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I am done. I give up

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I am done. I give up

#131

Post by _just7_ »

jacquesm wrote: post #94
simple-thoughts wrote: post #84

First of all, you are not alone. Most people who try to become entrepreneurs do not succeed. Thankfully, you are self aware and willing to face the facts of your reality. A lot of people will say that success in entrepreneurship is primarily driven by luck. But what they leave out is that it’s input luck, not output luck. Inputs like a “small” $10k gift from a family member. Clean water and high nutrition during chil…

> But what they leave out is that it’s input luck, not output luck. Inputs like a “small” $10k gift from a family member. Clean water and high nutrition during childhood that lead to above average intelligence. Literacy, citizenship, family wealth, and more. Hm, no, even if all of those things are equal the expected outcome is still failure. Your comparison works on the world stage but say within the population of a…

I will add that it's only about luck if your entering a certain kind of industry, where your succes is dependent on popularity.

If for example you start lumber company selling timber wood, the only thing you need to have an edge is to undercut the market with 5% on price. Of cause you won't get rich quick or maybe even slow, but it's a tried and tested strategy. Before starting a business you should ask yourself is my business luck depend, or is my success guaranteed as long as I undercut the competition on price or quality.

Re: I am done. I give up

#132

Post by ht85 »

_448 wrote: post #119
jurmous wrote: post #10

A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…

> A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. This is not true! I have seen successful business built from scratch by people who had no connections, no money and no privileged background (and no VC money). And I will say this for sure, i…

Completely agree. Am on my 3rd company, all of them have reached profitability fairly easily.

If you don't want to rely on luck, you have to work from the bottom. The VC, top down approach is very risky indeed, but a different game exists.

Finding people who have problems that could be solved through better software is not hard. Listen to them. Make their life easier. Generalize, improve, start selling to other people who have the same issues. Spot opportunities related to your market, your tech, your customers.

There is a ton of demand, especially at small/local scale. If you are efficient, a moderate amount of upfront work can provide ton of value to countless people. They will gladly pay for it, especially if they feel listened to.

Re: I am done. I give up

#133

Post by kubb »

jurmous wrote: post #10

A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…

One of the privileges people don't often think about is being able to afford to fail.

If you don't risk destitution after your startup fails, you can try and fail many times, learn and try again.

It's like continuously rolling two dice, and you only need to get double sixes once, and after that it's private jets until you die.

One of the many reasons the rich get richer and the poor, well you know how it goes.

Re: I am done. I give up

#134

Post by thom »

For what it’s worth, your next venture will be more successful (and your mental health much better) if you turned off all social media and stopped comparing yourself to other entrepreneurs. It seems like what you’re seeking is acceptance and recognition more than business success. That’s fine and entirely human, but as you’ve discovered it’s an incredibly precarious pursuit. It’s not just business, you might start a family and see all the happy, positive posts by other parents which are also often lies. You have to find a way to be enough for yourself.

The good news is, while it’s very hard to settle on the magic formula that gets you lots of followers and subscribers to your brand as an entrepreneur, actual entrepreneurship is quite straightforward if you are able to separate it from your identity. It does take perseverance because it’s a stochastic thing. But customers will tell you what pains them far more directly than someone could explain how to become a public figure. Forget about getting into the club. Concentrate on customers. Expect failure but don’t compare it to other people’s heavily curated success.

Re: I am done. I give up

#135

Post by welder »

First, take care of yourself, then think about entrepreneurship.

I'm reminded of the pinned tweet from the Nomad List entrepreneur[0]:

> Only 4 out of 70+ projects I ever did made money and grew

> Over 95% of everything I ever did failed

> My hit rate is only about ~5%

> So...ship more

[0] https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1457315274466594817

Re: I am done. I give up

#136

Post by jsemrau »

Take some time off. Spend time doing something else. Clear your mind. This year specifically is the Big Suck. I always have to laugh when people say it was so easy to raise funds in 2020/2021 and no DD was done. Maybe if you have the right network at the right time with the right product. I..e, all stars are aligned. But for the 99.99% this is not true.

Re: I am done. I give up

#137

Post by hunglee2 »

One of the most important things I've learned on the entrepreneur / solopreneur journey is that realistic expectation of failure is an important part of eventual success. That is launching ideas not because you are convinced that it will succeed or fearful that they will fail but with the mindset that no matter how great the idea, failure is a possible and even likely outcome. If you can cultivate a mindset of failure / feedback / iterate, you will increase your chances of eventual chances at something, not always the original idea.

Agree on the insta-influencers tho, we need to see beyond this and understand that for these folks the brand / lifestyle is actually the product.

Re: I am done. I give up

#138

Post by WA »

jacquesm wrote: post #77
saalweachter wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an engineer at a successful startup. We grew, we went bankrupt, we laid off most the company, the founders kicked in enough to keep us going and we restructured to give the remaining people larger shares. We became profitable and finally sold to another company. My payday was about $70k, which was a nice bonus, I was happy to get it. I moved on to big tech. The company withered away, the company that bought it…

That sucks. I know quite a few stories like that. I'm more active as an investor these days than as an entrepreneur, the projects I still run are more for fun than for income (or even potential income) and I can't tell you how happy I am that that pressure has abated somewhat. It's annoying that even the successes tend to screw over the employees and more often than not the founders as well. Typical dilution by the t…

Do opportunities like these still exist?

Re: I am done. I give up

#139

Post by gadders »

I always like this comment:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15659076

"Entrepreneurship is like one of those carnival games where you throw darts or something.

Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to riches! The American Dream lives on.

Rich kids can afford many throws. If they want to, they can try over and over and over again until they hit something and feel good about themselves. Some keep going until they hit the center bullseye, then they give speeches or write blog posts about "meritocracy" and the salutary effects of hard work.

Poor kids aren't visiting the carnival. They're the ones working it."

Re: I am done. I give up

#140

Post by jacquesm »

jwr wrote: post #122
jacquesm wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with a life style business to begin with, the negative stigma is there only because certain VCs feel that you are a horrible person for not cutting them in on the action so they can diversify their portfolios.

This . I really dislike the term "lifestyle business". What's wrong with a stable long-term business that makes founders and customers happy? Why does every business need GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH at all costs, even if the result is a net negative for customers? I sometimes explain to customers that if my business were VC-funded, it would grow and be developed much faster, but in the end there would need to be an exit and…

I've been more than happy to invest in a few of these 'lifestyle' businesses as angel investor. One of them is quite possibly going to be a breakout success anyway. We're all still amazed by it. Not a dollar of external capital beyond the friends-and-family round.
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