

Ask HN: What's keeping you from starting something? - slugslog

A lot of us have ideas for starting a product&#x2F;service&#x2F;business. Most of us also have lots of fears apprehensions about taking the plunge. So what&#x27;s keeping you from pursuing what you think will be a life altering decision?
Some reasons I can think of<p>Others will think it&#x27;s a stupid idea
I&#x27;m not smart enough to get this done
The idea takes too much money
Family is a priority
Need to learn more skills first
Need a business partner
I don&#x27;t have domain expertise
I&#x27;m not sure I can put in the effort needed
90% of businesses fail. So why bother?
I really need to work on this idea on my own before launching
This is not the right time for my idea
I would&#x27;ve done it if I were in the &#x27;valley&#x27;
I am not sure I have the right personality for starting<p><i></i>this should&#x27;ve been a poll but I can&#x27;t create one with my measly reputation.
======
mindcrime
I have chosen not to let anything stop me. I started Fogbeam Labs with no
money to speak of, no co-founder, no startup experience, no investors, no
customers, etc.

Over time, we've added two co-founders, and I've gained a lot of experience
"learning as I go". I still have no money or investors (the latter by choice)
and we're working very aggressively ont he "customers" part. We have a couple
of deals we're working on, and hopes are high for getting some stuff signed in
the early part of 2014.

One thing we've doing is shifting slightly towards more focus on SaaS
deliverables. Our software will certainly still be applicable to "on premises"
deployment, and some customers will favor that model for various reasons, but
we're now starting to put more emphasis on getting the SaaS deployment model
going. The main reason here is simply that we believe we can build traction
faster and more readily, with hosted offerings. And since we're bootstrapping,
anything that gets revenue coming in sooner than later is a Good Thing.

Anyway, my mindset is "If you have an idea, start building it". If you have
the luxury of being someone who can code, you can get an awful long way down
the road, just coding in your spare time, without spending any money. Our
"burn rate" is nearly negligible to date, as all three founders are coders and
we're building the product(s) ourselves.

 _Others will think it 's a stupid idea_

Screw the "others". Who cares what they think?

 _I 'm not smart enough to get this done_

You might be. You won't know unless you try.

 _The idea takes too much money_

See above... if you can code, maybe you don't need much money. If it is
something that _does_ require money, well... there are options that involve
spending other people's money instead of your own.

 _Family is a priority_

You want to make it big so you can provide for your family in the best way,
right?

 _Need to learn more skills first_

Learn as you go.

 _Need a business partner_

Start now, acquire a partner when the time is right.

 _I don 't have domain expertise_

Partner with somebody who does. Or pick a different domain. Or buy a book.

 _I 'm not sure I can put in the effort needed_

You won't know until you try.

 _90% of businesses fail_

And 10% don't. Be part of that 10%.

 _So why bother?_

Freedom. Financial independence. The joy of creating something and building it
and watching it grow.

 _I really need to work on this idea on my own before launching_

Well, do it.

 _This is not the right time for my idea_

Come up with a better idea. And/or revisit your assumptions about why this
isn't a good time.

 _I would 've done it if I were in the 'valley'_

Successful startups emerge from just about everywhere in the world. Being in
SV is _not_ a prerequisite for success.

 _I am not sure I have the right personality for starting_

There's only one way to find out.

------
mattm
People will give different reasons but there is really only one true reason
once you get to the heart of the matter:

"You don't trust yourself"

All the reasons you see listed in this thread are rationalisations your mind
comes up with to trick yourself. When you think of them logically, they are
pretty trivial.

Through our upbringing, we are taught to listen to others. That our ideas and
opinions must be suppressed because it could make others feel bad. After years
of this brainwashing we start to believe it deep down. Watch children. They
just say things and do things without thinking. They are acting naturally.
They don't worry if something isn't going to work out. They just do it.
"Excuse" doesn't exist in their vocabulary.

You used to be like this. And you can train yourself to be like this again.

