Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Don't Want to Be a Founder

carolchen.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 245 posts

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#111

Post by zubspace »

djeiasbsbo wrote: post #106

I like the article but I honestly have never even stopped to think "should I create a startup?"... is that a common thing? Maybe it's because I'm still young or because I've never actually been in huge financial distress (which I realise is a privilege) but I don't have the desire to make a lot of money or sell my dream idea/company. All I want is to make enough to cover my living costs and in my spare time work on s…

You're doing perfectly fine and I admire your modesty. Actually, on a personal level I feel the same. I need a notebook, a table, a bed and a roof and I could not be happier.

But things change I life and with them your goals and maybe ambitions. I'm now reaching 40 years, have a wife and have 2 smaller kids. We had to move into a bigger house with more space. You also start to depend heavily on a car. I'm still a programmer like I was 20 years before, but now my priorities are different: I want financial stability. I want to spend as much time with my family as possible. I want more freedom regarding my schedule.

But unfortunately work does not allow me as much freedom as I would like to have. I need to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I have a tight schedule and am not really free to shift around my work how I see fit.

Well, the grass is always greener on the other side. If you are a founder you can reach financial stability much faster and you can organize your schedule (mostly) as you see fit. You can also increase your impact in this world if you run your own company. The big drawback is, that your workload will probably increase and you take on other risks in the process. (But these are things you can influence in one way or another).

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#112

Post by l33tman »

gkoberger wrote: post #71
Mave83 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You'll spend more time writing emails than writing code. You end up bogged down in organizational issues, not dreaming up cool new features. Rather than having one boss, you now have dozens... investors, customers, employees, etc." why not hire a COO that takes care of it? Don't do jobs that you are not happy with for long. For some short time that is acceptable, but not for long. I don't count my customers as by bo…

Maybe "boss" wasn't the right word – I should have said "Rather than having one boss, you now have dozens of people you're accountable to... investors, customers, employees, etc." And sure, hiring can make issues go away (I've definitely done it!), but I think you're missing my point – no matter who you hire below you, if you're the CEO, the buck still stops with you. You're the one ultimately responsible.

The lesser known truth is that the CEO role is often tedious "normal" work and not being Ironman. You can give in to that and hire a CEO that actually enjoys the meetings and stuff, or at least a COO to run the company day to day. Just because you founded a company does not mean you have to do everything but sure, the pressure to take responsibility is high..

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#113

Post by uuuuuuuuuuuu »

switch11 wrote: post #86

Could someone please explain to me what the value in this article is? It's written by a 18 year old who has never started a company So, as someone who has started multiple companies and currently running a profitable albeit small startup, what insights should I get from this article?

Well the article got people talking and sharing their own experiences, and I'd say that is valuable.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#114

Post by senojretep356 »

Strom wrote: post #99
abalaji wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment really is not in the spirit of HN. I would not attack the age of the poster and rather attack the merits of their arguments.

Pointing out the age here is a low effort way of saying that this person is giving advice about things she doesn't really have experience with. Startup grind, big company ladder grind, marriage, university. Advice is given on all of these, but from what I can figure out from the website she only has minor experience with the startup part. It can be an interesting read to see how inexperienced people view these things…

This. I think there are elements of fantasy of what it's like to work at a big corporate vs. working 'for' investors.

Also, I can't help thinking you'd learn a huge amount at YCombinator even if at the end of it you said, you know what, this isn't for me, you'd be doing it from a position of having actual experience that tells you that. She also mentions she'd prefer to work for a well founded early stage start up - I wonder where you can find those?

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#115

Post by senojretep356 »

mdorazio wrote: post #29
jarsbe wrote: post #14

Why 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?

The difference is in the HN-style (and Bay Area) understanding of the word "startup", which is focused on hyper growth at all costs or bust. Starting a small business in something like HVAC is very different in that you typically start small, with relatively low ambition, and grow the business organically over a long period of time. The latter is definitely difficult and sometimes stressful, but not in the same way a…

There was an article on HN about extremely successful Mormon startups. Interesting that they all manage to leave the office at 5pm (because they all have 6 kids) and build multi-billion dollar businesses.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#116

Post by Havoc »

switch11 wrote: post #86

Could someone please explain to me what the value in this article is? It's written by a 18 year old who has never started a company So, as someone who has started multiple companies and currently running a profitable albeit small startup, what insights should I get from this article?

You’re clearly not there target audience. I thought the article displayed an impressive amount of self awareness for a young guy

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#117

Post by senojretep356 »

caleblloyd wrote: post #25

Title is a bit misleading, 3/4 of the arguments against being a founder in the article are conditions that may not apply. 1. Reliance on a co-founder is stressful 2. VC vs founder risk profile 3. Don't dropout to found a company I think these all apply more to the "get rich quick" approach and sure, I agree that is a bit of a moonshot. But instead of writing off founding, why not look at ways to mitigate risk? Comple…

Yes, I always think working in business for a while is useful because you see so many inefficiencies that give you ideas. Like the guys that made millions on ski resort management software. Who knew that was even a thing!?

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#118

Post by enriquto »

Using the word "founder" is ridiculously narcissistic when you are simply starting a business just like millions of people have done before. I try to stay away from people who call themselves that.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#119

Post by [deleted] »

switch11 wrote: post #86

Could someone please explain to me what the value in this article is? It's written by a 18 year old who has never started a company So, as someone who has started multiple companies and currently running a profitable albeit small startup, what insights should I get from this article?

[deleted]

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#120

Post by j_autumn »

rorykoehler wrote: post #60
heipei wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can start out with an Einzelunternehmen (Sole Proprietorship) which means your personal finances and your "companies" finances are the same, but it's very little hassle and cost to set up, basically an online form and a few Euro. Then, when you want to grow your business, limit your financial liability, take in outside money or just better control the flow of capital you can set up a GmbH (don't bother with an UG…

Do not do an Einzelunternehmen to start. Do a UG. Not worth exposing yourself to the unforgiving and extremely aggressive Finanzamt when they decide they want to collect money you didn't expect to owe.

Can you elaborate on that?

My tax adviser told me I should go for a Einzelunternehmen (especially use the Kleingewerbe during the first year) because of the reduced costs (registration costs 25EUR and thats it) and not having the overhead. I’ve heard that registering a UG costs about ~500EUR + yearly costs of around 1500 EUR.

Given that this is during a beginning to try things out - without having too much money laying around to play with it.

Would definitely like to know about risks before getting myself into it.

Post reply on HN