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Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

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Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#71

Post by jamroom »

darklajid wrote: post #59
jamroom wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 41, married, and have 3 kids - my "cofounder" and I have just applied to YC for Summer 2012. I've been running in "start up" mode since around 2000, so my lifestyle has adjusted to a much lower level of pay than I would expect had I continued working in the fortune 500 as a developer, but I don't regret a single moment of it. Even though your idea is ambitious, you might consider nights/weekends to work on it - y…

Thank you. Your voice was missing here for a while. 32, married. As of yet I have no offspring, but that's going to be corrected. Still, I lurked and commented here, always with the 'Ahhh.. If I'd be without ties and responsibilities once more' thought. I cannot tell you how glad I am to read that someone with arguably more responsibilities in life and a bit older than me (another point that is rarely coming up here)…

When I quit my full time job in 2005 I can't tell you how many people thought I was seriously crazy to leave a "stable" job to do something on my own. For me however, it really wasn't a choice - it was something I had to do.

I've always believed that there are millions of people in this world who would be willing to work harder than me if only they had the opportunities I have been given in my life. To not take full responsibility for my life and work as hard as I can to achieve something feels disrespectful to those who WOULD if they had the chance. I know that may sound a bit cheesy, but it's been an important driver in my life since I've gone solo.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#72

Post by ohashi »

damoncali wrote: post #46
samstave wrote: post #33

The reason why I think that it is difficult to say a frighteningly ambitious startup idea is actually something that is expected to come through YC, is that the funding that YC provides is miniscule, and will cover hardly an annual salary for a single, accomplished person who has a lot of domain knowledge in a field they may want to disrupt. As someone in the medical space who is 37, married with 2 kids - My salary i…

What makes you think there is a connection between your old salary and what you can make as the founder of a new company? That's not how it works.

He has a family to provide for which does need to eat and their well being probably plays a huge role in his decision making. Giving up a comfortable salary to pursue something ambitious may be an easy decision on a personal level, but it may be very difficult on the rest of the family.

The connection to old salary is simply family expectations/lifestyle. That's a real decision and I can imagine dissuades a lot of people. I would be more risk averse if my outcome affected other people I cared about.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#73

Post by Detrus »

tesseractive wrote: post #67
Detrus wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS independent iCloud is a nice feature but hard to see the path to Apple sized scale from it. It's just one of fifty UX headaches of typical computer use. Easier to get at those from OS or browser positions, Dropbox is in a weird spot.

So maybe their next move is to buy Evernote, or build their own. As someone already mentioned, build a suite of document viewers/editors that go hand in hand with managing the files. Go from just allowing you to post a public folder to becoming your personal web presence. Manage cross-social-network personal information so that it always stays in sync. There are a lot of possibilities if you think past the files.

Sure but it's a distant pivot. It's almost starting over except they have a company with revenue. Adobe also has that and each new product attempt fails or wins independent of Photoshop's success. And Adobe and MS products are more related to each other than file backup and editing.

Dropbox the product is a good revenue stream and could spark another Microsoft/Adobe style multiproduct software company.

Is that Paul Graham meant by start to chip at the big vision with a beachhead though? Because then any product idea has that potential, as long as it starts the first company. Seemed like he was advocating for a more direct path, hacker search to more general search, basecamp to email, etc. Starting companies is hard anyway, start with a clear path to something big.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#74

Post by jamroom »

bicknergseng wrote: post #62
darklajid wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. Your voice was missing here for a while. 32, married. As of yet I have no offspring, but that's going to be corrected. Still, I lurked and commented here, always with the 'Ahhh.. If I'd be without ties and responsibilities once more' thought. I cannot tell you how glad I am to read that someone with arguably more responsibilities in life and a bit older than me (another point that is rarely coming up here)…

We're not all eating ramen and single. Yes, when you're married with kids and a mortgage the immediate risk is greater, but that doesn't mean us I had a tough time finding a cofounder among my peers. Even the most entrepreneurial of them, people who had started things in college, are still far more inclined to go to work for someone else (especially with an offer in this job market). While I know there's a myriad of…

You are so right - I like to think of it as accepting responsibility for your life. Several hundred years ago "starting your own company" could be equated to "going west and creating a new life" - it takes a lot of guts and determination to strike out on your own, and most people would never dream of it.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#75

Post by tptacek »

samstave wrote: post #33

The reason why I think that it is difficult to say a frighteningly ambitious startup idea is actually something that is expected to come through YC, is that the funding that YC provides is miniscule, and will cover hardly an annual salary for a single, accomplished person who has a lot of domain knowledge in a field they may want to disrupt. As someone in the medical space who is 37, married with 2 kids - My salary i…

Being simultaneously unable to walk away from a six-figure salaried income and unable to bootstrap a company probably doesn't correlate well with "likely success as company founder".

You'd make a more compelling point if it was "I think the small amount of funding is going to prevent YC from generating ambitious companies because it was easier for me to start $COMPANY_I_CURRENTLY_RUN without YC". But anecdotally, it's the opposite: people fully capable of funding their companies are going to YC for the network and for the automatic increase in valuation.

You can compare other startup creation vectors that you have knowledge of to YC, but it's awfully hard to make a valid comparison between YC and a salaried job. If you're going to stay in a salaried job in our current white-hot market, you probably weren't going to start a company no matter what.

