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I am done. I give up

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Re: I am done. I give up

#731

Post by neop1x »

rapind wrote: post #704

> It's also the constant stream of digital nomad influencers on Twitter who sell extremely distorted, rosy, and often times false dreams to indie entrepreneurs like myself. They make it seem like building a successful startup is easy and anyone can do it with the right mindset and a few key tips. This is just startup porn. It’s the same in any category (make money flipping houses!, crypto!, etc.) As a rule of thumb,…

This also applies to other fields. People also believe that it is simple to make money through day trading. There are many tiktok influencers and youtubers who portray themselves as millionaires, trading on a beach while digital nomading and giving nonsense advice. Yes, it is possible to make money day trading, but it takes a significant amount of learning, practice, patience, time, and discipline, and even then, the results are not always consistent, and it is not for everyone.

Re: I am done. I give up

#732

Post by codyb »

I think it's wonderful you tried. Three times! Wow! Most people don't even try once.

Sorry things didn't blow up the way you hoped, but I doubt you'll ever regret the fact you gave it a go.

Hope you feel better soon. Good luck with everything.

Re: I am done. I give up

#733

Post by varelse »

tlarkworthy wrote: post #468
nmfisher wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually totally disagree with this. Developer tools are probably one of the easier segments to tackle because technical people 1) like trying new things and 2) often have company credit cards that don’t have to justify expenses.

Having worked in a successful developer tool (Firebase) this is utter nonsense. Developers are super cheap. People are ringing their hands over the 10 dollar per month copilot price for the world beat ai to help you code for Christ' sake.

[dead]

Re: I am done. I give up

#734

Post by api »

starkd wrote: post #650
api wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s cultural. The US places a lot of value on striving out and doing new things. It’s a frontier culture. Older cultures tend to be more conservative. You can see this effect inside the US. The most “business friendly” states often do not lead in entrepreneurship because they’re culturally more conservative.

I disagree. Texas has been one of the fastest growing economies in the states. With a lot of technology companies.

Texas isn't the lowest tax or lowest regulation state, though it's a bit lower than California.

I also think the cultural thing is obvious there. Texas is very pro-entrepreneurship generally.

Re: I am done. I give up

#735

Post by weatherlite »

rpadovani wrote: post #354
IronIvan wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm. Lived a very frugal early retirement lifestyle in Austria because it was practically impossible to build wealth (high taxes, comparatively very low tech salaries, little entrepreneurial support/incentives). Moving to the US I was able to 5-6x my income (from what I could have realistically made) , while reducing my tax burden by 15 percentage points, and so I've been happily living a workaholics' lifesty…

> (work for almost 2 decades as an engineer just so you can afford the average one family home - what a joke!) I really don't understand this take. Why so many engineers feel entitled to have more than the average working Joe? If you are employed, our work is not risky, doesn't consume all your energy or your time, and so on. I fully understand the _economics_ behind our salaries, but I am more than happy to give 45%…

Not OP but I think if you're gonna earn an average salary then tech is a pretty bad choice due to the constant shifting base of knowledge, lack of security (dot com type bubbles) and ageism prevalent in the industry. Being something like a government worker or teacher makes much more sense then. And unsurprisingly, in Europe a huge part of GDP is created by the government. Software developer roles in Europe are dominated by immigrants for much of the same reason - locals don't see these jobs as such a lucrative career path.

Re: I am done. I give up

#736

Post by pembrook »

pavlov wrote: post #200
kubb wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the privileges people don't often think about is being able to afford to fail. If you don't risk destitution after your startup fails, you can try and fail many times, learn and try again. It's like continuously rolling two dice, and you only need to get double sixes once, and after that it's private jets until you die. One of the many reasons the rich get richer and the poor, well you know how it goes.

