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OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

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Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#41

Post by portLAN »

SwellJoe wrote: post #40
portLAN wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC is a known strategy. If someone is suggesting an alternative approach, details would be useful. "You can do it too!" works better when they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.

'"You can do it too!" works better when they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.' I didn't think I needed to do so, since I assumed everybody here has read all of pg's essays, seen Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start, and read a few other useful books about startups. While everybody who's built a business (I'm on my second) has at least a few things to teach others in the sa…

> I respond to posts here with specific advice whenever there's a question I feel qualified to answer.

You haven't explained how your start-up succeeded without YC.

> seen Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start

I hope you're kidding about that.

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#42

Post by nostrademons »

portLAN wrote: post #36
JMiao wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's trying to be helpful and encouraging, which I'm sure many appreciate.

YC is a known strategy. If someone is suggesting an alternative approach, details would be useful. "You can do it too!" works better when they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.

A few alternate strategies, some taken from books I've read, others from people I know:

Build a prototype - of anything, really, as long as it's impressive. Show it to industry contacts. Have them tell you "this is interesting, but it's not really what we need right now. However, if you could solve this problem for us, we'd pay you money for it." Get them to pay up-front to fund development. Build the product with their money. Sell product to other customers. Reinvest the profits. (my day job, also Sun Microsystems and Franz Inc.)

Find a group of passionate enthusiasts. Write software for them, and charge money for it. Partner with a business that benefits from what you're doing. Always look for underserved markets, and then opportunistically go after them with cheap products. Iterate quickly. Take over the world. (Microsoft)

Build website. Convince friends to join. Serendipitously discover that friends tell all their friends about it. Overload servers. Charge money for premium features to keep servers running. Make modest profit off of it. (LiveJournal, Flickr).

Same as above, but provide ways for people to make money off your product (selling services to each other, for example). Take a cut of their revenues. (EBay, PayPal, Second Life, Microsoft).

Get people laid. Profit. (HotOrNot, PlentyOfFish)

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#43

Post by portLAN »

nostrademons wrote: post #42
portLAN wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC is a known strategy. If someone is suggesting an alternative approach, details would be useful. "You can do it too!" works better when they aren't telling you to pursue a different strategy than they did with no specifics.

A few alternate strategies, some taken from books I've read, others from people I know: Build a prototype - of anything, really, as long as it's impressive. Show it to industry contacts. Have them tell you "this is interesting, but it's not really what we need right now. However, if you could solve this problem for us, we'd pay you money for it." Get them to pay up-front to fund development. Build the product with th…

> Show it to industry contacts.

You need industry contacts first. Suggestions?

> Take over the world. (Microsoft)

"Left as an exercise for the reader."

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#44

Post by nostrademons »

portLAN wrote: post #43
nostrademons wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few alternate strategies, some taken from books I've read, others from people I know: Build a prototype - of anything, really, as long as it's impressive. Show it to industry contacts. Have them tell you "this is interesting, but it's not really what we need right now. However, if you could solve this problem for us, we'd pay you money for it." Get them to pay up-front to fund development. Build the product with th…

> Show it to industry contacts. You need industry contacts first. Suggestions? > Take over the world. (Microsoft) "Left as an exercise for the reader."

"You need industry contacts first. Suggestions?"

Work. Go to trade shows. Hang out on Internet forums with people in your target market. Make friends with folks.

It doesn't work so well for me, because I'm 2 years out of college and not in a particularly client-facing job. However, the OP is 36 and in a big company. You ought to have some sort of professional contacts by then, right?

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#45

Post by sanj »

nostrademons wrote: post #20
staunch wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#9. Family to support http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html

Though he did say "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm saying that I don't want to take responsibility for advising it." PG is wrong when he says "You'll never found the next Google this way", though. IBM was founded by someone who had a wife and kid to support, and had just been convicted of antitrust violations, fired, and had a 1-year jail sentence hanging over his head (later reversed on appeal). You do need to b…

"try lots of stuff until I build something useful, then try to get lots of users, then figure out how to monetize it"

Seriously, would you consider business with anyone who worked like that? Stumbling around blindly for an idea, followed by hoping that you'll generate a set of expenses, and then finally hoping that you'll be able to earn revenues.

