Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path • Hacker News Board

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#141

Post by dxbydt » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 1:54 AM UTC

I agree with the article not because I've drunk the kool-aid but because I have seen the math work out on numerous occasions.

Say you average $x per year for 3 years, then your startup fails, so you join bigcorp at $y. So at the end of 4 years you have 3x+y.

Your conservative classmate joins a bigcorp and stays there 4 years averaging $z per year. So he now has 4z.

It's a simple exercise to enumerate tuples (x,y,z) where 3x + y > 4z.

Literally in every case I have seen up close and personal, the LHS exceeded the RHS. And I'm not going to argue with math.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#142

Post by meowface » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 1:57 AM UTC

__mbm__ wrote: post #62

matrix wrote: post #54

While the author does quote the very low odds of success, I think he does readers a disservice by minimizing that risk. Very few people have the right disposition, the right partners, the right idea, and the right skill set to launch a startup. Being a freshly minted PhD doesn't change that. Failing at a startup sucks, and sucks really hard. But of course, its not in a VC's interest to tell you the pain that comes wi…

> Failing at a startup sucks This. I have a PhD and a failed startup. It felt real bad, and I didn't get that far with it (9 months before calling it quits). Creating a successful startup requires significantly more energy and stress than most science jobs, even for pre-tenure professors. It requires different skills than science. Few introverts will succeed at founding a company, for example. Moreover, you have to p…

On the bright side, at least you didn't spend 3+ years on it like some people do before realizing their idea or model is fundamentally flawed.

That fear is one of a few reasons why I don't think I'll start a startup any time soon.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#143

Post by 50CNT » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 2:09 AM UTC

arcanus wrote: post #33

pyromine wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dear lord, I've started writing all of my mathematics homework in LaTeX, it's not even remotely reasonable. Though interestingly, having to be more deliberate in my operations do make me have a much more rigorous understanding of what I'm doing.

> it's not even remotely reasonable. What is more scary: I exclusively write LaTeX equations in emails, raw to my colleagues. We have all been working with it for so long it is a native language. Math does funny stuff to your brain.

    This is your brain 

    \this{is your brain on Math}

As a less poetic example, playing Dwarf Fortress for prolonged periods of time reportedly has similar effects. The ASCII fades, and mental images take its place. It's freaky when decoding slips into the hardware layer.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#144

Post by nxc18 » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 2:29 AM UTC

dxbydt wrote: post #141

I agree with the article not because I've drunk the kool-aid but because I have seen the math work out on numerous occasions. Say you average $x per year for 3 years, then your startup fails, so you join bigcorp at $y. So at the end of 4 years you have 3x+y. Your conservative classmate joins a bigcorp and stays there 4 years averaging $z per year. So he now has 4z. It's a simple exercise to enumerate tuples (x,y,z) w…

That equation makes it a little too easy to have a rosy picture of things.

A failed startup can be very expensive. You might break even. You might not. Just from the financial perspective on it, when you start including negative and near-zero values on the left side of that equation, conservative job at bigcorp starts looking good.

Then think about the rest of your life. Surely there is some value in getting enough sleep, having free time, work-life balance (because your work isn't 100% of your life), and a basic level of security. Startup life sucks; there are far fewer people who have what it takes (including luck) than there are people who think they do.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#145

Post by khuey » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 2:29 AM UTC

monkmartinez wrote: post #100

jedberg wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chance of extremely high returns = Check (not so much in academia)

Chance of nice pension and a job for life = Check (not so much for a failed startup) I am not saying one is right or wrong; the pension could "poof" go away with legislation for example. However, I will say there are compromises/choices to be made. I am quite indifferent to the matter as we all choose a path... The difference lies in how much we think we control vs. how much we actually control.

Chances of a nice pension and a job for life are pretty low in academia these days.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#146

Post by contingencies » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 2:42 AM UTC

astazangasta wrote: post #113

I deplore the model of the world where acquiring a PhD is a choice made by an individual, and what you should do is cash in on your credentials. When we ignore the social component of our lives, big surprise, it atrophies and dies. I have a PhD because many people (a society) invested in me to get one. My PhD is not something I should use for my own enrichment by building a "career" and a "startup" to satisfy my job…

Admirable! This sort of socially conscious personal life decision making rarely survives very long after contact with capitalist realities... a quote from Peter Thiel (of whose apparent social perspectives and path-to-riches I am not a fan, ) summarizes the late capitalist perspective on this: The eccentric university professor is a species that is going extinct fast. May I ask what your field is?

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#147

Post by mablap » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 2:44 AM UTC

pyromine wrote: post #26

amelius wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Writing a 100 page thesis is not hard work either Except if you stubbornly decide to fully understand LaTeX in the process.

Dear lord, I've started writing all of my mathematics homework in LaTeX, it's not even remotely reasonable. Though interestingly, having to be more deliberate in my operations do make me have a much more rigorous understanding of what I'm doing.

Now try to go back to MS Word and typeset equations. You will miss LaTeX.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#148

Post by bbcbasic » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 2:57 AM UTC

sporkologist wrote: post #114

Why work 40 hours a week for someone else and sleep at night, when you can work 16 hours/day 7 days a week for 10 years for yourself, and age a lot in the process?

Err. Why do you need to work 112 hours a week for 10 years?

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#149

Post by elcritch » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 3:29 AM UTC

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #63

pyromine wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dear lord, I've started writing all of my mathematics homework in LaTeX, it's not even remotely reasonable. Though interestingly, having to be more deliberate in my operations do make me have a much more rigorous understanding of what I'm doing.

I once (only once) live-typed notes from my Quantum Field Theory 2 class in LaTeX. It was on non-Abelian gauge theory IIRC. We had a German professor who was really fast too, and there's so many co(ntra)variant indices it's not even funny. It took quite some preparation and a shitload of custom \newcommand's, but it was doable, although painful.

Impressive feat. And I'd buy you a shot of whiskey if I ever met you in person for attempting said feat.

Re: Why building a startup is probably your most sensible career path

#150

Post by LargeCompanies » Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 4:03 AM UTC

Can't agree more! If you are not a skilled developer or designer yet have a major passion about seeing your app ideas built go for it and learn those skills along the way.

Your startup journeys could succeed but the odds are against you. Though, whatever its a ton of fun and the stories that come from it make you a more interesting candidate when going up for your first Developer job.

I had two startups fail yet I was able to raise incubator money for both, invited and had a demo meeting with Google, invited and filmed for a reality tv show about makers(I think I maybe a good marketer hence these opportunities yet I suck at people skills) and a lot of other random out of nowhere stuff.

Overall, great times with many lows that are now great life stories even if I'm not a millionaire I now earn a good living coding.