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A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

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Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#61

Post by bridanp »

Shpigford wrote: post #40
WilliamEdward wrote: post #33

One thing that separates entrepreneurs from normal people is they aren't afraid of having stupid ideas. A good 90% of the ideas on this list, particularly the early ones, are laughable and are ideas you wouldn't catch a serious individual dead trying to come up with. Some people try from the start to be perfect and always fail because they don't understand you need dumb little ideas to be an entrepreneur.

So true! I’ll be the first to tell you the _vast_ majority of those ideas were objectively terrible but every single one of them taught me _something_.

I really enjoyed seeing the list, Josh, and I appreciate the share via Twitter and here. My guess is that there are several serial entrepreneurs on Hacker News, and like myself, definitely can identify with your efforts.

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#62

Post by cyberpunk0 »

WilliamEdward wrote: post #33

One thing that separates entrepreneurs from normal people is they aren't afraid of having stupid ideas. A good 90% of the ideas on this list, particularly the early ones, are laughable and are ideas you wouldn't catch a serious individual dead trying to come up with. Some people try from the start to be perfect and always fail because they don't understand you need dumb little ideas to be an entrepreneur.

Articles like this are always half delusional. Yeah you need to be able to fail but you also need a lot of money to continue failing at these stupid ideas until one works. Start ups are toys for rich Wall Street people and trust fund kids. Most people wanting to break in as an entrepreneur and start a business realistically have 1 shot.

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#63

Post by jondubois »

WilliamEdward wrote: post #31
wgerard wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not totally clear to me that hard work involves quantity (the OP, seemingly) over quality (others who have started fewer, more successful businesses). In general, there are lots of activities which give the appearance of hard work but are actually fairly superficial and detrimental to your long-term goals. Not at all saying that's the case here, more just musing on the idea of grinding for the sake of grinding.

It's almost as if there's a stark difference between working hard and working smart. No one wants to acknowledge that.

It depends on what level you're playing at. If you have access to capital and social connections then yes you need to play smart in order to succeed.

If you're some random person with no access to capital or social connections then your focus should be luck.

As a random person who started with no social connections and no capital, I think about luck all the time and it helps me to make decisions. Mostly, it helps me to weigh up future opportunities against current opportunities - I think about things that happened to me and I ask myself how unlikely they were to occur; if they were very unlikely, I try to stay on that unlikely path. Never waste your luck; you have to keep moving forward wherever it takes you. Sometimes it leads you to places you don't want to be, but beggars can't be choosers.

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#64

Post by rainbowmverse »

safgasCVS wrote: post #7

I don't understand this spray and pray approach to business - I'm not businessman so I may be talking out my ass - but I would have thought business is like a long term relationship. May as well have a spreadsheet of 50 failed marriages. If you aren't in it for the long haul what are you doing?

No one really knows a general "right" thing to do. Even someone who's found a right thing can't be much help if they just say what they did right. The best you can do is avoid doing the wrong things while probing around for a right thing. It's a way of thinking called inversion.

Try 100 things while avoiding common pitfalls. One of them will probably pan out.

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#65

Post by wgerard »

jondubois wrote: post #59
wgerard wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not totally clear to me that hard work involves quantity (the OP, seemingly) over quality (others who have started fewer, more successful businesses). In general, there are lots of activities which give the appearance of hard work but are actually fairly superficial and detrimental to your long-term goals. Not at all saying that's the case here, more just musing on the idea of grinding for the sake of grinding.

The keys to success are your social connections to capital and your acting skills; that's it, nothing else matters. Find a rich person, get them to like you (the difficult part), then get them to invest in your startup. Then you'll succeed. The richer your friends are, the more likely you are to succeed. However, it should be noted that the richer your friends are, the better your acting skills need to be (competitio…

I think that's a very simplistic view.

While there are of course people who have been extremely successful relying on those two things alone (and they dominate the headlines, of course), there are countless successful people who succeeded without either of those two things.

It's pretty disingenuous, for example, to argue that Katherine Johnson's (admittedly delayed in recognition) success is the result of social connections or acting skills.

An even more trivial example is that many pro athletes (in the US, at least) didn't achieve success because of their social connections to capital; most of them certainly aren't great actors either.

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#67

Post by Shpigford »

nedwin wrote: post #55

Hey shpigford - curious how you made a living during this time? Was it via these apps/projects/businesses? Freelancing? Day job? And kudos again. Great list.

From 2003-2013 I split my time with consulting. Did ~300 client projects over that time period.

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#69

Post by Shpigford »

bridanp wrote: post #61
Shpigford wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So true! I’ll be the first to tell you the _vast_ majority of those ideas were objectively terrible but every single one of them taught me _something_.

I really enjoyed seeing the list, Josh, and I appreciate the share via Twitter and here. My guess is that there are several serial entrepreneurs on Hacker News, and like myself, definitely can identify with your efforts.

Thanks so much!

Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years

#70

Post by Shpigford »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #58
Shpigford wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also wasn’t trying to do that. The large majority of these were me just trying things out to see what would happen. It’s how I learn. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well your persistence is commendable.

Or a massive waste of time. Some days I'm not sure which. :P
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