Startup advice, briefly • Hacker News Board

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#11

Post by diminish » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:23 PM UTC

dude_abides wrote: post #4

Honest question: Who is the intended audience for all these startup/advice articles? Wouldn't the best founders be too busy building stuff instead of reading articles on the web. Wouldn't the majority of the audience of these articles be procrastinators (like me)? If so, wouldn't the best advice for such people be to stop procrastinating on the web, and to build stuff instead? PS: The advice by Sam is great. I'm ques…

Honestly, startup advice articles are lead collection tools for ycombinator and other accelerators targeting "fresh" audiences. You may see similar advice articles from VCs too; blogging makes them more visible and help attract entrepreneurs.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#12

Post by tomasien » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:23 PM UTC

DON'T WORK WITH PEOPLE YOU HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT: I can not stress how dogmatically this should be adhered to enough.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#13

Post by Moto7451 » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:24 PM UTC

dude_abides wrote: post #4

Honest question: Who is the intended audience for all these startup/advice articles? Wouldn't the best founders be too busy building stuff instead of reading articles on the web. Wouldn't the majority of the audience of these articles be procrastinators (like me)? If so, wouldn't the best advice for such people be to stop procrastinating on the web, and to build stuff instead? PS: The advice by Sam is great. I'm ques…

Probably the main audience is current/future/potential Y Combinator startups and the HN crowd. Just because you're "procrastinating" right now doesn't mean it won't be interesting or useful later, right?

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#14

Post by pskittle » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:25 PM UTC

"Be a relentless execution machine." I wish it was as easy as it sounds. thanks for the one pager on tips .

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#15

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:25 PM UTC

kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

[deleted]

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#16

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:26 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#17

Post by GolfyMcG » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:27 PM UTC

sama wrote: post #6

kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

that really is all there is to it. if you've read enough that all of this strikes you as obvious, then you don't need to read anymore--get to work! :) i wrote this because i think it's useful for people thinking about startups for the first time to have an outline of the advice all in one place--the startup class i did last fall is good but long.

Would you agree that it's simultaneously simple and horribly challenging to start a company? It's more about consistency and determination, than it is strokes of brilliance. In that way, I think this advice is obvious but it's much easier said than done to run your own business.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#18

Post by Alex3917 » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:28 PM UTC

Great list. I finally watched all of the YC Startup Class lectures this week, and I was hoping that someone would compile something like this.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#19

Post by GolfyMcG » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:28 PM UTC

tomasien wrote: post #12

DON'T WORK WITH PEOPLE YOU HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT: I can not stress how dogmatically this should be adhered to enough.

Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I would change this to be "Work with people you have a good feeling about."

Though, the underlying difference is that the original phrase implies that everyone is fine to work with until you've eliminated them, whereas I'm saying that I assume no one is good enough until I've cleared them.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#20

Post by tomasien » Fri, Feb 20, 2015, 7:30 PM UTC

kirinan wrote: post #2

Maybe Ive read too many blogs. Maybe its because I watched the class but Im starting to feel like this is the "generic" advice for startups. It doesn't make it any less true or valuable, but everytime I read it I feel somewhat empty; as if there is something critical missing that everyone but me knows but doesn't write down because it feels like common sense. I'm not sure other people feel this way or how to not feel…

I think it needs to keep being synthesized and summarized and codified only because there's always a generation of founders that haven't seen it. I feel the same way you do, but it's a good reminder to read it and it's good for new founders to have it freshly in front of them.