The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones • Hacker News Board

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#21

Post by hef19898 » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 3:09 PM UTC

The OP discribes what is one of the more crucial skills needed in critical sicumstances: take yourself out of the quotation, take a step back and decide after having seen the whole picture and not just a smal aspect of it that fits your personal preferences best. And then doing it, especially if it's just one big shlep.

What is actually the most dangerous thing to happen, simply because it's so convenient, is that by doing what you can do best all the time keeps you busy, in your eyes and the eyes of others. So when you fail, it was not because you didn't do anything. You're creating your own bubble.

That's why it's better to have a co-founder who is not a carboncopy of yourself and to have a not-awfully-bad board, because both can help to pop that bubble before it is too late.

Very sound advice, and not only for start-ups / founders but for everybody who has a certain responsibility.

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#22

Post by psycho » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 4:11 PM UTC

I think that working outside comfort zone is not necessarily doing the stuff you don't like. You should do the stuff you like and the stuff you're good at - going out of the comfort zone is trying to break working routine and finding new solutions for old problems, it's, in fact, changing the state of mind and constantly learing new things about stuff you like and stuff you're good at.

Of course, there's still need for objective look and understanding of what should be done first. I guess, balanced team of technical and non-technical cofounders should be the way to have it.

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#23

Post by andreasklinger » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 4:13 PM UTC

psycho wrote: post #22

I think that working outside comfort zone is not necessarily doing the stuff you don't like. You should do the stuff you like and the stuff you're good at - going out of the comfort zone is trying to break working routine and finding new solutions for old problems, it's, in fact, changing the state of mind and constantly learing new things about stuff you like and stuff you're good at. Of course, there's still need f…

100% agree.

But i know know too many people who take the "this is the job of my co-founder" route as excuse for not caring of the (currently) more important things.

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#24

Post by lnanek2 » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 5:10 PM UTC

Very true. It's always funny seeing someone super busy and rushed...because they are taking fun classes they don't actually need to land the business deals the company needs, etc.. Even easier for coders, though, I suppose, to just go do one more feature or tweak or whatever. People go on for years that way sometimes, just to find out they wrote something no one will use.

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#25

Post by 3minus1 » Mon, Nov 26, 2012, 6:09 PM UTC

andreasklinger wrote: post #2

Guys - OP here. I know the article sounds like blunt rant but it's a topic very dear to me as i regularly mentor startups. Many of them hide in the mentioned patterns. If you know good articles / links on how to prioritise your work and assess missing skills in your founding team please be so kind and share them here. I will add them to the article afterwards. Thanks!

Hey, I like your article! I do feel like you're highlighting things that are just generally true of human nature. People tend to delude themselves about their intentions, are unrealistic about their stated goals, etc.

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#26

Post by adamlieb » Tue, Nov 27, 2012, 6:27 PM UTC

Great article. When I speak to students about becoming entrepreneurs, the one thing they seem to gravitate toward the most, is the notion that you get to do what you want, and nobody makes you do things you don't want to do. It is fairly astute, because bad founders do live in that world. It is one of the first myths I dispel (after getting rich quick, and flexible hours). It is hard to make yourself do things you don't want to do, but it is the life of a founder. It takes a lot more discipline to make yourself do the "tough things" than it is to have someone tell you to do them.

Re: The Founder's Lie About Comfort Zones

#27

Post by yparesh » Sat, Dec 01, 2012, 9:27 PM UTC

You are right on about even most good people will do this "...fill their time with what they love to do if you let them". That is what separates great people from good people. How to go from good to great in this matter? Be observant of ones own self, extremely hard. As the saying goes "The eyes that can see the whole world can't see themselves without help of a mirror." If that is hard, go find a great mentor who will act as a mirror and help us see what we do as compared to what we need to do.