I worry more about you than the bloke with the family to support.

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#46

Post by alex_c »

nostrademons wrote: post #20
staunch wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#9. Family to support http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html

Though he did say "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm saying that I don't want to take responsibility for advising it." PG is wrong when he says "You'll never found the next Google this way", though. IBM was founded by someone who had a wife and kid to support, and had just been convicted of antitrust violations, fired, and had a 1-year jail sentence hanging over his head (later reversed on appeal). You do need to b…

In the "what does success mean to you" thread I was going to jokingly comment that success is when you successfully defend your first antitrust trial.

Just saying, there's such a big difference between "had been convicted of antitrust violations" and "leaving 9-to-5 cubicle land" that the wife and kid are practically irrelevant to the comparison.

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#47

Post by nostrademons »

sanj wrote: post #45
nostrademons wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though he did say "I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm saying that I don't want to take responsibility for advising it." PG is wrong when he says "You'll never found the next Google this way", though. IBM was founded by someone who had a wife and kid to support, and had just been convicted of antitrust violations, fired, and had a 1-year jail sentence hanging over his head (later reversed on appeal). You do need to b…

"try lots of stuff until I build something useful, then try to get lots of users, then figure out how to monetize it" Seriously, would you consider business with anyone who worked like that? Stumbling around blindly for an idea, followed by hoping that you'll generate a set of expenses, and then finally hoping that you'll be able to earn revenues. I worry more about you than the bloke with the family to support.

Consumer web. People don't visit websites based on who developed them. They visit them because they want to.

It's often difficult or impossible to figure out what consumers want, other than putting lots of ideas in front of them. Usually if you ask them, their responses will be wildly different from what they actually do. (I maintained that Reddit was a failure long after I started using it on a regular basis, and did the same with LiveJournal.)

It's not a business model that works in every field - in particular, you absolutely don't want to try enterprise applications this way (really, nobody will buy from you if you try it, as you remark). But it does work.

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#48

Post by geebee »

Hey Dude,

I'm 36 too, I have a wife and kid, and I left a boring safe job to work for what I'd describe as a late-stage startup. My wife works a stable job and brings in a better health lan, too. So while I'm not doing something quite as risky as leaving to start my own probject, I do understand the urge to try something a little more thrilling with a higher potential payout.

Truth is, you'd probably be able to get a big boring job again quite easily if you wanted one. The last time I looked for a job, I had two offers within a few weeks and a substantial counteroffer from my (now ex) employer. The market has its ups and downs, sure, but in the end, I doubt it would be all that hard for you to go back to a bigco and blub away if it comes to that. Which I hope it doesn't for you and for me.

It's excellent that you're giving this a try. Good luck. Do you have a blog or anything? Keep us posted!

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#49

Post by far33d »

staunch wrote: post #14
blored wrote: post #5

pg, this is all your fault.

#9. Family to support http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html

The only reason having a family matters is because someone relies on your income. Hopefully, if you've had a job for a while, you have enough cash built up to live for a year or so.

That means you have a year to either:

1) quit the startup and get a job.

2) get some VC funding or enough revenue to live on.

Plus, big company boring jobs are always there for the taking...

Re: OK, you've convinced me. I'm coming to join you.

#50

Post by jsjenkins168 »

Congratulations on your decision. I know what you are going through, I did the exact same thing 2 weeks ago. Full time startup starts for me in just 2 days, I cant wait.

I'm sure you know this, but make sure your company is cool with you starting your project right now. Mainly, that you are not under any IP agreements. The worse thing would be if your company catches wind of your work and decides that they want to "own" it.

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