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5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

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Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#31

Post by pg »

trevelyan wrote: post #14
thinkbohemian wrote: post #3

Interesting, i'm a technical sole founder who is very capable of doing EVERYTHING, though i would be much more efficient if i could compartmentalize. I'm constantly on the lookout for my "otherhalf" but can't quite find any non-technicals that seem up-to-snuff any tips on what to look for in a non-technical co-founder? Nobody in the world has Bill’s exact skill set, and looking back on it, that skill set is exactly w…

Single founder here who thinks the emphasis on co-founders on HN is overrated. Investors may see it as a credentialing and stabilizing mechanism, but once risk is taken out of the picture and a product has revenue it only makes sense to bring someone else on board if they'll more than cover their costs and a co-founder is the most expensive hire there is at that point.

When is risk taken out of the picture, though? A lot of successful startups have near-death experiences well into their trajectory. Paypal and YouTube famously did.

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#32

Post by anon-acct »

Using a throwaway account to say this: be EXTREMELY careful picking your cofounder. Mine in my last venture was a close friend who had an extremely accomplished background. But he turned out not to have good ethics (ie, ended up stealing money!) and everything imploded. I even totaled my car because I was so upset as I came from a meeting with him, and my life was hell for a few months.

I don't blame myself because my cofounder had so many great attributes that he seemed like a good partner at the time, but still, I urge all of you to assume nothing and tread carefully when choosing a cofounder. Those worst case scenarios? They happen sometimes. :(

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#33

Post by jayphelps »

Very insightful. Thanks for sharing. I myself have had several "investors" who are interested in a project of mine, only to turn out they're just rich real estate guys looking for a midlife crisis. Sure, I could take their money, and it would last a few months, maybe even a year. But at such an early stage, what you really need are connections. Especially if you don't have a strong team. I'm a lone wolf right now, but only because I can't seem to find someone who has what it takes to start a company. I agree with the article: You need more than just anybody. You need your other half. (So to speak) They complement and fill in any gaps and vice versa.

Time and time again at work or on freelance projects, I find myself pulling other people's weight. Now this sounds conceited, but sometimes it's just the truth, and I'm sure you can't have any of that in a start-up, if you want to succeed!

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#35

Post by aristus »

chime wrote: post #2

Does anyone else who quit their job and went fulltime into their startup want to add anything about their experience? Did it make you a lot more productive? Were you worried about paying the bills? How were you able to stay on track? Where did you find the motivation? How did you stay sane and not go crazy?

I started Archivd with friends in Sep 2008, just about when the economy fell through the trapdoor. Aside from constant panic we hardly noticed. :) The first 6 months were the most productive I can remember.

We didn't last long, about a year, (long story) but next time I will make sure to have more savings in the bank and a clearer path to revenue, funding, or both. It's good to be hungry but too much of it is a distraction.

Doing it marked me, I think. I'm less patient with slow release cycles, timidity, and red tape.

Without my wife and my cofounder Romain, who are both much crazier than I am, I'd never have done it.

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#36

Post by trevelyan »

pg wrote: post #31
trevelyan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Single founder here who thinks the emphasis on co-founders on HN is overrated. Investors may see it as a credentialing and stabilizing mechanism, but once risk is taken out of the picture and a product has revenue it only makes sense to bring someone else on board if they'll more than cover their costs and a co-founder is the most expensive hire there is at that point.

When is risk taken out of the picture, though? A lot of successful startups have near-death experiences well into their trajectory. Paypal and YouTube famously did.

You wrote somewhere that getting to ramen profitability is like hitting a binary switch. For me that was the most accurate thing you've written about the psychology of starting a company. It was the pyschological point where my business stopped being speculative and became something I could see supporting myself.

I don't have experience with big startups like Paypal or Youtube, but I'd imagine that if multi-founder teams were really a statistically significant determinant of success, there would be more active investment in (revenue-earning) single-founder businesses. The fact that investors seem to shy away from them suggests otherwise though.

So I'm not intending to be critical of your own or YC's activities. I just don't think it makes sense to convince people they need a co-founder just for the sake of having one. And especially not if they've already got some traction and revenue.

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#37

Post by ryanjmo »

thinkbohemian wrote: post #3

Interesting, i'm a technical sole founder who is very capable of doing EVERYTHING, though i would be much more efficient if i could compartmentalize. I'm constantly on the lookout for my "otherhalf" but can't quite find any non-technicals that seem up-to-snuff any tips on what to look for in a non-technical co-founder? Nobody in the world has Bill’s exact skill set, and looking back on it, that skill set is exactly w…

To quote PG "What people wished they'd paid more attention to when choosing cofounders was character and commitment, not ability." I have also found this to be true.

So, if you have the technical things covered, I would just concentrate on someone who is completely dedicated to do whatever it takes to be successful. And someone that you trust!

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#38

Post by steveklabnik »

chime wrote: post #2

Does anyone else who quit their job and went fulltime into their startup want to add anything about their experience? Did it make you a lot more productive? Were you worried about paying the bills? How were you able to stay on track? Where did you find the motivation? How did you stay sane and not go crazy?

I quit my job to do a startup, but it was only because we had gotten into an incubator. I don't really have any savings, since this was right after college, and so the money was completely necessary.

I'm a big believer in it, for similar reasons to the article. If the idea's so great, you should quit and do it all the time. It's not as if there's ever a lack of work.

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#39

Post by staunch »

patio11 wrote: post #24
zhyder wrote: post #15

We too have learned the hard way about 5.: customer acquisition is tough. 5.1. We'd read it before but hadn't quite internalized the cardinal rule: Cost of Customer Acquisition 5.2. It's easy to think "hey my product costs me only $1, and the competition charges $100: I'll do great by just charging $10". But when you're charging $10 you won't be able to pay $30 per ad click, and so will (continue to) lose customers t…

I could talk about reason 5.2 for a whole afternoon. It is one of the best reasons not to compete on price. Additionally, if you're doing ads on Google, there are some weird interactions here that Econ 101 would not predict. For example, although Google describes AdWords as an auction, it is really "auction-like": the highest bid doesn't necessarily win. One factor which can cause lower bids to beat higher bids is if…

Details directly from Google: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&#38...

Re: 5 things I knew (or should have) before my startup, but didn't learn until now

#40

Post by adrianwaj »

anon-acct wrote: post #32

Using a throwaway account to say this: be EXTREMELY careful picking your cofounder. Mine in my last venture was a close friend who had an extremely accomplished background. But he turned out not to have good ethics (ie, ended up stealing money!) and everything imploded. I even totaled my car because I was so upset as I came from a meeting with him, and my life was hell for a few months. I don't blame myself because m…

Sounds like he betrayed you - took your loyalty for granted, or rather something he could use to his advantage. You have to be sensitive to ill-will. I can be nice to you for 2 years, but something then flips for 2 seconds and all those niceties came at a price. (well not me, but that's the line of thinking) Bait-and-switch, fineprint insertions, backoffice fraud can all happen in a moment, have lasting consequences and be basically irreversible within what would otherwise be a solid relationship. On the other hand, a relationship can be rocky but trust-worthy. Smooth-talking, flattery, over-attention: anything that boosts the ego will eventually come at a price, the question is what and when. It happens in families.
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