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Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

ryancarson.com

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Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#21

Post by ryancarson »

optimiz3 wrote: post #20
analog31 wrote: post #19

4. Happy to take risks I always wonder what people mean by "risk" in this context. If risk is a probability of failure, then if someone has minimized that probability through other means (seeing an opportunity where others haven't, working real hard, etc.) then it isn't risk. If others aren't trying to do the same thing and failing at it, then it might not be risky. The "risk" thing may just be part of the badass ima…

It means willing to incur the significant opportunity costs (income and benefits) of not working for an established company. EDIT: Also the risk to reputation and social stigma that goes along with being poor...and enduring this for years...until you're not :).

I like that definition :)

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#22

Post by ryancarson »

nostrademons wrote: post #7
ryancarson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that you were at Google. What did you do there? I'm just finishing "I'm Feeling Lucky" about Google's early days.

I was in Search from 2009-2014. Worked on a bunch of projects - 3 visual redesigns, the Authorship program, some miscellaneous infrastructure & internal research projects, 3 interactive homepage doodles, about 1/3 of the easter eggs you see on Wikipedia's list of Google easter eggs, loaned out to GFiber and G+ for their launches, a few other things. It was already a big company by the time I got there, but I had the…

You should blog about it!

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#23

Post by ryancarson »

pinkyand wrote: post #9
ryancarson wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think "focus on getting lucky" is quite right either. I didn't sift through all the available opportunities and choose changing education. I was personally interested in this problem - it mattered to me on an emotional level. I've interviewed Evan Williams and Mark Zuckerberg personally and I see the same pattern there. It kind of sucks to say "You just need to be interested personally in solving a problem" b…

Maybe for some people, their passion lies in money/fame/etc ,but they see very clearly how attacking said opportunity would lead to those, and it gives them enough "passion" and motivation?

I pity someone who is 'passionate' about those things.

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#24

Post by ryancarson »

BerislavLopac wrote: post #10

One thing missing from the list is "being born and raised in the right part of the world". And I'm not talking about being able to raise capital, but simply being in a society that embraces and promotes entrepreneurship, as well as having easy access to numerous basic amenities such as food, water, health care, Internet (at decent speeds etc).

That's why I chose my definition carefully. Being able to raise capital is determined by a lot of things that unfortunately, you cannot control.

This is one of the reasons I'm so passionate about Treehouse. We can empower more people with the skills to build their first product, without raising capital. Once they have a working product, they're much more likely to be able to raise capital.

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#25

Post by porter »

Do you think you had to go through those first few small wins in order to finally take a swing at a homerun? What changed when you did treehouse vs those other smaller businesses? Was it the fact that you didn't need to worry about money in the short-term anymore (because of those small exits), or something else?

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#26

Post by ryancarson »

gumby wrote: post #16

Years ago someone said to me, "Luck happens to those who let it." It's stuck with me, because I think it's so true. In fact it's what makes Napoleon's famous (and probably apocryphal) statement actionable: "When I choose Generals I prefer the lucky ones." I've started large companies and tiny / failed ones; although I look back at my own execution problems for the ones that didn't make it, I recognize that the ones t…

> the ones that succeeded were lucky, and we were just lucky enough to be able to take advantage of that luck.

Amen. Amen.

I'd love to hear more about your past adventures. What were the large companies and the failed/tiny ones?

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#27

Post by ryancarson »

cynusx wrote: post #17

Riding a trend is definitely a sensible thing to do, it reminds me of a lesson that's quite common in fighting sports is to use an opponents momentum to your own advantage. That said, you can get lucky and happen to work on one of the trends or you can try to spot one and ride it consciously. There's a factor that doesn't change though, you need to be able to execute and I think Ryan is giving himself way too little…

Thanks for the kind words

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#28

Post by analog31 »

optimiz3 wrote: post #20
analog31 wrote: post #19

4. Happy to take risks I always wonder what people mean by "risk" in this context. If risk is a probability of failure, then if someone has minimized that probability through other means (seeing an opportunity where others haven't, working real hard, etc.) then it isn't risk. If others aren't trying to do the same thing and failing at it, then it might not be risky. The "risk" thing may just be part of the badass ima…

It means willing to incur the significant opportunity costs (income and benefits) of not working for an established company. EDIT: Also the risk to reputation and social stigma that goes along with being poor...and enduring this for years...until you're not :).

That's valid, though even those risks can be mitigated to some extent by having wealth or a side income. It's still risk in terms of dollars times probability, but not in terms of the risk of getting thrown out on the street.

And in other cases, the risk could be real after all. For instance the high probability of failure for start-ups is a pretty straightforward measure of risk, and the people who start start-ups are probably incurring that risk on average.

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#29

Post by ryancarson »

porter wrote: post #25

Do you think you had to go through those first few small wins in order to finally take a swing at a homerun? What changed when you did treehouse vs those other smaller businesses? Was it the fact that you didn't need to worry about money in the short-term anymore (because of those small exits), or something else?

I'm lucky that I could refine my skills through those first three businesses. If Treehouse was my first big idea, I'd have no choice. I'd just have to do the best I could.

> What changed when you did treehouse vs those other smaller businesses? Was it the fact that you didn't need to worry about money in the short-term anymore (because of those small exits), or something else?

I didn't make quite enough from those exits to be financially independent, so I still need to make Treehouse work from a money perspective personally.

The simple thing that changed was the scope of the idea. It was world-changing scale - millions of potential lives affected.

Re: Entrepreneurs think they’re badass

#30

Post by porter »

ryancarson wrote: post #29
porter wrote: post #25

Do you think you had to go through those first few small wins in order to finally take a swing at a homerun? What changed when you did treehouse vs those other smaller businesses? Was it the fact that you didn't need to worry about money in the short-term anymore (because of those small exits), or something else?

I'm lucky that I could refine my skills through those first three businesses. If Treehouse was my first big idea, I'd have no choice. I'd just have to do the best I could. > What changed when you did treehouse vs those other smaller businesses? Was it the fact that you didn't need to worry about money in the short-term anymore (because of those small exits), or something else? I didn't make quite enough from those ex…

What advice do you have for founders working on non world-changing ideas, but rather ideas more like your first 3 small ideas?
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