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Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

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Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#81

Post by kayoone »

larrys wrote: post #18

"I began getting depressed about the lack of a life I had outside of work. I’d bring this bad mood to work with me, in turn making it a worse place to be. I’ve since made an asserted effort to dedicate time to my social life: going on trips with friends; going on dates; and, most importantly, getting work completely off my mind occasionally." Serious question (and my thoughts) here I'm not trying to be cute. Regardin…

But it gets hard when you work your ass off for a few years and your business still doesnt work. Then you probably wont have alot of money and you skipped all the fun for working which in the end might show for nothing much.

Also imagine something bad happens to you and you might regret saying "ill have fun later"..

Nothing wrong with working hard, but try to find a balance! Work hard, play hard!

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#82

Post by sprobertson »

awm wrote: post #8

Could you elaborate on what you mention is the MIT syndrome? I saw one definition (based on over explaining) but it seems like this is something else

I think he's talking about the easy-to catch idea-disease that since he went to MIT he should be better off than the average person. This might be true in some scenarios, but not in the startup world where as he mentions he "started to meet people who were [his] equals". Personally I'm surprised he didn't already experience this when he got to MIT, like GuiA mentions.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#83

Post by jpulgarin »

larrys wrote: post #53
majormajor wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The best way to insure that you can live the life you want and have some fun is to put all the effort in that you can now and try to put off having fun until a bit later on." How do you reconcile this with most startups failing? (Let's assume here that people fail for reasons other than just "didn't work hard enough.")

"How do you reconcile this with most startups failing?" Very simple. Don't choose the type of startup that has a 3 in 10 chance of succeeding on the off chance that you are the lucky one that hit's the lottery. Stop thinking that if you want to be an entrepreneur the only thing you can do is get into YC, Techstars, 500 Startups or have some idea that a VC will invest in. The other thing you can do is work as hard as…

"Very simple. Don't choose the type of startup that has a 3 in 10 chance of succeeding on the off chance that you are the lucky one that hit's the lottery."

That doesn't sound simple at all. What types of startups have higher success rates than 30%?

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#84

Post by yay_cloud »

dannyr wrote: post #69
heretohelp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that even people in the same cohort aren't seeing the value, how is it going to help everybody else?

Maybe no value to you but it is for me. Probably for other people too. Please do not draw generalizations just based only on your own experience.

I think there's also value here watching heretohelp flail about unprofessionally. He may have valid points or not, but the truth is, it doesn't matter, because he's going about his crusade in a way that will turn most people off.

His conduct doesn't cast nutrivise in a great light.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#85

Post by nanijoe »

BenjaminCoe wrote: post #76
dennisgorelik wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Compete shows downtrend for attachments.me I understand it could be a mistake due to low numbers, but still does not look promising. 2) What are attachments.me actual usage numbers today and 1 year ago?

I won't give you all of our numbers, but If you look at our Chrome Extension page, you can see that we have 35,000 active installations. Much of this growth has happened over the past six months. These numbers simply aren't well reflected in the Compete score. My coworkers and I work hard, and believe in what we're doing. Rome wasn't built in a day, let's hold of on the talent acquisition talk ;)

35k active installations does not sound like a lot, especially for a free download.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#86

Post by ballooney »

larrys wrote: post #63
drumdance wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only get one youth. Goals are fine, but it's easy to fall into the trap of "once I do X, then I'll be happy." Better IME to spend at least a few hours per week discovering and doing things that make you happy now. That doesn't mean partying, just cultivating interests, practices and (most important) relationships that make you a well-rounded, emotionally healthy person.

"That doesn't mean partying, just cultivating interests, practices and (most important) relationships that make you a well-rounded, emotionally healthy person." Agree. One of the problems with partying and socializing is that it's addicting in a way and takes your eye off the ball. You can have fun of course but for some reason social things tend to draw you in and prevent you from focusing on what's important in gro…

> You can have fun of course but for some reason social things tend to draw you in and prevent you from focusing on what's important in growing a business

Your premise seems to be that The Purpose Of Life is to have a successful business. If you actually believe this, then of course you won't understand why other people, most people, choose to do social things. That doesn't mean they're wrong, it just means that you don't understand it.

