I think what most of us want is to be free of the tyranny of employment. And I don’t think founding a company is best way to mitigate that if you aren’t completely into it, you could just go become a freelancer or start a small services Center in your locality.
I Don't Want to Be a Founder
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Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#12Reacting mostly to the ending/conclusion here. I don't know about other founders, but for me, startups are basically the only vehicle for solving big problems that nobody else will/can solve. Often the reasons that (nearly) nobody else is trying to solve your exact problem are 1) it is risky/unlikely to monetize well, 2) it is hard, grueling, or boring work that may not even function right in the end, 3) might believ…
This resonates very strongly with me. Everywhere I work, I find really cool things to invent and business process improvements. Sometimes the biggest impacts these have are at the megacorps due to economies of scale. Often though there's so much friction, overhead, and red tape that it's impossible to get buy-in from team members and managers in the megacorps. This happens even in the best cases where everyone is open-minded and supportive. Sometimes large groups just don't have the excess capacity needed to re-tool. In large companies that don't have the best case cultures, it's nearly impossible to implement improvements or use any cross-team resources (human, physical or digital) to bring an invention to life.
It seems you're absolutely right that a startup is your only option if your idea is a proposed solution to a problem that is outside the mission/domain of (your/any) current organization, and/or if any organizations which would be interested simply can't devote resources and time to developing, evangelizing, and implementing your solution.
However, the risk involved in the process is so damned high. I love working in teams, whether at large megacorps, small contracting groups, or on my own or my friend's startup ideas. I don't love the "burnt relationships, heartache, debt, lawsuits, depression" (as 'irjustin phrased it elsewhere in this thread), that can be associated with startups.
Some startups are well-positioned for co-operative mutual interest VC money (repl.it would be a strange thing to bootstrap). Some startups are fantastic for bootstrapping (Sparkfun/Adafruit), and many could probably succeed just fine doing either (mailchimp, bootcamp come to mind). Still others probably best operate via philantrophic arrangements (OpenStax).
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#13[deleted]
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#14Why is it that starting a tech start up is seen as an uber difficult task often resulting in burnout while starting a business in a technical occupation such as electrical or refrigeration is (seemingly) less risque? Surely there are a plenty of opportunities where rather boring software can be applied to business problems. Does it always need to be a monumental technical accomplishment to create a success?
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#15I think what most of us want is to be free of the tyranny of employment. And I don’t think founding a company is best way to mitigate that if you aren’t completely into it, you could just go become a freelancer or start a small services Center in your locality.
If that's the case, definitely don't start a company. Instead of being beholden to one manager, you're all of a sudden beholden to dozens... employees, investors, board, customers, etc. Being a founder is just a job.
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#16Dave McClure had a pretty aggressive talk about why not to do a startup[0] back in 2012 and it resonates with what's written here. Startups are hard and we love to parade those who made it, struck it rich, but the reality is the vast majority don't. It also requires a skillset/discipline/constitution that is very different than what most people want to do. In the very large group who don't make it, lies burnt relatio…
Who is we, and who's paying for the parade?
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#17For me, the way I thought about it was a bit different. When I did YC I had already worked at Google for a while, and the question I was asking myself was less "do I want to be a founder?" and more "is starting a company something I ever want to try out, in a career that will probably span decades?" If you've had jobs you liked in the past, and you figure that you can probably find those jobs again, and you don't immediately need the big company salary, what is a startup really risking? The worst case is that you work on it for a year or so, it goes nowhere, and you go back to work somewhere else. You miss out on some money but you're going to learn something new in any case.
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#18Dave McClure had a pretty aggressive talk about why not to do a startup[0] back in 2012 and it resonates with what's written here. Startups are hard and we love to parade those who made it, struck it rich, but the reality is the vast majority don't. It also requires a skillset/discipline/constitution that is very different than what most people want to do. In the very large group who don't make it, lies burnt relatio…
IMO, damned if you do damned if you don’t.
Before covid it took me 12 months to find a job. I applied to 100 companies. Ironically, got a job during covid and the job is pretty relaxing compared to the job hunt. During the hunt I thought: society is kinda forcing my hand here.
Also: a lot of knowledge workers have to work a lot of hours and keep on learning (e.g. doctors or programmers).
To me, it feels much more like a pick your poison type of thing.
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#19Why is it that starting a tech start up is seen as an uber difficult task often resulting in burnout while starting a business in a technical occupation such as electrical or refrigeration is (seemingly) less risque? Surely there are a plenty of opportunities where rather boring software can be applied to business problems. Does it always need to be a monumental technical accomplishment to create a success?
It's the difference between R&D and other forms of labor. One tech startup might capture the entire market, but one electrician can't.
Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder
#20Why is it that starting a tech start up is seen as an uber difficult task often resulting in burnout while starting a business in a technical occupation such as electrical or refrigeration is (seemingly) less risque? Surely there are a plenty of opportunities where rather boring software can be applied to business problems. Does it always need to be a monumental technical accomplishment to create a success?
starting a startup is not the same as starting a business. By definition a startup is a type of business whose business model is not yet proven. So you end up with 2 types of risks in a startup - the normal risk of starting a business (like the electrical engineer), as well as business model risk where the model may prove to be unprofitable.