(There's nothing wrong with not starting a company. Even if YC starts 10 hugely ambitious, Airbnb-scale successes this cycle, it will still wash out a huge number of other companies. Careers made in salaried jobs have a lot to recommend them, and financial outcome is definitely one of them.)

An earlier version of me used to make the same point. "$20k for 6 points! That's a CEO's equity grant and one consulting project's revenue!" I feel dumb about that critique now that YC companies all seem to be getting uncapped convertible notes with minimal drama, and now that the YC network includes so many successful companies. Obviously, the YC money isn't the big draw anymore.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#76

Post by jamroom »

tptacek wrote: post #75
samstave wrote: post #33

The reason why I think that it is difficult to say a frighteningly ambitious startup idea is actually something that is expected to come through YC, is that the funding that YC provides is miniscule, and will cover hardly an annual salary for a single, accomplished person who has a lot of domain knowledge in a field they may want to disrupt. As someone in the medical space who is 37, married with 2 kids - My salary i…

Being simultaneously unable to walk away from a six-figure salaried income and unable to bootstrap a company probably doesn't correlate well with "likely success as company founder". You'd make a more compelling point if it was "I think the small amount of funding is going to prevent YC from generating ambitious companies because it was easier for me to start $COMPANY_I_CURRENTLY_RUN without YC". But anecdotally, it'…

Spot on - in fact I wonder if YC would be open to "funding" more groups if some of those groups didn't need the money? For us it's about the network like you pointed out.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#77

Post by r00fus »

Estragon wrote: post #35
alain94040 wrote: post #28

Even Twitter wouldn't sound ambitious if you say "we are group SMS for the world". To better understand how ambitious a startup is, assume that its adoption is 100%. If everyone is using it, does it change lives? If everyone chats on Twitter, does it impact politics? If everyone is on Facebook, do you reconnect with old friends? Etc. Dropbox is in that category too. With used cars purchases, I can see how everyone wo…

What is the best-case endgame for dropbox? I like it, but I don't understand why everyone's so excited about its potential.

Ubiquity. Once dropbox becomes essential for a large number of mobile or web-based apps (and their users), it becomes indispensable. With this comes a lot of possibility for monetizing either from the users or the vendors.

Of course one could say that's the same goal for just about any consumer-facing startup these days.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#78

Post by novakinblood »

darklajid wrote: post #59
jamroom wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 41, married, and have 3 kids - my "cofounder" and I have just applied to YC for Summer 2012. I've been running in "start up" mode since around 2000, so my lifestyle has adjusted to a much lower level of pay than I would expect had I continued working in the fortune 500 as a developer, but I don't regret a single moment of it. Even though your idea is ambitious, you might consider nights/weekends to work on it - y…

Thank you. Your voice was missing here for a while. 32, married. As of yet I have no offspring, but that's going to be corrected. Still, I lurked and commented here, always with the 'Ahhh.. If I'd be without ties and responsibilities once more' thought. I cannot tell you how glad I am to read that someone with arguably more responsibilities in life and a bit older than me (another point that is rarely coming up here)…

Wow, I'm glad I'm not alone. Married, 32, 3 kids (all girls,yikes!) and a mortgage and working on PhD but still want to do a startup. Glad there still is hope.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#79

Post by tesseractive »

Detrus wrote: post #73
tesseractive wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So maybe their next move is to buy Evernote, or build their own. As someone already mentioned, build a suite of document viewers/editors that go hand in hand with managing the files. Go from just allowing you to post a public folder to becoming your personal web presence. Manage cross-social-network personal information so that it always stays in sync. There are a lot of possibilities if you think past the files.

Sure but it's a distant pivot. It's almost starting over except they have a company with revenue. Adobe also has that and each new product attempt fails or wins independent of Photoshop's success. And Adobe and MS products are more related to each other than file backup and editing. Dropbox the product is a good revenue stream and could spark another Microsoft/Adobe style multiproduct software company. Is that Paul G…

Maybe it's a distant pivot.

But to me it doesn't seem a huge leap from "we keep your files for you and get them for you wherever you are" to "we let you do things with your files" or "we keep other stuff for you too." It seems like a very natural proposition to offer users.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#80

Post by tptacek »

jamroom wrote: post #76
tptacek wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being simultaneously unable to walk away from a six-figure salaried income and unable to bootstrap a company probably doesn't correlate well with "likely success as company founder". You'd make a more compelling point if it was "I think the small amount of funding is going to prevent YC from generating ambitious companies because it was easier for me to start $COMPANY_I_CURRENTLY_RUN without YC". But anecdotally, it'…

Spot on - in fact I wonder if YC would be open to "funding" more groups if some of those groups didn't need the money? For us it's about the network like you pointed out.

At 60+ companies in a cycle I think they're already going to start butting up into dilution.

If you have a program that is attracting the 60+ most viable candidates to start companies, it's kind of odd to expect that group to go into left field to start tapping risk-averse people for whom salaried jobs are so attractive they'd skip YC.

There's nothing wrong with those people! But the whole point of startups is to capitalize on timely combinations of risk tolerance and talent.

Can you imagine Larry Page and Sergey Brin taking Backrub to YC, had it existed, in 1997? It was their first startup. Am I saying they obviously would have? No. But I wouldn't have been surprised.

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