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Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

deepsouthventures.com

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Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#101

Post by heyoni »

aftbit wrote: post #97
grecy wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but also good health insurance. I'm always amazed how blatantly clear it is that having health insurance tied to employment specifically discourages this kind of entrepreneurship, and the ability to "strike out on your own". Literally handcuffs keeping people at their jobs.

Alright here are three health care reforms that we could implement without going all the way to Universal Health Care: 1. Anyone who pays cash for a procedure should pay a price that is no more than the lowest price that any insurance company has negotiated for the same service. 2. Anyone who buys a health care plan from the marketplace should get a price that is no more than 10% higher than the cheapest negotiated p…

Is that universal healthcare with extra steps? Almost, but on a serious note, why not go all the way with universality?

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#102

Post by [deleted] »

tredigi wrote: post #70
leetrout wrote: post #4

> I didn’t raise any money for these projects. I funded them with my 9-5 salary. Solo. And the reason for that was simple – why on earth would I vehemently abandon boneheaded micro-managing layoff kings in the 9-5 world only to raise money & adopt a board of boneheaded micro-managing layoff kings in the startup world. If I’m gonna build, I’m gonna have free-rein decision making to pursue any and all ludicrous busines…

I respect the part of diving in to build something on your own. I don't respect what he actually built. Leeching off others' work and while doing it blasting out ads which ended up being the first wave of making browsing unpleasant in the early 2000s. Without any actual contributions. And that then paired with "I didn't know how to code, and I hated reading." It's this attitude that software engineering is somehow wh…

[deleted]

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#103

Post by jhawleypeters »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #75
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #52

For me, I found out that us “olds” are not exactly loved (actively hated, more like), and gave up looking for work, after being laid off from one of the top imaging corporations in the world. Pissed me off, something fierce, being treated that way (especially as I figured out it was being supported from the C-Suite). However, I have since realized that it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I enjoy…

I quit a company that was showing all the signs of trying to get rid of its senior developers so a couple of us jumped ship before the inevitable layoff. I went straight into another place that the recruiter said "preferred to hire more seasoned engineers." In my 5 years there I only remember two engineers that were under 30. Median age probably hovered around 50. There are outfits that realize that you get better wi…

Assuming the pool of engineers is growing exponentially, I’d expect a very small population of seasoned engineers.

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#104

Post by leetrout »

martin_drapeau wrote: post #61
leetrout wrote: post #4

> I didn’t raise any money for these projects. I funded them with my 9-5 salary. Solo. And the reason for that was simple – why on earth would I vehemently abandon boneheaded micro-managing layoff kings in the 9-5 world only to raise money & adopt a board of boneheaded micro-managing layoff kings in the startup world. If I’m gonna build, I’m gonna have free-rein decision making to pursue any and all ludicrous busines…

Your thread is 9 months old. Do you have a product and a bit of traction? I was in a similar place to you back in 2019. Via side gigs I built a product that served a niche. Eventually, raised 180k with TinySeed (specialized in boostrapping B2B SaaS). Best move ever. Gave me and my cofounder a runway to find product market fit. We're now 8 full time at Activity Messenger and doubling year over year. Have a listen to t…

> Do you have a product and a bit of traction?

No. I spent some of my money while I was employed on contractors but it didn't work out. I am back on my own as of April 1 however I had a medical issue that lasted ~5 weeks with a few bills to go along with it so I am currently contracting to make money to pay those. The unexpected expenses were ~20% of my runway so I didn't feel comfortable just trying to absorb the cost. I also missed out on a conference I intended to attend.

> raised 180k with TinySeed

That is awesome - did you invest all of it in hiring?

> 8 full time at Activity Messenger and doubling year over year

Very impressive! Congrats. Turns out we're in a similar space (as are several dozen other companies, as I am sure you are aware). JackRabbit is one of my customer's most common platforms.

