Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

I get asked a lot why I left architecture and tech to be in product, and now, bootstrapping a relatively non-technical collaboration platform. My answer is that it's solving similar problems just at a higher level of abstraction. It's moving from a perfect information game of development to an imperfect information game of alignment and persuasion. It's like a context switch from chess to poker.* Going back into learning mode with books on sales and business is really refreshing.

Shockingly, once I cobbled my demo together it didn't just start raining term sheets. My impression is that people who know what it's like to be here don't let it out as not to discourage others.

However, what I still believe is, we don't regret things we take all the way. What we live to regret is the the pulled punch, the hedged bet, the b-plan, the retreat, the fold, the concession, the job, the approval of people we don't admire, the unsaid, the declined invitation, the judgment, the things we held on to or didn't let go, and the lack of belief in ourselves - these are the things that will shake you awake at night in middle age, and I assume, forever thereafter.

When you finish something, you need to "pop," up a level of problem solving. It's analogous skills, just with new tools and variables. Oddly, it's also a way to rest. There is an old saying that translates to "a change is as good as a break," and getting my code to the point where I could not touch it for a week while I worked my pipeline and have a demo meeting where it just worked was a huge confidence and energy boost.

Take time to invest in reading some books on business in your field. It has massive returns and feels like a break.

My written English is awful, that's all.

1

A better motivator, in my opinion, is that disclosing up front what data you're going to capture, and what you're going to do with it, and obtaining consent for that from users - is "the right thing to do". Unless your business model is "fucking over the users", those are not scary things to do, and will likely lead you to make better decisions about what you collect and how you store it, and reduce your and your users exposure in the worst case.