Good luck! One odd piece of advice I have is to recommend limiting the amount of startup advice you read online. It's too generic now that you've committed. Focus on what you're creating, not on making your venture look like the internet's current concept of "startup". Look, for example, at the popular phrase "Minimum Viable Product". You'll find a lot of excitement around the "minimum" part, but the "viable" part matters also and is fully dependent on what you're doing. There are many things that are unique about individual businesses, but generic online advice by necessity exaggerates the shared aspects.
Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
51–60 of 121 posts
Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#52Let the [work] begin. FTFY I hope you're prepared to work at least five times harder than you did at your safe job, and for little to no guaranteed reward. Actually, if you're only giving yourself six months, make that ten times harder. I would say good luck, but considering around 90% of startups fail, work hard, be persistent and expect difficulty, seems more helpful to say. The success stories appearing on HN can…
The comments and/or advice you're giving (and the tone you're using) are the type of things you say to someone before they decide to make the jump if you want them to think long and hard before making a tough decision. When you say it like this to someone who is announcing that his decision is made, you just sound condescending. It doesn't help that you throw in a bunch of advice when you don't even know who he is, w…
I don't mean to sound condescending. I can't help the timing of the decision, either. I'm also guessing he's read HN enough to have more than my comments to weigh for various perceptions of a startup. To my knowledge the failure rate of startups is around 90% (not my doing). In light of that, I felt the best thing I could do if I wanted to truly help, which I do, is try and foster a tough, ready for battle mental mindset. His announcement seemed a bit cheery and optimistic, and I wanted to suggest that, realistically, the road to startup success is not usually a cakewalk. HN is largely a startup community, so I figured others might find value in my comments as well, and if such comments harm his enthusiasm, and are more destructive than constructive then, IMO, he's quite likely to end up in the 90%.
Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#53If I have two pieces of advice I can share, 1. Pick up some contract work - you can easily turn 6 mths into 12 mths, and then 2 years, then 3...no matter how many projects fail to get off the ground, if you have a bit of side income, it'll help in the long run. 2. Don't ever forget why you quit - if that is to "pursue your dreams, not an income". Write it on a wall above your monitors and don't ever forget it. EDIT:…
Be careful with contract work though, it's very easy to fall into the trap of taking on too much and pushing back your own project...
Contract work can be worse golden handcuffs than a job in corporate
Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#54Congratulations on making the most important decision of your life and, secondarily, on opening the business. Words cannot express how much better self-employment is than what I used to do for a living.
Well, it's only good if it's making you money...
Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless you're Groupon or any number of other startups. It helps to start out with a business model.
Andrew Mason first had the idea for Groupon in September 2006, which was more than 2 years before Groupon officially "started" in November 2008, and probably at least 3 years before they achieved mainstream success. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2010/On-Gr...
My mom first had the idea for rollerblades in 1968 — that doesn't mean she's a cofounder of Nordica. Thinking of an idea for a business is so many light years away from actually acting on that idea.
Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#56You might need a lot more than 6 months. But, like my wife always tells me, you don't fail as an entrepreneur until you quit. And the ride is sure worth it. Life is short.
Amen on that. I figured I'd need 6 months starting about 3 years ago. Things are really starting to come together now though.
Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#57Re: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#58 Once you have mastered time, you will understand how
true it is that most people overestimate what they can
accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can
achieve in a decade.
-Tony RobbinsRe: Thanks HN: Goodbye, Golden Handcuffs
#59Don't listen to whiny voices about how you need to work hard. You don't. You need to manage your time well and be very persistent and consistent in work you output.
Good luck.