
Should You Really Be A Startup Entrepreneur? - azazo
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/30/should-you-really-be-a-startup-entrepreneur/
======
a2tech
I know I shouldn't. It may be a terrible thing, but I like to check in at a
certain time, work for a predetermined amount of time, and then go home. I
work to enjoy the rest of my life, I don't want my work consuming my life. I
worked in a startup for a few years, and the way it crept into all the other
aspect of my life was disquieting.

~~~
abless
I'd like to question the implication that your life is not affected by work as
a normal employee of a big company. Sure, it's most probably not going to be
as intense as for a start-up, but that's less because of start-up vs big
company, but much more about how committed you are to your work in general. I
know lots of people working at big companies who have crazy work-hours and
whose social life definitely gets affected by that.

Let's face it, if you want to be successful - start-up or not - you'll have to
work your butt off.

~~~
shortlived
It's a balancing act. There are plenty of big companies were you can work
normal hours and still be a committed worker.

Spending time with my family and enjoying a few hobbies is my definition of
success.

------
dmor
If you're asking yourself this question and currently work on BigCo, you might
consider working for a startup first, as opposed to founding one. In the Bay
Area, startups pass their series A round provide comparable salary and
benefits to BigCo jobs. You won't get as much equity or exposure to as many of
the ups-and-downs, but making the transition from BigCo to a 30 person company
is a big jump.

I quit my BigCo job 2 weeks before my wedding to join a friend's startup as
employee 20-something, quit after 18 months, and then joined my current
startup as employee #1. With each move, my risk tolerance increased alongside
my confidence that I wouldn't die. It has been almost a 4 year process (and
still going), but I feel much more prepared now than I would have been in the
summer of 2007

~~~
nostrademons
Also, starting _anything_ , whether it's a business or not, will give you
exposure to many of the same ups and downs as a startup. You can get much of
the experience with essentially zero risk (except to your ego) by starting a
social club, student organization, hobby website, or open-source project. Just
as long as you make an honest goal of adoption and don't just put it out there
with a "whatever happens, happens" attitude.

My first major programming project was a complete rewrite in college of a
Harry Potter fansite that grew from 2000 to 100,000 registered users during my
time on staff. Relative to my skill level at the time, it was probably the
hardest thing I've ever done, and it taught me a lot about the emotional
roller coaster and persevering through the lows where I really want to quit.

~~~
ido

        You can get much of the experience with 
        essentially zero risk (except to your ego) 
        by starting a social club, student 
        organization, hobby website, or 
        open-source project.
    

Unless you are supporting a family, where's the big risk in trying to start up
your own business?

It's not like you will be reduced to living under a bridge and panhandling if
things don't pan out - if you're a good programmer finding a new job isn't
that hard.

------
Mystalic
Silicon valley romanticizes the startup life. We read about Bill Gates, Mark
Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs and dream of doing 1/10 of what they did.

The reality is that the startup life can be hell, and if you aren't prepared
to walk through fire for your startup, then you shouldn't do it.

~~~
guptaneil
While nobody will deny that startup life is hell, it also is very much as good
as the Valley makes it sound for the right type of people. Most people aren't
the right people though, so it sounds romanticized.

edit: To clarify, "right type of people" doesn't necessarily mean successful
people, just people who enjoy this kind of lifestyle. Success is just a bonus.

~~~
idlewords
I would strenuously deny that the startup life is hell. Go pick fruit for a
few months, for instance. The amount of assumed privilege in these discussions
is shocking.

~~~
hugh3
Picking fruit is hell? Sheesh, in Australia picking fruit is considered a
"working holiday" for middle-class European kids.

~~~
patio11
The experience of picking fruit is rather different for middle-class European
kids and poor Mexican kids/parents/old folks. Two salient differences, among
many: middle-class European kids can at any time stop picking fruit and resume
being middle-class Europeans, and there is no outcome to middle-class European
fruit picking which reads "fruit picker's family goes hungry."

