don't care about making payroll, hitting sales goals, the joy of having employees, managing cash flow and inventory.

I have a few hobbies that might turn into something someday, but I think I need a bit more recovery time, and I think I'd rather share the hobbies with the world than sell them.

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#49
post #33

Turns out? Nothing. I halfway participated in a hackathon recently, and since then, I've found myself... motivated. Usually when the urge strikes, my day job starts taking up too much time, or life happens, or I realize my idea is stupid. This time, however, I'm just going to go for it. I don't care that the product I'm building is in a VERY crowded space. I don't care that there's no 'killer feature' to draw the cro…

This is fantastic. The reality is you have no idea how good the idea really is until you have finished anyway. So what the hell, may as well give it a shot. My only advice is make the produce a slightly better version of everything else out there. Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: What stops you from starting today?

#50
I am waiting because I need a critical mass of content before I start up. I have one digitisation station, but work it myself. I can produce from 4-10 items per hour if I work hard, and estimate I need about 10,000 items done before I launch. There is also the issue of supply. I need items to process, and right now only have about 300. These items cost between $1 and $20 each.

I see how much I have left to do, think about how long it will take, and then start thinking about how to speed up the process... automate it.

I start to think about whether or not I am actually getting what I need so I don't get through 3,000 units and need to change something and have wasted the work. I think about how to scale the system to use multiple workstations, and multiple central servers because I can't store 10,000 units on the one server I have.

I'm working on a shoestring budget, and have creditors calling me every day. I borrowed $40,000 a few years ago hoping that that would help me get going in anticipation of another $100,000 I was going to get, but that fell through and I was able to use less than half of what I borrowed before the rest was needed to save my mother's business.

So, that's what's delay'n me.

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