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The side hustle from hell

blog.jacobstechtavern.com

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Re: The side hustle from hell

#51

Post by _DeadFred_ »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

I love this story. Why? Because it is the story of so many startups. I was so perplexed in the mid-90's when the dot com "boom" had started by people who wanted to do a "startup" but had no idea what that meant. Like the author, people with a feeling of Destiny that they would be some leader of something that everyone talked about. I had the same beliefs when I left Sun where clearly I would never be "famous" but by…

Pitch: It's a replacement for Blockbuster. But instead of going and getting instant gratification and getting to watch the movie you want to watch tonight, you create a wishlist and we send you 3 titles off that list (normally the 3 least popular), which may or may not be what you want to watch right now, and add the convenience of injecting the United States Post Office into the process.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#52

Post by lurk2 »

photochemsyn wrote: post #8

Very surprising that well-designed contracts (with well-designed exit clauses among other issues) aren't at the top of the 'ten red flags' list. This isn't just a problem with tech startups - business partners down the ages have been burning each other with flimsy contractual agreements and 'trust me buddy' rationales when questioned about the contracts. This is one of the best use cases for LLMs by the way - they ca…

> This is one of the best use cases for LLMs by the way - they can often explain contracts to you, or find flaws in contracts.

I respectfully disagree. Just hire a lawyer. You don’t want your understanding of your contract colored by the opinions of an LLM. The lawyer carries liability insurance if he gives you bad advice. If you don’t have a few hundred dollars to spend on independent legal advice, you might want to reconsider if you are in a position to be starting a business in the first place. The amount of money you could potentially save is nothing compared to what it could cost you in the future if something goes wrong.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#54

Post by jakey_bakey »

aresant wrote: post #45
Aurornis wrote: post #6

This is the classic dead-end startup story from beginning to end. It checks all the boxes: - 3 non-technical cofounders - Flurry of activity for everything other than acquiring customers - Attempt to outsource development followed by disappointment - Relentless scope creep - Zero go to market plan, just an incessant belief that more features in the app will solve all problems There is also one less obvious point that…

"Flurry of activity for everything other than acquiring customers" In 16 years on HN this is one of the best pieces of startup advice I've seen. Default should be 10% of time on MVP and landing page, 90% on distribution until you smell PMF. Fight violently against any suggestion you invest more heavily in product until somebody is in tears about keeping up with demand for your MVP.

Bingo. Tbh I have done personal projects where I am guilty of this.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#55

Post by mattgreenrocks »

Aurornis wrote: post #6

This is the classic dead-end startup story from beginning to end. It checks all the boxes: - 3 non-technical cofounders - Flurry of activity for everything other than acquiring customers - Attempt to outsource development followed by disappointment - Relentless scope creep - Zero go to market plan, just an incessant belief that more features in the app will solve all problems There is also one less obvious point that…

Excellent analysis.

> Something about the side hustle continues to lure people into thinking it’s a way out, until they burn themselves out and sabotage their day job while doing it.

Side projects are a way to assert control. The siren song is that you can build your own way out of corporate hell and have a shot at growth (be that financial/personal/etc) without needing 10 randos and 3 committee meetings from your company to sign off on a promotion. In that light, I think it is a very reasonable response.

I think it's a symptom of how crappy and ambiguous leveling feels over the long-term. You're told that nothing's definite, just work hard and deliver results, and you'll make it.

Re: The side hustle from hell

#56

Post by jakey_bakey »

joshdavham wrote: post #42
jakey_bakey wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazing analysis. To be fair, I think there were a lot of reasons I was passed for promotion at Deloitte. I can grind like a mofo but am a terrible fit for client-facing roles (AuDHD).

TIL AuDHD = "Autistm + ADHD".

Same, I saw it on Twitter and just wanted to use it :D

Re: The side hustle from hell

#57

Post by jakey_bakey »

joshdavham wrote: post #39

Really cathartic read! Thanks so much for writing this. I really related to parts of this and the red flags you point out are very much the red flags I've also noticed with other startups. I almost feel like this could be "required reading" for some.

I hope @paulg asks me to give this talk at demo day

I can make it funnier!

Re: The side hustle from hell

#58

Post by praptak »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

I love this story. Why? Because it is the story of so many startups. I was so perplexed in the mid-90's when the dot com "boom" had started by people who wanted to do a "startup" but had no idea what that meant. Like the author, people with a feeling of Destiny that they would be some leader of something that everyone talked about. I had the same beliefs when I left Sun where clearly I would never be "famous" but by…

A million monkeys with a million typewrites will statistically have one lucky monkey who creates an extremely successful product which also looks very dumb and very unconvincing ("Srsly? You want to make money from random people hosting strangers in their own rooms?" Bang, AirBnB)

The problem is selection bias. A startup is 3 monkeys tops, so the chances of that are appropriately low and if the product looks dumb and unconvincing, it probably is ("...but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.")

Re: The side hustle from hell

#59

Post by mattgreenrocks »

zelda420 wrote: post #14
Aurornis wrote: post #6

This is the classic dead-end startup story from beginning to end. It checks all the boxes: - 3 non-technical cofounders - Flurry of activity for everything other than acquiring customers - Attempt to outsource development followed by disappointment - Relentless scope creep - Zero go to market plan, just an incessant belief that more features in the app will solve all problems There is also one less obvious point that…

Throughout my long career in the tech industry, from established giants like Oracle to a hyper-growth pre-IPO Airbnb, I've observed a consistent pattern: engineers rarely advance more than one level above their initial hiring position, regardless of their performance or tenure. The only exception were juniors who could rise to a senior. But senior to staff, or whatever you want to call it is almost unheard of unless…

It's a professional version of "a prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives."

Familiarity begets being taken for granted, and undervaluation, which hurts one's promotion case.

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