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Building a company is fucking hard

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Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#131

Post by gowld »

iagooar wrote: post #39
lotsofpulp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why it's important to grow up in the right zip code, do well in school, score high enough on standardized tests, get into the best universities. If you want to maximize your chances of getting to the top, the best way to do that is to know the right people.

Great advice! That's like saying that it's super easy to become rich. It just takes 2 easy steps: Step 1. Be born into a rich family. Step 2: Get inheritance cash.

Don't be so morbid. If you have a rich family, you can get plenty of capital without anyone dying.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#132

Post by gowld »

vinceguidry wrote: post #18
ArtWomb wrote: post #9

I think Mark Cuban on Shark Tank used to tell founders this. Don't start a company because you have a world-altering idea. Start a company because you love starting companies.

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.

If you have a world-altering idea, and you want to alter the world, but you don't actually like to do the work (which is what Cuban was warning about), then don't build a company -- tell people your idea (try to sell it if you want, but if you don't like doing the work of selling, just give it away) and let someone who wants to the work do the work.

This is how academics and think-tanks and pundits operate.

Of course, what you'll find is that ideas are a dime a dozen and yours likely aren't novel. Execution is the best vehicle does changing the world, and it doesn't matter whose ideas you execute on; what matters is that you like executing.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#133

Post by sharno »

tnolet wrote: post #66

Not dissing the general message. Startups can be brutal, but still. Dude is 22 and claims having seen more hardship than others. Try dealing with raising kids, health issues, sick family members, dying friends, mid life (all of which will probably happen as you near the age 40) and a startup will look like a pleasant distraction from the actual hard stuff in life. I,d say enjoy being 22, don’t take yourself to seriou…

Definitely agree

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#134

Post by fhood »

jonbarker wrote: post #92
faitswulff wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the median age of HackerNews readers has shifted through the years? I started reading HN probably around my early 20s, if not sooner, and now I'm in my thirties with children. Life doesn't get easier or less complex as time goes on, that's for sure.

HN readership is definitely skewing mid 30s at this point.

Hasn't HN grown quite a bit in recent years? I would assume that would pull the average age down.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#137

Post by pc86 »

wowzap wrote: post #98
porphyrogene wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is difficult to take someone seriously when they introduce themselves by saying something like that. Experiencing life is not a competition, nor is it a valid bragging point. I guess it is good to know that there are some painfully obvious lessons that are not learned by building a company.

It's difficult to take someone seriously when they emphasize everything with the word fuck.

How else will we know how cool and hip they are?

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#138

Post by golergka »

faitswulff wrote: post #83
tnolet wrote: post #66

Not dissing the general message. Startups can be brutal, but still. Dude is 22 and claims having seen more hardship than others. Try dealing with raising kids, health issues, sick family members, dying friends, mid life (all of which will probably happen as you near the age 40) and a startup will look like a pleasant distraction from the actual hard stuff in life. I,d say enjoy being 22, don’t take yourself to seriou…

I wonder if the median age of HackerNews readers has shifted through the years? I started reading HN probably around my early 20s, if not sooner, and now I'm in my thirties with children. Life doesn't get easier or less complex as time goes on, that's for sure.

Well, it depends. I started reading HN around 21, when I was doing my first startup, which quickly failed because of problems with my personality — lack of self-awareness, bad work ethic, but most importantly, unsolved emotional problems. I'd never say that I've worked all these issues out, but age experience and hard labour I've put into therapy certainly help with self-improvement. Not to mention that my CV is more impressive, which puts me into a completely different position in the labour market.

So, if you don't go to harder goals and projects, like having children, life can get easier. But it's always your conscious decision to move on to a harder difficulty level.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#139

Post by vinceguidry »

gowld wrote: post #132
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.

If you have a world-altering idea, and you want to alter the world, but you don't actually like to do the work (which is what Cuban was warning about), then don't build a company -- tell people your idea (try to sell it if you want, but if you don't like doing the work of selling, just give it away) and let someone who wants to the work do the work. This is how academics and think-tanks and pundits operate. Of course…

The quote was that you should only start a company if you "love starting companies." It's not about being willing to do the work or not. I can do work I don't love. In fact, that's most of the work I do.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#140

Post by wonderwonder »

tnolet wrote: post #66

Not dissing the general message. Startups can be brutal, but still. Dude is 22 and claims having seen more hardship than others. Try dealing with raising kids, health issues, sick family members, dying friends, mid life (all of which will probably happen as you near the age 40) and a startup will look like a pleasant distraction from the actual hard stuff in life. I,d say enjoy being 22, don’t take yourself to seriou…

Guy lost me a couple sentences in, right about here: "I’ve only been up and around for about 4 years, a happy ignorant high school teenager before that. I have yet experienced more professional hardship in these four years than most people do in all of their lives."

I realize the guy is young and hope he is just using hyperbole and does not honestly believe what he is saying.

I'm willing to bet the guys that queue outside of places like Lowes and Home Depot hoping to just get some day labor to feed their families experience quite a bit of hardship. Probably same for the guys that sneak over the border to get jobs working on farms to send money back to their families, or the person that works for a company for 20 years and is laid off. The author willingly dropped out of college to start a business.

I never really understood professional stress until I got to the point where I realized my kids eating depended on me bringing home an income. Whenever I get stressed about work it helps to realize that the problem is probably solvable and that I have it no where near as bad as these guys doing back breaking physical labor to do the same thing I am trying to do, feed people they care about.

I wish the author nothing but success but he is being a tad dramatic.

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