Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

migpwr wrote: post #3

Why do you people up vote this stuff? This place is turning into planet of the obvious... do you really need to read a page of it's not easy? pfff junk

It's not as obvious as you might think. Otherwise, there won't be tens of thousands of anandoned startups.

Re: Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

#5

Post by nikolaj » Tue, Nov 06, 2007, 7:39 PM UTC

i get the feeling people are voting up by the title, not the actual article content.. seriously, this is entirely obvious and of digg caliber.. not what i expect from news.yc

Re: Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

#6

Post by tlrobinson » Tue, Nov 06, 2007, 8:01 PM UTC

I think the biggest thing is that cheap != easy

Sure, you can write good software with a cheap Pc and entirely free software, and there may be very little equipment costs compared to other industries. But that doesnt make it EASY.

Re: Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

#7

Post by imsteve » Tue, Nov 06, 2007, 8:45 PM UTC

migpwr wrote: post #3

Why do you people up vote this stuff? This place is turning into planet of the obvious... do you really need to read a page of it's not easy? pfff junk

It's not obvious at all how extremely hard it can be to have a successful startup. It's "harder than hard."

It's something you can't really appreciate until you've tried. Have you?

Re: Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

#8

Post by migpwr » Tue, Nov 06, 2007, 8:53 PM UTC

imsteve wrote: post #7

migpwr wrote: post #3

Why do you people up vote this stuff? This place is turning into planet of the obvious... do you really need to read a page of it's not easy? pfff junk

It's not obvious at all how extremely hard it can be to have a successful startup. It's "harder than hard." It's something you can't really appreciate until you've tried. Have you?

you all are hilarious...

Re: Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

#9

Post by caveman82 » Tue, Nov 06, 2007, 9:16 PM UTC

migpwr wrote: post #3

Why do you people up vote this stuff? This place is turning into planet of the obvious... do you really need to read a page of it's not easy? pfff junk

The article's fault is not that the message itself is overtly obvious, it's that it neglects the more important question of: Why there will always be a large number of entrepreneurs in spite of the low success rates of starting a business and the enormous amount of work, dedication, and "luck" required to be immensely successful.

But that would be opening up an economic/philosophical can of worms that is neither here nor there.

Re: Warning: Software Startups are Not as Easy as Everyone Says

#10

Post by sabat » Tue, Nov 06, 2007, 9:29 PM UTC

I disliked this piece for a different reason: his attitude. No successful company was ever built by someone thinking as negatively as this guy.

Sure, someone who thinks that if he creates a new facebook widget he'll retire -- that guy may need to hear this. But wait, does he? He'll figure out the problem with that soon enough.

The rest of us ... do we need some smug guy telling us that the Plenty of Fish guy was just really lucky? I've read the Plenty of Fish story, and it sounded like there was a lot more than luck involved -- and that luck was the smallest component. Oh, and I've worked at other startups and know people who are quite rich because of them. It didn't take them five years and only luck. It took the right idea at the right time, and in some cases, multiple tries.

No, successful, wealth-generating sites aren't born every day.

But it's more possible to create one than this guy seems to think.