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I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

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Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#31

Post by mswen »

chamboo wrote: post #15
mswen wrote: post #6

Over the past 14 months I have put myself through the same self-learning process with a similar goal. Be able to build full working prototypes of the web app ideas in my head. I am fully aware that if one of these start to get some customer traction I will need to have a more experienced dev help me deal with a whole variety of issues from scalability to security and a designer to help with UI/UX and visual appeal. A…

I basically have no technical background other than basic engineering, but nothing software related. On the bootcamps, do you personally know anyone who attended and recommended a specific one? I thought about doing this, but I heard mixed reviews (I know there are quite a few now).

I don't know anyone who has gone through one of these dev bootcamps - but in the grand scheme of things 12 weeks of intense effort under some guidance is a relatively small investment to give you a feel for whether not you have the talent and enduring interest to go down the route of building out the skills to be the technical founder yourself.

Even if you decide that doing the web development yourself isn't all that exciting, you will now be in a much better position to evaluate other programmers that you hire to execute your vision.

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#32

Post by mbesto »

Hi!

I've tried to do what you, and after about 6 months of trying to get myself to fully code, I fell flat. But I still really wanted to build a business and have slowly realized what I enjoy most - finding the easiest route to acquiring customers by building a MVP.

I now have a team of 3 (biz dev, web dev, and UI) could build you an MVP for around $15-20k. It will help you validate a lot of your assumptions and help flesh out any idea you may have.

More importantly, I believe it will help you jump start the journey of what you want to focus on. You will get exposure and advice to the 3 core elements of starting an internet business - web development, business development, and user experience. Which, if all done properly mean acquiring customers.

Contact details in profile if you're interested! Good luck either way!

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#33

Post by runjake »

This is going to sound like an insult, but it truly isn't:

In my mind, you obviously don't want to a put a lot of research into it -- as if you did, you'd just read everything you could, and get an MVP going -- instead of posting this. Don't worry, I'm often the same way. I suppose it's a sense of urgency.

So you might look into DevBootCamp (http://devbootcamp.com/). It doesn't mean you have to be an RoR programmer forever, but you gain coding skills and contacts in a relatively short amount of time. You have the cash and time.

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#34

Post by GioM »

>I started doing some html work on code academy, it seemed a bit slow and thorough for what I'm trying to do.

Upon reflecting on my professional life, I found that most of my problems were caused by trying to run before I could walk. I needed to learn patience in order to make myself into the person that I desperately wanted to become (These days, I'm still working at it, but I'm making great progress). The crux of the matter is that it's easy to think of awesome things to make, but hard to put in the time to learn how to make them. Take the time to learn, and although you may find that what you wanted to make is not achievable, you will see other possibilities and opportunities open up for you.

With regard to beginner-level resources, I have had some great success with oreilly's headfirst series (http://shop.oreilly.com/category/series/head-first.do) They provide an excellent, quick, entry point into a subject, and enough base knowledge that you can expand on your own (and you will have to - they're beginner books). Combine these books and your future learning with diligent note-taking (via Evernote) and you will have a searchable and very useable database that will serve you well.

Good luck, and I hope it works out for you.

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#36

Post by chamboo »

runjake wrote: post #33

This is going to sound like an insult, but it truly isn't: In my mind, you obviously don't want to a put a lot of research into it -- as if you did, you'd just read everything you could, and get an MVP going -- instead of posting this. Don't worry, I'm often the same way. I suppose it's a sense of urgency. So you might look into DevBootCamp ( http://devbootcamp.com/ ). It doesn't mean you have to be an RoR programmer…

It doesn't. Part of the reason is urgency, and part of the reason is not fully trusting what I have found with my research (or not knowing if there is something better, and maybe I am missing out). I thought about this before posting, as I don't wish to shirk my own responsibilities, but from your response and others, I am glad that I decided to post, it has been very helpful and encouraging for me. Is there any reason this boot camp might be better than the others? I do not know anyone who has attended these camps.

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#37

Post by chamboo »

argimenes wrote: post #3

In my experience it is not unusual that an intelligent, ambitious, and creative person finds themselves at a crossroad in their late twenties. Perhaps it began in adolescence, even childhood, where they knew that they had an above-average intelligence and a mind open to possibilities -- but, at the same time, a grave sense of self doubt existed, which only grew year by year as ambitious projects floundered and others…

Would love to talk to you a bit more about this. This is very much a real issue for me, and I would like to further understand what you mean by finding practical things to do, etc. I would greatly appreciate any further response. Thank you.

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#38

Post by argimenes »

chamboo wrote: post #37
argimenes wrote: post #3

In my experience it is not unusual that an intelligent, ambitious, and creative person finds themselves at a crossroad in their late twenties. Perhaps it began in adolescence, even childhood, where they knew that they had an above-average intelligence and a mind open to possibilities -- but, at the same time, a grave sense of self doubt existed, which only grew year by year as ambitious projects floundered and others…

Would love to talk to you a bit more about this. This is very much a real issue for me, and I would like to further understand what you mean by finding practical things to do, etc. I would greatly appreciate any further response. Thank you.

Definitely happy to talk further. Not sure how we can get in touch privately in this forum -- if that's not possible, drop me an email to anonimoheynonnyno@gmail.com

Re: I'm a 30 year old with no experience, I want to build a startup

#39

Post by chamboo »

bones6 wrote: post #20
chamboo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"For example, if you believe that smart people are smart because they do clever things easily -- then your brain can start to believe that if you find something hard to do, it is proof of your stupidity. The brain then finds ways to avoid this painful conflict between ego-image and reality -- by dreaming up great ambitions and projects, but then shying away from realising them. Or, you can develop an aversion to "les…

My advice would be do something seriously FUN as a first project. Do you have a hobby that could be a springboard? For example, I love Radio-Controlled stuff. So a project could be arduino controlled R/C car/drone. A little coding and a little wiring with real results. It's not trivial, but it's not over the top difficult either. That's my example, but try to get a concrete project to tackle. You will learn what you…

Well I did build a custom, fully watercooled computer with flow/temperature monitoring and custom fan control from scratch. Custom wired and designed and overclocked to 5GHZ. Although it's just a computer, it actually took quite a bit of extensive planning and research. Not sure that it really did anything for me, I don't tend to give myself credit for anything for some reason. I figure if I can do it, it must not be too hard.

But yea, maybe that is a good start. I need to shrug this feeling of worthlessness that I carry so heavily. Maybe these are the baby steps needed.

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