This is one of the underappreciated benefits of the Nordic-style welfare state: everybody can afford to fail. Unfortunately it's rarely discussed in society as such. The political parties that built these welfare states have traditionally been associated with worker unions, and entrepreneurship isn't high on their agenda. The Nordic right-wing parties got ideologically married to Thatcher-style neoliberalism and pref…

As someone living in Finland, I would argue the cons balance out the pros. The welfare state also creates massive disincentives for entrepreneurs. There is no free lunch.

In addition to the psychological aspects mentioned below (why try so hard when you’ll be fine either way), there are bigger reasons.

While the safety net makes it less dangerous to fail, it also makes it harder to succeed.

The barrier you need to clear before the business can be successful is much higher, due to:

- 15-20% higher taxes than the US at every level. Cut your profit margin by 15% and you need roughly double the amount of revenue you’d need in the US to pay yourself a good salary.

- high cost of living (like living in NYC/SF but without all the opportunities)

- inability to hire full time employees until you get much bigger (they literally cannot be fired and if one goes on maternity leave you can be stuck paying someone without getting their labor for a year+)

-lack of funding/financing and risk capital (Europe is starting to catch up, but nowhere near the US, especially at the small business levels). There’s nothing like the SBA loans the US has.

-more severe penalties for failure in the form of bankruptcy, you cannot walk away relatively unscathed in the same you can in the US

-impossibility of building wealth by working a job to fund the business yourself (salaries are extremely low due to the massive social benefits overhead)

Re: I am done. I give up

#737

Post by joshwolff »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #676
annyeonghada wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>victimhood mentality Does this kind of pseudo-self-help-tough-love help anyone? Whenever I read something like that I do not feel motivated but enraged. Sometimes people are really victims. Mainly of chance.

I don’t think it’s tough love per se. I think it’s just true that many people let a victim mentality get in there way. Not derail the thread but I think it is more problematic now as victimhood is lionized today. It can be very helpful yo show people that letting go of this is a way yo change your circumstance. It doesn’t mean the person is not a victim of something or yo downplay it but it is a recognition of how to…

They're free to let go. That's fine. Not a big deal. Good for them for trying. It's the entire presentation of their dilemma that prompted by comment. Did you even read their post?

"I tried everything [I was supposed to]" "But no matter what I did, I couldn't seem to get anywhere." "It was as if the world was against me" "no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make any progress" "It was like I didn't even exist in the world of entrepreneurship." "please don't be fooled by the false promises"

Blaming everyone but themselves. They sound very entitled and they claim that they deserve it. Sorry. That's not how you win and that's not how any of this works.

Re: I am done. I give up

#738

Post by adversaryIdiot »

tlarkworthy wrote: post #468
nmfisher wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually totally disagree with this. Developer tools are probably one of the easier segments to tackle because technical people 1) like trying new things and 2) often have company credit cards that don’t have to justify expenses.

Having worked in a successful developer tool (Firebase) this is utter nonsense. Developers are super cheap. People are ringing their hands over the 10 dollar per month copilot price for the world beat ai to help you code for Christ' sake.

yeah, and i plan on cancling my co-pilot subscription after the free trial

Re: I am done. I give up

#739

Post by glonq »

I deliberately avoid startup porn and hustle porn.

Otherwise, my impostor syndrome would get 100% worse. I would feel that my salary is terrible, my skills are dull, and I'm lazy.

Some days, even just scanning the headlines here on Hacker News makes me tense... But generaly, I'm happy with me.

Re: I am done. I give up

#740

Post by satvikpendem »

synu wrote: post #102
themitigating wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought digital nomads were mostly remote workers who just wanted to travel. What is an indie business?

Something where you make a business that takes minimal commitment so you can spend your time on the beach. The actual business seems to be taking photos of yourself on the beach and making money as an influencer, while telling people you made money from your startup though. At least that’s my impression. Maybe there are counter examples.

This is mostly incorrect. Indie business are what the name says, independent bootstrapped businesses that does not take venture capital. They are usually SaaS but not always. Lots of examples on the IndieHackers podcast, including a guy who makes money doing cookie delivery.

You're more likely thinking of Instagram, Twitter or YouTube influencers.

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