I would also be surprised if in 20 years you look back and think selling a few domain names was worth missing out on everything or will give you stories for the grand kids. Perspectives are not time-invariant, something many people come to realise with regret.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#87

Post by justsee »

heretohelp wrote: post #65
justsee wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to have a very strong opinion of what HN should be about, and yet this bubbling animosity for the OP and his content seems very out of place here. The post's title was completely accurate, to the extent that you've admitted it's not something you want to read. Don't read it then. The fact it's bubbling up the top posts means others found some merit in it. You want to lecture people against upvoting this cont…

Although I disagree with PG on nearly everything salient to this conversation, he himself has noted the decline of the community here. I'll take his word for it over yours.

See, this type of moronic response (avoid the actual content of a comment, engage in dismissive trolling response) is what is part of the 'decline' of the community you've attempted to flag. Ironic.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#88

Post by dkrich »

BenjaminCoe wrote: post #45
dkrich wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understand why funding seems to be the end goal either. To me, apart perhaps from some vindication of your idea, the happiness people experience when funded almost shows a lack of vision.

For people with financial burdens, venture capital can be the difference between being able to pursue your startup dreams, or letting them die on the vine. There are definite downsides to raising money, and I totally understand the stigma the HN community tends to attach to it. Having said that, a 500k seed investment let Jesse and I put down everything, and put 100% of our efforts towards Attachments.me. I have no r…

I'm not debating the merits of raising cash. Most companies and businesses have to do it when starting out. The part that I (and I'm assuming the OP) find puzzling is the part about "climbing to the top of the hill overlooking the city and realizing all our childhood dreams had come true" after having raised a round of investment. This seems to me to be saying "we got a million+ investment and we won!" I think for most that's not really the point of starting a business.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#89

Post by campnic »

larrys wrote: post #18

"I began getting depressed about the lack of a life I had outside of work. I’d bring this bad mood to work with me, in turn making it a worse place to be. I’ve since made an asserted effort to dedicate time to my social life: going on trips with friends; going on dates; and, most importantly, getting work completely off my mind occasionally." Serious question (and my thoughts) here I'm not trying to be cute. Regardin…

I wrote a rambling reply and decided to cut it down to bullet points:

1. You can have a fulfilling life without a start-up.

2. You can be incredibly successful without a start-up

3. A balanced life is not limiting. The concept that the amount of hours you put in is directly correlated to 'success' seems like a delusion

4. Plenty of people die with retirement accounts untouched, vacation untaken, parnters unmet, friends forgotten all in the pursuit of 'success' just to have society move on and forget them.

Re: Confessions of a 20-Something Startup CTO

#90

Post by sreyaNotfilc »

ballooney wrote: post #86
larrys wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"That doesn't mean partying, just cultivating interests, practices and (most important) relationships that make you a well-rounded, emotionally healthy person." Agree. One of the problems with partying and socializing is that it's addicting in a way and takes your eye off the ball. You can have fun of course but for some reason social things tend to draw you in and prevent you from focusing on what's important in gro…

> You can have fun of course but for some reason social things tend to draw you in and prevent you from focusing on what's important in growing a business Your premise seems to be that The Purpose Of Life is to have a successful business. If you actually believe this, then of course you won't understand why other people, most people, choose to do social things. That doesn't mean they're wrong, it just means that you…

I think the point is that if you do have a business or starting one, then don't take your eye off of that because you're feeling like you're not social enough or that you're missing out on things.

You can only do one thing at one time, right? So if starting/running a business is really truly important to you, then run that buisness. It doesn't make sense to start a business, raise money, hire others if what you really want to do is go to a club and hang out 'till 3 in the morning. It does have to be one or the other, or that business will fail.

Now, I'm not saying not to do the social stuff. Friends and relationships are very important. What I believe Larry is saying is to not take your eyes off the prize. You've started the business for a reason. You need to be focused on it and nurture it until it succeeds. If you really don't want to put in the time for that, there are other alternative like getting a regular job. Then you can work 8 hours a day, have friends, and party. That's fine.

To be successful as an entrepreneur, you've got to dig down deep and take care of your product. Its a lot of work. A ton of work. If it wasn't, everyone would be doing it. Instead, we have a few people trying to start/run businesses. And it can be Hell. But, if you don't want to deal with that extreme focus, that's fine too.

Think of the movie Cool Runnings. While the other Jamaicans were at the Ho Down Bar, Derice was sitting in the tub going over turns. Its that type of focus that will help in succeeding at business.

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