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Building a company is fucking hard

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Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#111

Post by lowpro »

pjc50 wrote: post #54
vinceguidry wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think anybody that would say this is very likely completely right about it, despite their age.

There's a lot of potential life experience out there, not all of it good. And a lot of people go through extraordinary hardships that they didn't choose. A great example of someone who's experienced both the difficulties of running a business and the difficulties of running for your life is Intel chairman Andy Grove: " He was born András Gróf into a not religious Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, which was ruled by…

I've never heard this story, thank you for sharing. As hard as I (and many others in the West may try), I wonder if it's possible to bring as much determination to my field as someone from such harsh circumstance can. What an interesting person.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#112

Post by brianmcc »

dqpb wrote: post #15

> I have yet experienced more in these four years than most people do in all of their lives. Lol, hearing that from a 22 year old.

Indeed :-) I just wrote up some reflections of hitting 21 years in my career, feel free to take a read -> https://mcconnellsoftware.github.io/success-criteria-21-year...

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#113

Post by ErikAugust »

"Most start ups will die because of mistakes made from the one bucket of common errors – about 90% of them. These include bad financial management, hiring errors, product errors, marketing errors, etc. I believe they can be easily avoided, but can also be easily forgotten about when you’re busy hustling."

As far as I remember the reason most companies were dying (from a YC survey, I believe?) was product-market fit. This is not something that can be "easily avoided", and certainly not by simply having a mentor.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#114

Post by arsalanb »

evrydayhustling wrote: post #105
arsalanb wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you state it in a more rational way, many of the responses dismiss what OP has to say just because he is 22. As somebody who is 22 as well—everybody is facing a struggle here. The market does not care that we are 22, it is equally brutal to both of us. Also, I agree that raising kids may be something that is more difficult that you additionally have to do (all the other things have no correlation with age), but…

Health issues, dying friends, sick family, and mid life have no correlation with age? Being 22 is harder if you pass on opportunities to get perspective...

22 year olds can also have health issues, dying friends, sick family. Not sure how "mid life" is an "issue", per se?

All I'm saying is, all things considered, building a business is hard regardless of what age you are.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#115

Post by vinceguidry »

noobiemcfoob wrote: post #47
vinceguidry wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would he have you do if you have a world-altering idea? A company is still the best vehicle for seeing it actually change the world.

Recognize that you most probably don't.

Well, that's just no fun at all.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#116

Post by acct1771 »

thecupisblue wrote: post #24
vinceguidry wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would he have you do if you have a world-altering idea? A company is still the best vehicle for seeing it actually change the world.

Open sourcing it.

...you're not super familiar with Mark Cuban, are ya?

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#117

Post by freehunter »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #67
joering2 wrote: post #55

Can we alter the title somehow? I know for a fact that kids age 13 and 15 are reading HN daily...

Same for me. The language adds approximately nothing to the discussion.

I would argue that complaining about the language adds nothing to the discussion. Whether it's in the title or in the comments, you can't reasonably expect to censor bad language across the entire site, let alone the entire Internet. Far more offensive content gets posted here than a single swear word in the title of an article.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#120

Post by theoretick »

jacknews wrote: post #44

Some very good points, though the tone slightly reminds me of the the Mark Twain quote: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” It's certainly very difficult to start a business from scratch, and to grow it. A trick is if you can spin off a job into a contract, int…

As a sidenote: I looked it up because I was curious and apparently that quote is a misattribute: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father/
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