Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Startup advice, briefly

blog.samaltman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 143 posts

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#21

Post by tacos »

GolfyMcG wrote: post #19
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.

Let's add "Don't work with pedantic people for whom anything outside absolute positivity is a trigger."

Many a startup has been killed by this sort of up-with-people go-getter, who, with a (usually dumb) smile undermines this useful advice:

"Don’t deceive yourself about whether or not your users actually love your product."

"Ignore what the press says about you, especially if it’s complimentary."

IT'S NOT ABOUT NEGATIVITY OR POSITIVITY; IT'S A MATTER OF ACCURATE ASSESSMENT.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#23

Post by ukigumo »

"Have a strategy. Most people don’t. Occasionally take a little bit of time to think about how you’re executing against your strategy. Specifically, remember that someday you need to have a monopoly "

Remember to ask yourself 4 questions: https://blog.ukigumo.eu/content/images/2015/02/governance-qu...

(sorry for the bad image quality btw)

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#24

Post by und3rw4t3rp00ps »

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…

"It just feels hollow."

- I'm probably too blue collar for these airy advice musings... but I really turn my nose up when a business man tells me to "work hard". Never do these manifestos acknowledge the basic truth that all entrepreneurs are escaping professions, trades, and "jobs". Scoff this terse anonymous message away all you like, the entrepreneur redefines work, then audaciously proclaims himself the hardest worker.

Sometimes, inventing something "people want" is the most wildly selfish thing a person can do. The sheepish, holier than thou advice post that admits this will have my ear.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#25

Post by TopEntrepreneur »

diminish wrote: post #11
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.

You hit the nail on the head. As a top entrepreneur I spend a lot of my time reading VC blog posts. It's the best way to filter the investors I'm going to bless with the opportunity to invest in my next home run.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#26

Post by Cymen »

I wish more founders had experience working in annoying corporate environments with a variety of managers (on the "good" "bad" scale) before starting a startup. I believe that would result in picking better management. And that management would more closely align with the culture.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#27

Post by ryanSrich »

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…

With the risk of sounding ignorant I'm going to go out on a limb and say one of the biggest missing pieces for most people is financial security - or at least the availability of a safety net.

Based on my experience there are four scenarios where someone could start a company:

- You have financial support from someone (whether you're in college or have a spouse that makes a good income - probably the most common)

- You have money yourself (perhaps from a previous company you started, etc. - fairly common)

- You relied on outside financial support while you saved up enough money to start your startup (this is most likely a scenario where a parent paid for ones college so they were able to save right after graduating - fairly common)

- You built a company that can sustain you and your employees from day one (very uncommon)

There are probably other obvious scenarios out there but these are based on my experience reading articles and speaking with founders.

Once you have that financial security it becomes much easier to put those actions into motion, and they become less hollow. You see them as tasks now because you actually have the time and resources to execute on them.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#28

Post by pan69 »

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.

This is probably the biggest piece of non-advice in the entire article. Feeling is bullshit. If I had followed this advice throughout my career...

I've been introduced to people who I'd instantly hated but a weeks later had become my best mates and I've been introduced to people who I'd loved at first sight (oh, so social, funny and well spoken..) and they turned out to be completely useless.

It often takes time to get to know someone, don't let a first impression be a lasting but judge on the second, third and forth instead. You'd might be missing out.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#29

Post by d0m »

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…

The thing about startup advices is that even if you read it a hundred of time, it seems like you need to fuck it up at least once to really understand it.

Re: Startup advice, briefly

#30

Post by taylorwc »

GolfyMcG wrote: post #17
sama wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Absolutely. A few years ago, someone gave me some great advice about marriage: doing the right thing is always simple but that doesn't mean it's easy. That applies to a lot of things. Simple, but not easy.
Post reply on HN