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All or something (2009)

37signals.com

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Re: All or something (2009)

#31

Post by nreece »

pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

  A startup is simply a company designed to grow at an exceptionally high rate
Imo, most startups grow organically. Only a few grow at an exceptionally high rate.

Re: All or something (2009)

#32

Post by maratd »

pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

> A startup is simply a company designed to grow at an exceptionally high rate

From the perspective of a VC, I can certainly understand why you believe that. However, not all new businesses are geared toward VCs. I was never interested in outside funding. I am now running my second profitable business. I never once considered rapid growth as something that is even desirable, nevermind something I designed the business around. My goals have always been sustainability and profitability.

There are many, many types of ventures out there, with a very disparate set of goals.

Re: All or something (2009)

#33

Post by tbrownaw »

maratd wrote: post #32
pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

> A startup is simply a company designed to grow at an exceptionally high rate From the perspective of a VC, I can certainly understand why you believe that. However, not all new businesses are geared toward VCs. I was never interested in outside funding. I am now running my second profitable business. I never once considered rapid growth as something that is even desirable, nevermind something I designed the busines…

Not all new businesses are called "startups" either...

Re: All or something (2009)

#34

Post by billybob »

temphn wrote: post #24

The missing part here is that dhh is talented enough that he can date models and drive racecars while running both a multimillion dollar business and one of the world's most important open source projects. Many, perhaps most, aren't talented to that extent or can't context switch to that extent. They can get a lot done, but they have to have singleminded (dareisay "24/7") focus. Moreover, 37Signals is like the boutiq…

"The vacation culture of Europe and the leveraged culture of the US are about to lose out to the thrifty workaholics of China"

Whether the Chinese have a better work ethic than Americans, I don't know. I'm also unclear what you mean by "lose out to." China has a billion more citizens than the U.S. They should be producing more than we are, but at around $5k per capita GDP, they are way behind our $48k per capita GDP. They may work hard, but they produce less, likely because they use manual labor for many of the things we automate.

If they're outcompeting us in the price of exported goods, it's because they're willing to work dirt cheap (by our standards). As they get wealthier, they will have higher standards of living and their production costs will rise. Perhaps ours will have to go lower as well. But I hardly think we want the average American worker to strive for the life of the average Chinese worker today.

You do have a point regarding borrowing vs saving. We westerners tend to live beyond our means, and that is biting us in the butt now.

But again, are we "losing out" to the Chinese because we take more vacation? Exactly what do you think success looks like?

A lot of people would say that working 24/7 to get a yacht but missing your children growing up IS losing out. The reward is not worth the sacrifice. And that's really what the post is about.

Re: All or something (2009)

#35

Post by portman »

pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

Paul,

Now that you're a parent, I'm curious if your opinion has changed (or will change in the coming years).

For example, do you think you could have built ViaWeb if you had had children at that time?

Is it possible to "neglect everything except your work AND your family", and still have the same probability of success a your childless doppleganger, who neglects everything except work?

Re: All or something (2009)

#36

Post by keeptrying »

Doing a statup now.

There is a LOT of work and a LOT of learning. I don't see how I can get to launch without working my tail off.

I think this kind of crap us peddled by startups which happened to succeed because they hit profitability quickly and have cash cows that throw off a lot of cash.

In a startup your going to be doing a lot of stuff you have no clue about - your going to gave to work your ass off in the beginning.

But yes, starting a business is different from "startup". Lots of entrepreneurs dont get that.

Re: All or something (2009)

#37

Post by phuff »

pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

"The fact that this pattern is so old and so widespread suggests that it is not a myth."

Or, I suppose, it could suggest just the opposite -- that it makes it all the more likely to be a myth... At the minimum it suggests that it is something which is worth a good ol' look at the empirical evidence to determine it's truthiness.

I mean, DHH isn't making an empirically testable claim either, but this seems like the kind of thing that in this day and age there ought to be studies about...

Re: All or something (2009)

#38

Post by abstractbill »

maratd wrote: post #32
pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

> A startup is simply a company designed to grow at an exceptionally high rate From the perspective of a VC, I can certainly understand why you believe that. However, not all new businesses are geared toward VCs. I was never interested in outside funding. I am now running my second profitable business. I never once considered rapid growth as something that is even desirable, nevermind something I designed the busines…

I think "startup" has a pretty well established meaning at this point. Whether or not the meaning was hijacked, as claimed, I agree with the article - it would be useful to have a new name for businesses that are not designed to grow as quickly as a VC-funded startup.

Re: All or something (2009)

#39

Post by gmartres »

danko wrote: post #9

This, to me, is the best counterpoint I've read to Michael Arrington's rant from a few months back on how startup folk need to work harder and stop crying. http://uncrunched.com/2011/11/27/startups-are-hard-so-work-m... Arrington is a romantic, and he believes passionately in the romantic mythos of the startup world. That's what drew him to the valley to start TechCrunch in the first place. And that view of the world…

See also jwz reply: http://www.jwz.org/blog/2011/11/watch-a-vc-use-my-name-to-se...

Re: All or something (2009)

#40

Post by [deleted] »

nreece wrote: post #31
pg wrote: post #28

"One of the most pervasive myths of startup life is that it has to be all consuming." This supposed myth long precedes startups. If you look at the outliers in any field, you'll find many if not most are by ordinary people's standards excessively dedicated to their work. Isaac Newton and Michelangelo (to name just two of thousands of examples) were notorious for neglecting everything except their work. The fact that…

A startup is simply a company designed to grow at an exceptionally high rate Imo, most startups grow organically. Only a few grow at an exceptionally high rate.

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