Lmao
I am done. I give up
981–990 of 1001 posts
Re: I am done. I give up
#982Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fell into this whole startup hustle bubble a while ago, obviously I also read the book "Rich dad, poor dad". At least I tried, it was bad. Not only was it unrealistic, it also dismissed a whole lot of external factors at play at accumulating such wealth and didn't feel realistic at all. I did not know that he worked regular 9 to 5 and only generated his wealth by providing advice how to build wealth, but its not re…
It made you poorer and him richer though, so from his perspective it's a good book.
[dead]
Re: I am done. I give up
#983Why am I reading this instead of reading why your product is so great? It's sad that this ycombinator news about you failing reached me, and your product didn't.
The world is against you. It's agains me too.
And building something people actually want is really hard. And it's probably not what you want. You're probably different than your customers.
Try again. You can do it.
Don't be a customer. Be a provider. Do something for me. Do what I want done... something I am not willing to do myself.
Don't build what you want. Build what people want.
Ask what people want.
I want to eat bread and drink orange juice but I don't want to bake bread or squeeze oranges.
I am willing to pay probably up to $10 for orange juice every few weeks.
Ask me (prospects/customers) what we want.
You can't buy the answer. You have to ask for it many, many times and listen to what people say and then think really hard how you can deliver that to them and turn a profit.
Three tries is not that many.
Try again.
Try smarter.
Put in less work and less money but try again.
Re: I am done. I give up
#984Having done several options -- entrepreneurship, job, internal entrepreneurship, and consulting, my advice: - Entrepreneurship isn't a lifestyle. Stay in a job unless you have a good idea and are ready to execute. - Try your idea internally. Starting a new product in a company is easier than outside. It doesn't have a $1B upside, but it has enough upside, in all respects (not just financial -- learning, credibility,…
This is the best advice I've seen on this website in years!
Re: I am done. I give up
#985I am so sorry you feel bad. Want some advice from an older engineer turned entrepreneur? Be proud of what you have done. Not many people take risks in life. You did. Being the 'man in the arena' is enough. I read this quote from Teddy Roosevelt often: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to…
I've had this quote bookmarked for 7 years now.
Re: I am done. I give up
#986Wish you all the best as you focus on healing over the coming days. Do you have any counter-intuitive advice on how to build a following? I assume your startup is B2C.
Re: I am done. I give up
#987Re: I am done. I give up
#988> 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 is just startup porn. It’s the same in any category (make money flipping houses!, crypto!, etc.) As a rule of thumb, assume 99% of influencers are full of shit. Stay off instagram. This 100x! Many of the big influencers in these indie/startup/productivity niches seem to earn a lot of money at first sight. If you look deeper, a lot of these influencer seem to be making a lot of money from courses they are selli…
Would you mind naming who specifically you would put into that group?
E.g. Would you put Pieter Levels into that category?
Re: I am done. I give up
#989A big fact of the entrepreneur world is that it is hugely based on luck. Luck of finding the right idea, the right market, the right timing, the right connections, the right customers, the right employees, the right financing. The basic fact is that most startups and most entrepreneurial dreams fail or get consumed by another for their talent/clients. And as an entrepreneur you fight against all odds. Most will fail…
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.
…
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If—; Kipling, Rudyard; 1910
Re: I am done. I give up
#990Earlier quoted context omitted.
My all time favorite is Robert T. Kiyosaki's book "Poor dad, rich dad". Pretty much everything he teaches about financial success is fiction. In reality he worked a regular 9 to 5 job, failed at starting his own business, and finally made money by selling this book and providing seminars.
The takeaway I got from him was positive. First, start buying real estate and renting. THEN, with that financial security try to build a business of your own if you are motivated. The first part is hard to fail at, and you can do it while working a full time job.
> THEN, with that financial security ..
Nah, you'll just mooch off your stable unearned, unproductive income source for the rest of your life. It's called rent seeking -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking and it's the absolute core of the disease that is modern capitalism.