I have a confession to make: I've worked on several ideas, and I'm not completely insanely passionate about them. But I love being an entrepreneur! I work on ideas because I think they are good ideas and it is exciting to try and make my vision a reality. I mean, I don't care about enterprise software or online video that much - but is that really so bad? Isn't it enough to like working for yourself in a great group and strive for success, and have your passions not be your job? I also find it strange how many entrepreneurs happen to be passionate about, say, group commerce these days. Really?
Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
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Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#2I'm passionate about making money.
That said, once you identify a sector in which to make money, you need to master it. With mastery almost alway comes at least an appreciation or affection for a subject.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#3I think you need other people (either a co-founder or ideally, users) to be passionate about an idea in order to stoke your own passion. It's hard to stay passionate about something for very long alone.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#4In my experience, business use of the word "passion" is nearly always code for something better said in other ways (if one is to be plain spoken). Some examples:
1) Entrepreneur Joe might have a good idea for a business but "Joe lacks passion" is code for an intuitive hunch that Joe is going to flake out and get distracted.
2) Alice might need something (investment, a business deal, etc.) and "Alice is passionate about this" is code for "Alice is completely screwed without this deal. She is highly motivated to perform. We've got her by the balls, so to speak."
3) Martin might have a great idea and the drive to do the technical work, but "Martin lacks passion" is code for "Martin can't dazzle people into uncritically buying from him." (This is part of the "passion is contagious" bs meme.)
4) Kate might have a start-up idea that looks great on paper, but it would require her to really drive a few initial employees very hard. "Kate lacks passion" is code for the hunch that Kate is not sufficiently sociopathic to abuse employees into a submission that is against their own best interests.
People in tech business circles use the word "passion" with about as much care as they use the word "fantastic". As a first approximation, it means "uh... I thought I was supposed to be making some noise or other just now and that word is what came out of my mouth".
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#5The problem is not passion but vision. If you don't have a vision about where you want to take something then you will end up burning lots off energy but not really going anywhere.
The rocket needs a destination to aim for even if it never get's there completely.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#6I'm truly passionate about making something people actually want to use on a daily basis. Getting the first users to really love the product is what I care about. Money is hopefully a biproduct.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#7The problem is not passion but vision. If you don't have a vision about where you want to take something then you will end up burning lots off energy but not really going anywhere. The rocket needs a destination to aim for even if it never get's there completely.
Exactly - without vision there is no reason to be passionate. I spend all my free time (and my work time) on CouchDB b/c I see a vision of a programming model which is much better than today's web, and I want to make it reality. In this sense, passion may mean that I'm unstoppable, because I'll keep doing it no matter what. But really, it's the power of the vision that drives me.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#8It's kind of like picking a college major. Where college students invest their money and long amounts of time in a particular major, entrepreneurs (wantrepreneurs?) invest their minds in particular markets. At some point it becomes part of their identity.
I think it's better to decide on a particular market with some definitive action like starting a company or large side project, and if it fizzles out, avoid identifying with it. Being identified with a market that you don't know about doesn't impress genuine entrepreneurs.
Curiosity is different. It's good to be curious. Surprisingly, trying to be curious has worked for me. So has dealing with some of the many things that can get in the way of natural curiosity.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#9Find something about your work that you're passionate about, rather than the work itself (you could call it being indirectly passionate). For me, I'm passionate about creating useful things. So long as I'm creating useful things at work I'm passionate about it.
Re: Ask HN: How many entrepreneurs out there are really passionate?
#10Here is a fundamental thing I've learnt about startups that is hugely important and massively over looked:
You need to be passionate about building a company, not an idea.
Because you will change the idea, and if your passion isn't in running a company you're dead. The groupon guy doesn't care about group buying, he cares about building a company with x culture etc.