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I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

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Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#91

Post by a5seo »

bartonfink wrote: post #43
andrewljohnson wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A start-up changes a person in the same way a war does - trauma, triumph, battle, and blood. If you aren't changed after you start up, it probably wasn't your first time.

That's just insane. People working on start-ups do not, as a matter of course, risk their lives in the same way soldiers in a war do. I'd challenge you to point to anyone doing a tech startup who has lost a limb due to an IED. A start-up may very well change a person more than spending the same time at a job would, but to compare it to going through war shows an incredible amount of naivety about how horrible war act…

It's not as extreme as something life-threatening like war or cancer, but it's a lot of stress to endure for an extended period.

And the stakes are pretty high: lose lots of money and possibly your spouse divorces you.

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#92

Post by veesahni »

I quit my job 9 months ago with similar goals - I want to build products that people love. I want to build a company that I can be proud of. I went through a short period of excitement to a period of shock. I've since hit my groove and am now growing my first product. It's been quite the roller coaster.

Stay focussed. Give yourself small goals and take it one day at a time. You'll come out of this a changed man. Good luck!

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#93

Post by dbecker »

robomartin wrote: post #50
edw519 wrote: post #14

The good news: If you think you've done the right thing, then you have. Congratulations! The other news: - Your runway is probably 50% of what you think it is. - Your task is probably 200% of what you think it is. - It will take 200% of what you expect to get your first customer. - Your wife will get scared before you do. - Some customers will take forever to pay. - You'll probably have to backtrack on your design /…

And, when you finally succeed, some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. That your success isn't due to having worked hard (because there are tons of people that work hard) or because you are smart (because lots of people are smart). No, you had nothing to do with building a successful business despite your sacrifices, risk, uncertainty, sleepless nights, good and bad decisions, family…

And this is how a topical thread about startups gets derailed into unproductive political bickering.

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#94

Post by ktizo »

anamax wrote: post #62
petercooper wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would actually say that? Sounds like you've had some experience of this. A lot of conservatives misinterpreted something Obama said as meaning much of what you've said, even though if one reads the entire paragraph, the "that" in his sentence was infrastructure such as the Internet, roads and bridges.

Not so fast. No one questions that other people built roads etc. (Govt didn't provide the resources - it only collected them.) The only way that Obama's comment is not a non sequitur is if he meant more than that, that people who "built" were treated differently than the people who didn't wrt those resources. I get that you think that Obama should be given the benefit of the doubt, but don't other people get that sam…

I have no idea whether or not mental outlook has that effect but we're damning a US senate candidate who said that it did.

I don't think that was quite what he said, if you are referring to Tod Akin.

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#96

Post by suren »

untog wrote: post #20
edw519 wrote: post #14

The good news: If you think you've done the right thing, then you have. Congratulations! The other news: - Your runway is probably 50% of what you think it is. - Your task is probably 200% of what you think it is. - It will take 200% of what you expect to get your first customer. - Your wife will get scared before you do. - Some customers will take forever to pay. - You'll probably have to backtrack on your design /…

I was with you until: In a year, you won't be who you are now. Unless you mean "you will be the wrecked shell of the person you once were", I don't think that making a startup actually changes who you are. We glamorize it, but a lot of people set up their own business every day and don't change a bit.

To the contrary, I think startup experiences brings profound changes in the way you live. At least that happened to me in the following ways

1. Your free time is limited. You try to make the most of it. Something like work hard and play harder

2. Your emotions go through a sine curve. You can deal with stress better than most others. That could also mean you get numb to common day problems. You stop working yourself up for small issues. And on the other extreme, you start to think anything is possible if you start applying yourself. Almost everything looks like an optimization problem with 2 or 3 variables.

3. You can no longer say things like "Oh, I don't do that, a sales/PR/designer person does that". You get to do other stuff and realize you might like doing them too.

4. People fail you or you fail people - deals don't go through, you miss dinners/meetups etc etc. It hurts you in the beginning but you get used to that.

