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Now is the time to do a startup

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Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#41

Post by johnrob »

Crowd dynamics is a factor missing from the list. In my opinion, the best time to do a startup is when few others are doing them. I actually think now is relatively bad, because pretty much every endeavor has become difficult due to competition: hiring, paying rent (in silicon valley), getting users, getting press, etc etc.

I agree that a lot of the grunt work has been streamlined, but I think the outcome is influenced more by resource competition than by operational hurdles (e.g. processing credit cards or allowing users to share with friends).

UPDATE: I should admit that, while there have been better (less crowded) periods to start companies in the past, there's no guarantee that we'll ever have less crowded times than now.

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#42

Post by drpancake »

niuzeta wrote: post #26

I've felt this way for some time here in HN. It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own startup, thrive to do better, if not the best, and make yourself matter , except in this case, there's always an unmentioned postscript "in startup world" I don't even want to discuss the Red Queen Effect , but hear me out. I am a recently graduated developer, with little ambition in…

Try to keep in mind that the generally accepted wisdom that you glean from regularly reading HN comes from a very narrow segment of the population. That's not a negative criticism; in fact that's probably why it's such a good source of curated tech news. But trust your own instincts on what you should spend your time doing.

Personally I find the average work-life balance to be a little out of whack here.

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#43

Post by tlogan »

mason240 wrote: post #13
dingaling wrote: post #7

Excuse Number Five: who is going to pay my mortgage for the next 18 months? Unfortunately, the Western world's mindset of house ownership means that most people who want to do something different generally can't do so until their 50s. Solving that might stimulate innovation and start-up creation. Imagine an environment where basic accommodation and sustenance was available to everyone. People would have the freedom a…

Replace mortgage with rent and the issue is still the same. If you are single you can probably move in with parents or a friend to save on costs, but that is almost impossible if you have a spouse and kids. There is a very good reason behind home ownership: After 30 years of mortgage payments, you own a house. After 30 years of rent, you have nothing.

The key part is "30 years"....

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#44

Post by [deleted] »

quaffapint wrote: post #40
onion2k wrote: post #21

"Social media has created the potential for viral distribution." In theory, certainly. In reality, not very likely. The 'network effect' is one of those things that is devastatingly obvious when it happens, and so powerful that it can carry something like Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare to amazing heights very quickly, that everyone thinks they can copy it. But, as is so often the case, it's very, very rare. If you t…

Oh boy are you right. I read and read about marketing and promotion for startups and they all seem to say how simple it is to just use your connections and social influence to get lots of initial signups. When you don't have that card to play, you are just another piece of sand in the ocean trying to get noticed. It's been a frustrating experience trying to get people to my startup to even check it out. I commend all…

[deleted]

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#45

Post by surfmike »

niuzeta wrote: post #26

I've felt this way for some time here in HN. It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own startup, thrive to do better, if not the best, and make yourself matter , except in this case, there's always an unmentioned postscript "in startup world" I don't even want to discuss the Red Queen Effect , but hear me out. I am a recently graduated developer, with little ambition in…

It sounds like you're creatively fulfilled (writing, learning SICP, side projects), so that's great! And most people's idea of creative fulfillment doesn't include doing a startup, and that's fine -- but obviously the Hacker News crowd is different. I think the article was more to address people who work at jobs they find boring, and want to create a startup to fulfill themselves, but don't.

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#46

Post by nostrademons »

johnrob wrote: post #41

Crowd dynamics is a factor missing from the list. In my opinion, the best time to do a startup is when few others are doing them. I actually think now is relatively bad, because pretty much every endeavor has become difficult due to competition: hiring, paying rent (in silicon valley), getting users, getting press, etc etc. I agree that a lot of the grunt work has been streamlined, but I think the outcome is influenc…

Ideally you'd wait until the next downturn then. All the infrastructure remains in place - developing it was a sunk cost, and then they'd have fewer customers to generate a return on that investment and so they'd likely offer discounts to drum up business - and yet the competition is swept away by the general macro climate and sentiment against risk-taking.

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#47

Post by davidjgraph »

Yes, it's never been simpler, especially in terms of the technology. And that's exactly why proportionally more people are doing it. In fact, there is an explosion in the number of people doing it.

So as it gets easier to implement, the quality bar of what you have to implement is going up and up, some markets are saturated with startups, there's a high noise to signal.

It's becoming simpler, not easier. After lots of people chanting "do it" over and over today, tomorrow you'll be faced with the same cold, hard reality.

Don't just do it, think carefully, double check your idea, don't collectively waste your life savings on heating cloud infrastructure for 18 months before getting back on with your life.

Unless the idea is good, of course 8-).

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#48

Post by gexla »

niuzeta wrote: post #26

I've felt this way for some time here in HN. It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own startup, thrive to do better, if not the best, and make yourself matter , except in this case, there's always an unmentioned postscript "in startup world" I don't even want to discuss the Red Queen Effect , but hear me out. I am a recently graduated developer, with little ambition in…

Don't worry dude, nobody is telling you to go out and start a business.

> It feels as though the culture is that you're expected to have ambition to create your own start-up

Look at the URL of this site. It's Ycombinator, a start-up accelerator.

That's like going to Japan and wondering why everyone speaks Japanese, and why there is so much pressure to learn the language. Maybe you didn't realize it at first, but everyone around you is speaking Japanese because you are in Japan.

If you are living on my couch, eating my food and not kicking anything back to me, then I'm going to talk to you about "thriving." At least you can thrive enough to get a dang job. But in this case, you have a job and you are independent. Good job, that's a position that probably at least the 8% - 10% of the unemployed and looking for work population will envy you for.

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#49

Post by johnrob »

dingaling wrote: post #7

Excuse Number Five: who is going to pay my mortgage for the next 18 months? Unfortunately, the Western world's mindset of house ownership means that most people who want to do something different generally can't do so until their 50s. Solving that might stimulate innovation and start-up creation. Imagine an environment where basic accommodation and sustenance was available to everyone. People would have the freedom a…

It depends on the price of the mortgage. In silicon valley, they are insanely high and absolutely a barrier to starting a company. However, there are other parts of the country where mortgages are less than San Francisco parking spots.

Re: Now is the time to do a startup

#50

Post by bluedino »

mason240 wrote: post #13
dingaling wrote: post #7

Excuse Number Five: who is going to pay my mortgage for the next 18 months? Unfortunately, the Western world's mindset of house ownership means that most people who want to do something different generally can't do so until their 50s. Solving that might stimulate innovation and start-up creation. Imagine an environment where basic accommodation and sustenance was available to everyone. People would have the freedom a…

Replace mortgage with rent and the issue is still the same. If you are single you can probably move in with parents or a friend to save on costs, but that is almost impossible if you have a spouse and kids. There is a very good reason behind home ownership: After 30 years of mortgage payments, you own a house. After 30 years of rent, you have nothing.

>> After 30 years of mortgage payments, you own a house. After 30 years of rent, you have nothing.

You also haven't spent 30 years landscaping the yard, paying for plumbing, appliances, carpet, 2 asphalt roofs, new windows, a furnace or three, a septic tank...

A house can be a very, very expensive asset to maintain. And if your neighborhood goes downhill or the market in your area goes down you can lose a lot of money quickly.

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