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

Building a company is fucking hard

nvdk.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 181 posts

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#161

Post by TeMPOraL »

JadeNB wrote: post #101
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree with you, and was going to comment the same. Perhaps at 22 you don't have the full perspective of what life can be. I certainly didn't at that age (now I'm 41 and I guess I have a better perspective for sure).

> Perhaps at 22 you don't have the full perspective of what life can be. It's hard to believe that one has the full perspective at any age.

Technically true. But in reality, perspective alone is useless. What matters is (perspective * ability to make meaningful use of it). For most people, that function peaks somewhere no later than 60s (unless they have grandkids that actually listen to what they have to say).

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#162

Post by TeMPOraL »

whatshisface wrote: post #30
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.

If you're inclined to be generous, that could be read as an implicit "experienced more [small business related events] in these four years..."

That doesn't make the statement not nonsense, just nonsense for different reasons.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#163

Post by adrianmonk »

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.

They're not saying it's easy. They're saying some people have a huge head start in the race.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#164

Post by TeMPOraL »

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…

And what to do when you want to do the work, and not the surrounding nonsense? I.e. you want to develop your world-altering idea, instead of dealing with VCs, markets, customers, HR, hiring, firing, and all the countless other things a founder ends up doing instead of working on the actual product?

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#165

Post by 0xferruccio »

mayankkaizen wrote: post #151
drwl wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do you have any data to back this up?

I am 37 and judging by the comments here, I feel like average user age is above around 40.

I’m 21 but don’t comment a lot as it’s a bit intimidating. As far as I perceive top commenters are older than me as they usually have a lot of experience in the topic they’re discussing. I bet many people my age feel the same

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#167

Post by jiveturkey »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #73
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…

Completely agree with you, and was going to comment the same. Perhaps at 22 you don't have the full perspective of what life can be. I certainly didn't at that age (now I'm 41 and I guess I have a better perspective for sure).

perhaps? you can't even rent a car until you're 25. this isn't due to being overly cautious, this is actuarial science at work. you are not really an adult until you are 25 ... unless of course you've had an especially hard life. even then, before 25 you are quite more impulsive than after.

somewhere around midlife your perspectives will shift again. i imagine when you hit your later senior years (retirement age), yet again.

Perhaps? It goes without saying that until you hit retirement you don't have a full perspective of what life can be. Until say 10 years after life starts to degrade for you (age-related health), you will not have a full perspective.

22. lol.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#168

Post by vecter »

srrge wrote: post #45
readhn wrote: post #14

Building a company is not hard. (Look around, we are surrounded by businesses). Building financially and ethically sustainable business that employs people that are truly happy to work there IS hard.

I don't understand why you are downvoted, because you are right. Conducting a successful career is also very hard. Let alone a successful marriage! Or getting fit, loosing weight. You want to build a company? Just do it. It's not harder than other things in life. Edit: some words.

Building a successful startup is infinitely harder than having a successful career as an employee.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#169

Post by jiveturkey »

theoretick wrote: post #120
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/

lol. famously, most Mark Twain quotes are misattributed.

Re: Building a company is fucking hard

#170

Post by Y7ZCQtNo39 »

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 don't think we should necessarily be gatekeeping here. What makes life challenging is subjective to the individual. There are young people out there subject themselves to a lot of stress because they want to be successful.

Working really hard can take a serious toll on you. Not quite in the same way that common midlife stressors can pull you in 20 different directions (kids, aging parents, etc). But in the moment, the stressors are very real to the individual.

Post reply on HN