If you're interested in trying to overcome these obstacles, I've put together
a course relating to these topics as it relates to programming. It's available
at
[https://www.programmingspiritually.com](https://www.programmingspiritually.com)

~~~
rprospero
Children do trust themselves. They trust themselves to survive a three story
fall onto concrete. They trust themselves to know that house-hold cleaners are
delicious. They trust themselves to survive getting hit by that car.

I don't trust myself to make a profitable business with my current resources.
You're right about that. Where I disagree with you is your implication that I
should.

~~~
visakanv
There's no reason why you need to start with a profitable business that
utilizes all your resources; you could always put together something smaller
that doesn't take up all your time!

------
Scienz
I am actively working on starting stuff I consider important, but the main
things holding me back are:

1\. Compile-time/linking errors with every C++ serialization library I've
tried so far (boost, autoserial and cereal, so far). Half joking here, this
has been screwing me up all week.

2\. Lack of experience and lack of collaborators means projects that would
take others days or weeks take me months or years. I hope I'm at least
improving, though.

3\. Lack of funding to hire said collaborators, and unwillingness to commit my
few savings to something that may not have a guaranteed ROI. I'm not
interested in seeking funding or trying something like YCombinator since I
don't really want to share ownership in my vision, and figure it wouldn't be
enough to last very long anyways.

4\. Having to stop to deal with other life stuff, such as classes and moving
to a new place.

------
phantom_oracle
You shouldn't create a poll for it, because all those reasons somehow overlap.

My biggest reason is the "if I build it, they may not come".

I have plenty others like:

I really don't want a snake/VC on my back I couldn't afford to pay employees
without VC cash I'll need to generate money before bringing someone onboard A
1 man team takes all other factors of failure and multiplies those factors by
100/1000

~~~
mrfusion
Do you have some good ideas that you think might be sucessful?

~~~
phantom_oracle
In our minds, I'm sure we'd all like to think so, but metrics, customer needs
and a whole lot of other external factors (especially luck) determine success.

Are you working on anything interesting?

~~~
mrfusion
I have a lot of ideas but no real way to know if they're good or not.

One idea I had a few days ago: I call "curated recruiters".

Job seekers could log in and get a short list of good recruiters in their
location. In exchange for getting the list they have to provide the site with
the best recruiter they've ever worked with so that the information stays
current.

Employers could also use it to find good recruiters to work with.

~~~
phantom_oracle
That's not a bad idea at all. I'm not sure what part of the world you're in,
but it seems like recruiters exist in most countries and they definitely
dominate jobs boards these days (from what I've seen).

I personally don't think it would work as a service on its own, but may be
better as a piece of something bigger.

If you'd like, we could chat privately about ideas and getting to know each
other.

------
exelib
Risk. I have family and because I can't just out my job (with very good
salary) and work 150% time on my project/product without get money for this.

------
henryaj
In my case: I'm not a programmer. I'm interested in it, and immersed in the
tech world, but part of me doesn't believe that people _really_ teach
themselves to code and go on to make a career out of it. A self-limiting
belief, I suppose.

~~~
prasidp
Hey Henry - I work at Bloc - we offer a web development apprenticeship and
most of our students sound pretty similar to you - read HackerNews, immersed
in tech, tried learning on their own and realized they needed a more robust
program like a bootcamp - but didn't want to quit their job / don't have $13K
to spend on a bootcamp.

if you wanna chat - my email is prasid@bloc.io

~~~
phantom_oracle
Your pricing is not that much cheaper than $13K...

------
visakanv
"Taking the plunge" is a romanticized idea. Don't quit your day job. Put
together something in your spare time and see how people respond to it.

~~~
kashkhan
how often do great ideas succeed when done part time?

Even if nine out of ten times you lose, total belief and commitment in your
idea makes the difference between success and failure.

------
almassapargali
1\. That idea already implemented. 2. "They will not come" as phantom_oracle
said.

------
axilmar
1\. Time. Not much free time. 2\. Risk. I have to support a family.

------
duiker101
the fact that I already have 100 unfinished projects. Or finished and waiting
for updates.

------
lorenzodomi
can't do it all by myself

