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Post YC Depression

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Re: Post YC Depression

#51

Post by TheUndead96 »

eandre wrote: post #6

Great article. Working on my own startup ( https://encore.dev ) I also feel the urge to measure my progress in terms of output, not outcomes. I have to constantly remind myself that what matters is the outcome. Focus on producing a concrete, visible artifact every day and use that as your measure of progress instead. And make sure to stay sane; startups are not a balanced lifestyle but that just means we need to push…

Encore looks like an awesome project. What would you say is the value-add compared to other serverless offerings by cloud providers? At the moment simplicity/ease-of-use seems to be its biggest strength.

Re: Post YC Depression

#52

Post by mnsc »

Legogris wrote: post #40

> Only recently, have a select few started to promote less destructive lifestyles for founders: I think at the bottom of this is the futility in trying to emulate others. You are unique and the only one who can be responsible for your lifestyle choices is - you. Figure out what works for you in terms of workstyle, lifestyle and work-life balance, rather than using role models as a blueprint. I know a few people who h…

> Telling those individuals that they need 8h is not improving anything.

Of course not, but telling these individuals that they are outliers and shouldn't give this as advice on "how to be successful" will improve things. They desperately need some of that humbling self critique that we ordinary, impostor syndrome suffering people do all the time and we can help them!

Re: Post YC Depression

#53

Post by keiferski »

speedplane wrote: post #28
keiferski wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you only own 1% of your company after raising funds, you've made some serious mistakes along the way. Even Bezos, prior to his divorce, still owned 16% of Amazon, and that's after they raised money and went public - he owned 48% prior to the IPO.

> If you only own 1% of your company after raising funds, you've made some serious mistakes along the way. This was a simple example to illustrate a point. A more realistic example would be: owning 100% of a company making $1M/year is better than owning 40% of a company making $100M/year where investors put in $500M with a 4X liquidation preference. This case is even clearer here, but not quite as easy to parse. Mode…

Better in terms of financial gains, sure. But in the ability of the business to have an impact on an industry, group of people or the world at large, the smaller business has infinitely less leverage.

Fundamentally these kind of comparisons are not really relevant. The $1 million/year business is not even in the same universe as the $1 billion/year one, nor are the motivations of the typical founders.

Re: Post YC Depression

#54

Post by hawkice »

heavenlyblue wrote: post #46
speedplane wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For most people, owning 100% of a company making $1M/year would be preferable to owning 10% of a company making $1B. It's not just that money has decreasing marginal value. It's about what life you want to live. Being in control of your life, or of anything, is a huge benefit and comes with a big premium. When one company acquires a public company, they usually pay more than the public stock price. If you don't dri…

>> owing a car But there are no car rentals which would bring a car to your door in the next 15 minutes.

Isn't that what Uber and Lyft do? I don't own a car and that's how I use them. I'm not precious about being the driver.

Re: Post YC Depression

#55

Post by varjag »

heavenlyblue wrote: post #38
fastball wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work 85ish hours a week and nearly 100% of it is spent on actual productive work.

How many years have you spent doing it?

I did that once for 18 months and spent two years burned out afterwards. And bragging about it is basically a hubris of considering oneself a superhuman.

Re: Post YC Depression

#56

Post by saadalem »

From Patrick Collison : "While long hours can't be a goal, I worry that it's easy to mislead. As a descriptive matter, creating Stripe required obsessive intensity. Maybe better founders could have worked "smarter", but I do know that long hours were needed for us to build something great."

https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1135886195253284865

Re: Post YC Depression

#57

Post by ramraj07 »

blueboo wrote: post #11

I admire this post as an exception to the usual cheerful failure porn. Failing sucks. But-I-learned-something is the very least you can achieve without being in a coma. The time is lost. Your waning bank account measures your (and maybe your families) prospects in an undeniably meaningful way. The silver lining is...there isn’t one. The loss of time, energy, and money is something to grieve for. Every day is a remind…

You can come out of a failed startup with something still, if you consider yourself to be the product. So perhaps people should constantly ask themselves if what they are doing every moment improves them in some way or not first? Perhaps if you don't feel that way doing entrepreneureal stuff perhaps you are not suited for it.

Re: Post YC Depression

#58

Post by est31 »

keiferski wrote: post #22
speedplane wrote: post #9

This article should be another datapoint in every entrepreneur's handbook that simply going through the YC and Silicon Valley VC community does not ensure good outcomes. Owning 100% of a company making $1M/year is far more rewarding and valuable than owning 1% of a company making $100M/year. Consider YC as a last resort if you have no other options.

If you only own 1% of your company after raising funds, you've made some serious mistakes along the way. Even Bezos, prior to his divorce, still owned 16% of Amazon, and that's after they raised money and went public - he owned 48% prior to the IPO.

Bezos founded Amazon in a different era. It predates even Google. In fact, by the time Google was founded, Amazon has already IPOd. Back then the tech VC system was highly different. Bezos had to explain to early investors what the internet was. If you found a company now, you will be exposed to much different conditions.

Re: Post YC Depression

#59

Post by jwr »

Don't let work dominate your life. Work is important, but it should not be a grind, or you will end up with serious mental health issues.

I have some observations to contribute (context: I am a solo founder of a bootstrapped business):

* Much of the "news" you read will be stacked against you, because it is in the interest of VCs and employers to see you work your butt off for years, with the mythical carrot of a major payout hanging in front of you. Your mental health is not a consideration.

* You can make good progress working reasonably. In fact, I'd wager that you can often make better progress, because the quality of your work is better than when you are tired.

* Being a solo bootstrapped business founder is not necessarily a panacea, the anxiety and pressure are still there. You have to learn how to deal with them (I'm still learning, but making good progress).

* Consider your goals. Does it really need to be a multi-million payout, or is a healthy income for you and your family enough? Do you really need huge growth, or are you OK with modest growth once you reach a comfortable level? Your goals might not align with those of others, and there is no such thing as "obvious" goals. I believe that a lot of problems in today's world are created by the pressure for constant growth (at all levels, both startups and companies like Apple).

Re: Post YC Depression

#60

Post by eandre »

TheUndead96 wrote: post #51
eandre wrote: post #6

Great article. Working on my own startup ( https://encore.dev ) I also feel the urge to measure my progress in terms of output, not outcomes. I have to constantly remind myself that what matters is the outcome. Focus on producing a concrete, visible artifact every day and use that as your measure of progress instead. And make sure to stay sane; startups are not a balanced lifestyle but that just means we need to push…

Encore looks like an awesome project. What would you say is the value-add compared to other serverless offerings by cloud providers? At the moment simplicity/ease-of-use seems to be its biggest strength.

Thanks, that means a lot! Unlike other offerings the focus is really on the development experience, hence the focus on ease-of-use and simplicity as you say. The goal is to provide a best-in-class developer experience; the serverless part is really just a piece of that, if that makes sense?
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