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How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

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Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#31

Post by reason »

jsavimbi wrote: post #25

> I obviously needed to find someone technical to build the website, whether a freelancer or a cofounder. Two jokers drop out of Goldman Sachs after a very short employment stint and hire some kid to build them a Facebook-based link-sharing game that targets emerging artists who have no money on the most garish website I've seen in quite some time and all he gets credited with is Lead Engineer. Not even Mr. Lead Engi…

You have basically speculated the intentions of three people, the relationships they have with one another, and the outcome of their company all from this one line. Pretty impressive. It sounds like you've watched The Social Network one too many times. Constructive criticism would be of much more value.

Further, it seems you are completely ignorant to the contributions that skilled businesspeople can make to a startup, and instead you've opted to succumbing to the played-out stereotype of all finance guys preying on the young, nubile, innocent programmer who just wants to build things and do good for the world.

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#32

Post by icode »

This reminds me of a startup mantra from the 90s: Eat like a fly, poop like an elephant.

So far there is nothing. A website with a music player and a share-on-facebook button. But the blog post sounds like Andy already turned this thing into a billion dollar company and now bows down to the mere mortals to share the wisdom he gathered. On his heroic journy to fame and riches.

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#33

Post by jsavimbi »

reason wrote: post #31
jsavimbi wrote: post #25

> I obviously needed to find someone technical to build the website, whether a freelancer or a cofounder. Two jokers drop out of Goldman Sachs after a very short employment stint and hire some kid to build them a Facebook-based link-sharing game that targets emerging artists who have no money on the most garish website I've seen in quite some time and all he gets credited with is Lead Engineer. Not even Mr. Lead Engi…

You have basically speculated the intentions of three people, the relationships they have with one another, and the outcome of their company all from this one line. Pretty impressive. It sounds like you've watched The Social Network one too many times. Constructive criticism would be of much more value. Further, it seems you are completely ignorant to the contributions that skilled businesspeople can make to a startu…

> Facebook-based link-sharing games are loser projects you need to avoid.

Can I be any more clearer and constructive to a young developer looking to break into the industry?

Okay, maybe I should've added that if you need the money, feel free to do the work but don't go putting your name on it and make sure get paid up front.

I'm not speculating on what intentions the two non-technical people on the team have as when I see one year's worth of work from lightbulb to launch manifested in that weekend project of a poorly conceived website, I already know they have no clue what the next step is and therefore it's a waste of time to even think about it. It's a couple of dudes trying to find unsigned talent through clicks measurements on Facebook.

Didn't see that movie. Was it any good?

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#34

Post by j_s »

PaulHoule wrote: post #21

it's hard to make money on obscure music. one of the seo masterminds of our time tried to build a site that featured new bands. the backlinks were a work of art. i guess it ranked well for a bunch of bands nobody had ever heard of but that doesn't help you when people are searching for "hootie and the blowfish"

Can I follow up with you on your experience (even second-hand) with music promotion? This seems like a key part of any attack on the RIAA's stranglehold on music today.

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#36

Post by antoko »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #30

I am surprised that an ex-finance guy would start this type of company. The music industry is a startup death trap with more than 99% of startups failing. Of all the possible industries to make money, why would someone voluntarily join an industry with declining revenue, nasty lawyers, and a million other competitors?

While I agree with the points you make regarding the industry The OP answers your question in his post - albeit without directly addressing any of your negative points about the industry.

For whatever reason, this video incited a thought about the power of free music and the power of fans as promoters of the music they love. This concept consumed me.

And...

If you are ever consumed by an idea, focus on that idea and see where it takes you. Your obsession with it likely means that it embodies your passions and values.

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#37

Post by tomblomfield »

andyokdj wrote: post #27
Alexandervn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on the title of your post I was assuming to read something like '..and I picked up Ruby on Rails, a few tutorials, and just started coding..' How much technical knowledge did you have before starting this project? And how much did you learn in the process? Doesn't it feel awkward to say you have 'built' it?

I had very rudimentary HTML/CSS knowledge when I first started. Now I'm proficient with HTML/CSS and I'm learning PHP and Javascript through working on the site and studying in my free time. I'd define building as putting pieces together to create something of greater value. I came up with the idea for the site and compiled the team and resources necessary to ship an MVP. Our tech co-founder built the site, our desig…

"I managed this process strategically"

Remind me never to work with ex-bankers

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#38

Post by 286c8cb04bda »

PaulHoule wrote: post #21

it's hard to make money on obscure music. one of the seo masterminds of our time tried to build a site that featured new bands. the backlinks were a work of art. i guess it ranked well for a bunch of bands nobody had ever heard of but that doesn't help you when people are searching for "hootie and the blowfish"

What would I search for if I wanted to know more about this story?

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#39

Post by badclient »

jsavimbi wrote: post #33
reason wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have basically speculated the intentions of three people, the relationships they have with one another, and the outcome of their company all from this one line. Pretty impressive. It sounds like you've watched The Social Network one too many times. Constructive criticism would be of much more value. Further, it seems you are completely ignorant to the contributions that skilled businesspeople can make to a startu…

> Facebook-based link-sharing games are loser projects you need to avoid. Can I be any more clearer and constructive to a young developer looking to break into the industry? Okay, maybe I should've added that if you need the money, feel free to do the work but don't go putting your name on it and make sure get paid up front. I'm not speculating on what intentions the two non-technical people on the team have as when…

Facebook-based link-sharing games are loser projects you need to avoid.

Mark Zuckerberg had a professor at Harvard who tried hard to convince Zuck to stop wasting time on this stupid facebook idea and get more serious about his degree.

Your advice to the developer sounds similar to the advice given to Zuck by his professor.

Re: How I built a startup while working full-time in Finance

#40

Post by lusr »

arscan wrote: post #14
lusr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people underestimate how much you can get done if you commit to at least 1-2 hours during the week EVERY DAY, and at least another 12-16 hours on the weekend. Working during the week is critical, even if it's difficult, simply because it keeps the momentum going and motivation fresh (in my experience of trying it every other way). It's also a deceptive 30-80% additional capacity than what you have merely work…

Sounds good in practice, but I have a real hard time building anything in 1 hour increments. I need a good 3-4 hours scheduled to make solid progress on any of my side projects. I have a feeling others may have the same problem... and PG described this pretty well in his "makers schedule" essay.

I used to believe that too but while 5 blocks of 1 hour each aren't as efficient as 1 block of 5 hours, it's still better than 0 hours.

Today I've managed to get Hadoop set up in pseudo-distributed mode in 1.5 hours on a fresh VM I just installed, while reading a tutorial in the background waiting for stuff to download and install. Tomorrow I'll think more about how I want to convert my crawler prototype from C# over to Ruby on the cluster and read a bit more about how this all works while I wait for code to compile or packages to run at the day job.

Even the 15min I spend eating while at the client are used to think, read and plan my next step or how I will implement something. Same for the drive to/from work. Yup I talk to myself. There's a lot of time in the day when you're supposedly busy that you can get constructive work done.

In the evening I'll start working on getting my first test job to run. At the end of every day it looks like I've made little progress, but at the end of the week I'm certain to be happy with my progress (something I learned from David Burns' "Feeling Good" is to actually test your hypotheses; if you feel you didn't accomplish much, actually test it by listing what you did and you'll be probably be pleasantly surprised).

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