Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
121–130 of 204 posts
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#122pg was a lot more fun when he used to talk about other things than making money all the time.
One of the strange consequences of writing about several mostly unrelated topics is that you pick up readers with quite different interests. Then whatever you write next, the ones not interested in that topic complain that you've jumped the shark. I doubt I've written a single essay since about 2002 when someone didn't say something of the form "pg was ok when he was writing about x, but I wish he would stop writing…
"I'm afraid to say that admirers can be a tremendous force for conservatism, for consolidation. Of course it's really wonderful to be acclaimed for things you've done - in fact it's the only serious reward, because it makes you think "it worked! I'm not isolated!" or something like that, and it makes you feel gratefully connected to your own culture. But on the other hand, there's a tremendously strong pressure to repeat yourself, to do more of that thing we all liked so much. I can't do that - I don't have the enthusiasm to push through projects that seem familiar to me ( - this isn't so much a question of artistic nobility or high ideals: I just get too bloody bored), but at the same time I do feel guilt for 'deserting my audience' by not doing the things they apparently wanted. I'd rather not feel this guilt, actually, so I avoid finding out about situations that could cause it. The problem is that people nearly always prefer what I was doing a few years earlier - this has always been true. The other problem is that so, often, do I! Discovering things is clumsy and sporadic, and the results don't at first compare well with the glossy and lauded works of the past. You have to keep reminding yourself that they went through that as well, otherwise they become frighteningly accomplished. That's another problem with being made to think about your own past - you forget its genesis and start to feel useless awe towards your earlier self: "How did I do it? Wherever did these ideas come from?". Now, the workaday everyday now, always looks relatively less glamorous than the rose-tinted then (except for those magic hours when your finger is right on the pulse, and those times only happen when you've abandoned the lifeline of your own history)."
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#123Thanks PG.
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#124"Technology trains leave the station at regular intervals"
mean?
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#125Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#126Working on a site web2.0fuckedcompany.com if you want to help....
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#127Great Article... Working on a site web2.0fuckedcompany.com if you want to help....
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#128Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#129We're certainly planning on your main thrust to be true with our new platform. To that point - here's our latest blog post: http://tinyurl.com/6blrvl
Potential investors welcome!
Re: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Technology doesn't evolve independently of a market for it. While "make something people want" is true in any economy, the problem is that what people want changes with the state of the economy. So startup founders need to reassess the market for their products (building iPods or building pacemakers?), and I'd guess many will decide this is not the right economy for their startups, and some will now discover new oppo…
I've often thought that the mantra make something people want should be amended to make something people want to pay for . It's an important distinction. It's the difference between Richard Stallman and Steve Jobs, between Linus Torvalds and Bill Gates. I have great respect for all of those individuals, but I don't look to Stallman or Torvalds for business inspiration. I don't doubt that all YC companies have made so…