May be most of it applies only to young startup people like myself but I sure did learn and change a lot over my time at startups.

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#97

Post by guiomie »

robomartin wrote: post #79
ktizo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some asshole will tell you that you didn't actually build your business. I though the whole thing was very similar to Carl Sagan's comment - If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - and I never thought that Carl Sagan was having a go at bakers.

Right. The difference is that Carl Sagan didn't use such comments to instigate and exploit class warfare and divide a country. Carl Sagan didn't use such statements to brainwash the masses for personal gain. Carl Sagan didn't use that statement to mean that a successful baker, today, owes their success to the creation of the universe. We operate within the reality that we happen to live within at the time of our live…

"Did the engineers in the 1940's owe the development of the transistor to the roads, sewers and other services government managed for us? Of course not."

Of course yes. Government makes sure we have good life conditions. If you have a government that takes decent care of its people, then those people will strive and innovate, instead of surviving.

If government is so bad around here, move to Somalia. Come tell us how much you think a government that doesn't invest in its people is great for innovation.

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#98

Post by javert »

ktizo wrote: post #82
javert wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a lie. The "that" is business. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. I just looked up the speech.

Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. I just looked up the speech as well. The 'that' would seem to be referring to the 'somebody' who built infrastructure. You could read it the other way I suppose, but only if you thought it was a se…

As I said, I looked up the speech (again - just to make sure - as I had already looked it up before), and taken in full context, I think me means that if you have a business, you didn't build that business.

His actual, broader point is that you can't take credit for building a business or claim to own it or deserve its profits, because you built upon a foundation of capital, infrastructure, and knowledge that was there before you.

This is a common viewpoint on the egalitarian Left, where Obama has his roots, and which he clearly still represents.

To interpret his comment any other way than I did, is to ignore the broader ideological context.

But even not ignoring that ideological context, it's a huge stretch to claim that he meant "those" when he said "that," or to claim that he meant something else, other than what he said.

Lots of people in the media have been outright dishonest about this (John Stewart comes to mind - he had a pretty ridiculous segment on this).

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#99

Post by ktizo »

guiomie wrote: post #97
robomartin wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. The difference is that Carl Sagan didn't use such comments to instigate and exploit class warfare and divide a country. Carl Sagan didn't use such statements to brainwash the masses for personal gain. Carl Sagan didn't use that statement to mean that a successful baker, today, owes their success to the creation of the universe. We operate within the reality that we happen to live within at the time of our live…

"Did the engineers in the 1940's owe the development of the transistor to the roads, sewers and other services government managed for us? Of course not." Of course yes. Government makes sure we have good life conditions. If you have a government that takes decent care of its people, then those people will strive and innovate, instead of surviving. If government is so bad around here, move to Somalia. Come tell us how…

I am reminded strongly of ... "What have the Romans ever done for us?" ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

Re: I did the scariest thing I can imagine: I resigned

#100

Post by ktizo »

javert wrote: post #98
ktizo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. I just looked up the speech as well. The 'that' would seem to be referring to the 'somebody' who built infrastructure. You could read it the other way I suppose, but only if you thought it was a se…

As I said, I looked up the speech (again - just to make sure - as I had already looked it up before), and taken in full context, I think me means that if you have a business, you didn't build that business. His actual, broader point is that you can't take credit for building a business or claim to own it or deserve its profits, because you built upon a foundation of capital, infrastructure, and knowledge that was the…

To interpret his comment any other way than I did, is to ignore the broader ideological context.

Is more to ignore the rest of the speech. He goes on to say - "The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together." - which doesn't sound as though he is claiming that you can't take credit for building a business, just that you can't take all the credit.

Now, I am no fan of Obama (Or roughly 90% of politicians, for that matter), but to try and make out that he was claiming that no-one can take credit for their business, when he clearly states that success comes from individual initiative, is disingenuous at best.

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