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#105

Post by 6510 »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #81
6510 wrote: post #13

Ah yes, how our cozy internet of sharing was infiltrated and ultimately ruined by people looking to simply earn a living. Bigger players took down smaller ones (ruining things further) until we eventually stopped making websites for them . Earning money was replaced by fiat-like pyramid schemes. The remaining scrap was quickly "copied" into LLM's and soon I'm sure there will be all knowing humanoid robots walking aro…

We take up arms against a sea of robots. And, by opposing, end them.

And then?

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#106

Post by 6510 »

myth_drannon wrote: post #18
6510 wrote: post #13

Ah yes, how our cozy internet of sharing was infiltrated and ultimately ruined by people looking to simply earn a living. Bigger players took down smaller ones (ruining things further) until we eventually stopped making websites for them . Earning money was replaced by fiat-like pyramid schemes. The remaining scrap was quickly "copied" into LLM's and soon I'm sure there will be all knowing humanoid robots walking aro…

The old and trusted face-to-face human interaction.

And then?

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#107

Post by dinkleberg »

financypants wrote: post #87
tredigi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect the part of diving in to build something on your own. I don't respect what he actually built. Leeching off others' work and while doing it blasting out ads which ended up being the first wave of making browsing unpleasant in the early 2000s. Without any actual contributions. And that then paired with "I didn't know how to code, and I hated reading." It's this attitude that software engineering is somehow wh…

But isn’t software engineering one of the easiest domains to self-learn? I don’t know of any other profession that has such vast amounts of completely free resources online.

The amounts might be vaster than most, but it’s hard to imagine that any profession doesn’t have enough free resources online that can get you into it.

The big difference with software engineering is that you can just do it, similar to writing or design or animation or anything that is just you creating some output. In contrast, even if you learn everything you need to know about being a lawyer online you’ll still need to go to law school and pass the bar.

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#108

Post by shepherdjerred »

codazoda wrote: post #56
Fin_Code wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm right at your starting point. Can basically build anything but committing to an idea is the sticking point. What product would you want to start with today?

Reach out if you want to start a conversation. I'm thinking maybe a Slack for people at this stage. My email address is in my profile.

What would make it different from other messaging platforms?

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#109

Post by aunty_helen »

ilamont wrote: post #71

Had an epiphany like this after an earlier startup project failed, which my cofounder and I had tried to do following the formulaic approaches advocated by various accelerators, investors, and experts (often people with zero experience running a startup, but had been involved as angels after BigCo stock options vested, and then got into mentoring local accelerators). I hated the startup theater, pitching, networking,…

The career accelerator people kill me. Honestly why do I want to hear from someone who's biggest risk was getting a job talking to people taking big risks.

I have a similar startup backstory to this, for my second venture I went fully to the get paid to do your work camp. It's still hard, harder than anything I've ever done, but it's working out.

Re: Being laid off and unplanned entrepreneurship

#110

Post by marcus0x62 »

kovezd wrote: post #99
aftbit wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright here are three health care reforms that we could implement without going all the way to Universal Health Care: 1. Anyone who pays cash for a procedure should pay a price that is no more than the lowest price that any insurance company has negotiated for the same service. 2. Anyone who buys a health care plan from the marketplace should get a price that is no more than 10% higher than the cheapest negotiated p…

Those are fair. But why impose them through regulations? Entrepreneurs see business potential on this arbitrage opportunities.

Well, for starters, two things come to mind:

1. The healthcare and health insurance marketplace is riddled with regulation. There is no such thing as offering a health insurance plan or a healthcare service in the United States absent any regulation. Every existing service is, more or less, imposed via regulation.

2. The current health insurance system dates, in its current form, either to shortly after WWII or to the adoption of the ACA, depending on your perspective. That’s somewhere between 14 and 75 years. Where are the plans you speak of from these entrepreneurs? What are they waiting for, letting all of this sweet, sweet, arbitrage pass them by? Biding their time? Toward what end?

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