I was not exactly thrilled with the experience of my old day job, and
complained about it frequently, but _never_ at church. Odds are on any given
day I would be sitting next to at least one guy who did about as many hours at
one third the pay working in a factory for people who treated him as a
necessary reagent in an industrial process. Heck if I'm going to say "Waily
waily I was in my air conditioned office yesterday at 1:30 AM when I could
have been at home playing PS3."

------
keeptrying
My favorite Mark Suster quote :

"I became an entrepreneur so I could tell people to go f!ck themselves."

And that basically sums it up for me. I've said this to enough bosses that,
this is a huge appeal for me. If you check my performance reviews they all
list "has a problem with authority".

I've been to a QnA session with Mark and I learned so damn much from him. He's
very open about the workings of VC. And I don't think I've laughed so much at
any other entrepreneur Meetup. Guy is hilarious.

~~~
random42
> I've said this to enough bosses that, this is a huge appeal for me. If you
> check my performance reviews they all list "has a problem with authority".

I dont understand why you are seeing it as a positive thing? Do you think
entrepreneurs dont have to answer to authority?

~~~
nostrademons
Entrepreneurs trade having to answer to _one_ particular authority figure for
having to answer to _many_ authorities. For many people with authority issues,
that's a much better situation. When one person has a problem with you, you
don't know whether the problem is with you or with them, but when many people
have a problem with you, there's a fairly high likelihood that the the problem
lies with you. It's basically more data and less arbitrariness.

~~~
keeptrying
Great answer. Also when the people you have to answer to are only customers,
then fixing that should lead to profit if you have the right type of
customers.

------
tokenadult
I was especially struck by the point about being willing to give up hobbies.
How many programming fans are able to give up playing their favorite computer
game while building the start-up? Is that what it takes to build a start-up
that really hits the big time?

~~~
fezzl
You don't have to have a start-up that "really hits the big time" to have to
give up things in return. Trust me, "hobbies" are easy to give up; it's
relationships that are harder yet mandatory (to some extent) to give up.

------
3pt14159
If you want my advice, don't fucking do it.

If you never asked for advice you will anyway.

Startup life is hell, but some of us have to do it.

------
bdclimber14
One real test to see if you're ready to be an entrepreneur is seeing if you
would do a startup for 2 years, working 80+ hours with the emotional roller-
coaster while knowing you would certainly fail. Personally, I would. I enjoy
it way too much.

~~~
groaner
I've worked 80+ hour weeks on an emotional roller-coaster knowing I would
certainly fail. I definitely hated it.

The difference is that this was at BigCo. Does this mean that I'm not cut out
for a startup?

(EDIT: Am I a fool for believing that I can escape from 80-hour work weeks and
emotional roller coasters by working at a startup?)

~~~
keeptrying
I think it helps if you've done this once already. Ie death marches at bigco.

The thing that everyone seems to have forgotten is that large part of the 80
hours at a star up as a founder, is self driven. Ie you'll jump out of bed
everyday excited to get to work. If you can make sure you don't get burnt out,
I think it's sustainable at 40 hours a week.

Michael Wolfe has some great answers on quora about how to run a startup and
not get burnt out.

------
BornInTheUSSR
It seems as though many people on here buy into the myth that entrepreneurship
is something that has to be this life-draining all-consuming beast to wrestle.
I agree with his list of qualities, but we need to question the assumption
that it has to be that way and if it does, why are we not being lazier and
more efficient? Maybe I'm being naive, but if we can pinpoint those actions
that are driving us forward and have the wisdom to leave the rest alone or to
someone better we can work happily and in good measure. Isn't the point of
entrepreneurialism to create the kind of life, product and company where we
can have the best of all worlds?

------
speleding
A lot of people here seem to think the "Mark Zuckerberg" way of starting a
business is the only way to be an entrepreneur.

