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A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

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Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#41

Post by mattlondon »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #36
JohnFen wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's also a false dichotomy. There are many options aside from those two.

It can look like a false dichotomy because we are posting short blurbs on the internet, not the pros/cons of a thousand different life stories so we can categorize them into a dozen possible outcomes so we have more than two examples. But it is very much a common theme in High Earning/Low Success Rate roles, to have a lot of people shoot for them, fall short, and be in a worse position than if they had studied and st…

Yep - one could say that "a relatively small amount of force applied in just the right place" is enough for people to make bona fide bad decisions both career-wise and financially by chasing unrealistic dreams that have ultimately done them a huge disservice.

At best they can dust themselves off after a few years and "catch up" to where their potential should have been, at worst they are financially ruined and laden with debt as they tried to boot-strap their crap startup idea while PG et al laugh all the way to the bank at these poor impressionable people's expense.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#42

Post by tom-_- »

sonicshadow wrote: post #7

> If Bell Labs’ scientists invented the transistor, the laser, Unix, information theory, etc, then YC’s “economic research scientists” invented OpenAI, Stripe, AirBnB, Instacart, Doordash, Dropbox, Reddit, and many more. Interesting, comparing core scientific research and output by Bell Labs to just techi-ifying existing industries and not really adding much new value (other than OpenAI).

I think people are reading this line the wrong way. The author isn't implying Instacart is as important as the transistor, that would be ludicrous.

He's simply drawing an analogy between the output of laboratories like Bell Labs that produce breakthrough scientic research and "economic labs" like YC that produce breakthrough businesses.

Yes, AirBNB, Instacart etc are breakthrough businesses in the sense that they disrupted long-standing and deeply entrenched business models. The ideas themselves are not extraordinary but building and scaling a business from zero often against much better financed competitors is no easy feat and takes a unique amount of persistence (and often good timing) to succeed.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#43

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

anileated wrote: post #28
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

I can’t because I need money to survive, and this will not provide that money for months until the thing is written, deployed, and has an established enough paying user base… And good luck me not getting seriously ill or get affected by whatever calamity in meantime!

Fwiw my web app costs like $80/mo in hosting fees, and could be done for even less. I forget how much we paid to register our company but it wasn't much. The startup costs aren't that much, it's mostly time.

I wouldn't be so optimistic on a few months to start generating cash tho unless it's a simple yet novel idea.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#44

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

JohnFen wrote: post #17
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

Yes! If your goal isn't to build a kind of empire or to shoot for unimaginable riches, but instead to start a solid small business that lets you do the sort of work you enjoy and provides enough income to live in your preferred style, then it's never been easier than it is today. All you really need is to find a niche that has a small market. How small is OK depends a lot on the specifics of a business, but if we're…

My app is attracting a lot of Australians. It was built for US and Canada but I won't say no to AUD.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#45

Post by Domenic_S »

tiedieconderoga wrote: post #40
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

Simple: capex and economies of scale. Suppose that I have an idea for a widget which market research indicates could sell for $20/, but probably not $50/. I can hit the $50/ target with small contract runs, which would cost about as much as a down payment on a house. Or I can make it in volume for less than $10/, but I need a large minimum order, space, equipment, logistics. Now we're looking at 7-8 figures. If you a…

If you're really sure, you do that first run and lose money, then show a bank/investor the explosive popularity and get money for manufacturing at scale. Relatively speaking it's close to the easiest type of funding you can get.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#46

Post by brigadier132 »

tiedieconderoga wrote: post #40
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

Simple: capex and economies of scale. Suppose that I have an idea for a widget which market research indicates could sell for $20/, but probably not $50/. I can hit the $50/ target with small contract runs, which would cost about as much as a down payment on a house. Or I can make it in volume for less than $10/, but I need a large minimum order, space, equipment, logistics. Now we're looking at 7-8 figures. If you a…

> I can hit the $50/ target with small contract runs, which would cost about as much as a down payment on a house.

I wasn't thinking of this from the perspective of a hardware startup but a software startup which doesn't require either of those things. I should qualify my original post with that. You don't need to be independently wealthy to launch a software business on your own provided you have the ability to build it yourself.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#47

Post by FrustratedMonky »

mattlondon wrote: post #41
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can look like a false dichotomy because we are posting short blurbs on the internet, not the pros/cons of a thousand different life stories so we can categorize them into a dozen possible outcomes so we have more than two examples. But it is very much a common theme in High Earning/Low Success Rate roles, to have a lot of people shoot for them, fall short, and be in a worse position than if they had studied and st…

Yep - one could say that "a relatively small amount of force applied in just the right place" is enough for people to make bona fide bad decisions both career-wise and financially by chasing unrealistic dreams that have ultimately done them a huge disservice. At best they can dust themselves off after a few years and "catch up" to where their potential should have been, at worst they are financially ruined and laden…

LOL. Yeah, like my friend gently nudged me to do some meth, now I'm living in a ditch.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#48

Post by imilk »

anileated wrote: post #28
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

I can’t because I need money to survive, and this will not provide that money for months until the thing is written, deployed, and has an established enough paying user base… And good luck me not getting seriously ill or get affected by whatever calamity in meantime!

If you have the ability to program you can find time around your day job to make a little progress each day until you have something ready to market. Because it just sounds like you're lazy and are throwing up random excuses.

Re: A relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place

#49

Post by garrickvanburen »

anileated wrote: post #28
brigadier132 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need investment? If you can build it on your own and there is a real niche with people willing to pay money for what you build then you can make a lot of money as an individual.

I can’t because I need money to survive, and this will not provide that money for months until the thing is written, deployed, and has an established enough paying user base… And good luck me not getting seriously ill or get affected by whatever calamity in meantime!

have you considered that some people would pay you up-front to build this because they need it so badly?
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