Perhaps if you want to start something that has no barrier to entry and few
qualities that cannot be imitated then yes, execution becomes everything and
the only way is to run faster and work harder than everyone else. A lot of
startup that get attention here fit that mold.

There are plenty of other opportunities out there though. You don't have to
invent a new technology to get an advantage. You can lease patents, you can
target niche's, you can become the local representative of a foreign startup,
etcetera.

------
jaltucher
I've started, with success, 4 companies, and I'm invested in about 12 other
startups.

I have an easy list you can go by when you are trying to decide whether to
call yourself an entrepreneur or not. If you aren't willing to experience the
things on this list, then stick with the corporate job:

[http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/01/you-can-call-
yourself-a...](http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/01/you-can-call-yourself-an-
entrepreneur-when/)

------
ericmsimons
I agree with Mystalic. You better be ready to drop your entire life for your
startup otherwise you will not succeed. It's easy to say that you're ready but
you will know if you actually are by the end of the first week at your
startup.

------
brandnewlow
Techcrunch guest posts are often incoherent and largely self-promotional, but
I appreciated hearing the perspective of someone who did the startup cycle a
few times and then ran off to VC-land where he gets more variety and balance.

~~~
namityadav
"Techcrunch guest posts are often incoherent"

More incoherent than their writers' posts? :-)

~~~
brandnewlow
Yes. Most definitely. The guest posts on the weekend always seem to be written
by execs at startups who are looking to build their reputation and to plant an
idea or set of ideas in the media so they can point potential partners and
customers to it and say "see, what we're doing is legitimate." As these people
aren't trained writers I often find their central points hard to suss out.

------
mark_l_watson
Good advice for a lot of people. Odd article for HN though since so many of
our discussions deal with doing startups.

I consider myself to be a bit of a "lurker" enjoying hearing about
entrepreneurs' experiences in the sense that I have been happy working only
part time for almost all of my adult life on many interesting jobs and having
lots of time off for family, friends, writing, and hobbies.

That said, I have two childhood friends who have had big payouts doing
software startups (one for $20m+ and the other for $300m+) and they seem happy
also :-)

------
jwang815
Finally a great article saying how it really is. We only see the huge
successes and failures in the blog and PR world.

------
thewordpainter
for those that really want it, money comes with the territory. it's not the
driving force.

i think mark is spot on with his first bullet-point in particular (not very
status-oriented)

i'm not building a startup for the money. i just want to do what i want to do
when i want to do it.

------
ipster
I have always felt that deep down you know whether or not you want to be an
entrepreneur, even if there are day to day doubts. Mark describes
characteristics, but most entrepreneurs just know.

------
guptaneil
It's both intimidating and exciting to read about what awaits me as an
entrepreneur in a very early stage startup in such a straightforward manner.

I'm looking forward to it. :)

------
keyle
I think it can be all summed up to

    
    
         "Do you always want more from your life? 
          Or are you content?"

~~~
idlewords
This kind of attitude is just self-serving. There are plenty of experiences
you can have at a large company that you won't be able to get from a startup.
It boils down to what you want out of your work life.

------
Mz
And if you are wondering if it's for you or not, here is an excerpt that might
help you think it through:

 _I’m sure everybody has their own definition of the attributes of an
entrepreneur. Some of the ones I would identify are:_

    
    
      Not very status-oriented
      Doesn’t follow rules very well and questions authority
      Can handle high degrees of ambiguity or uncertainty
      Can handle rejection, being told “no” often and yet still have the confidence in your idea
      Very decisive.  A bias toward making decisions – even when only right 70% of the time – moving forward & correcting what doesn’t work
      A high level of confidence in your own ideas and ability to execute
      Not highly susceptible to stress
      Have a high risk tolerance
      Not scared or ashamed of failure
      Can handle long hours, travel, lack of sleep and the trade-offs of having less time for hobbies & other stuff

------
villagegal
Resonates very well :)

