
Why Should I Start a Startup? - craigcannon
https://blog.ycombinator.com/why-should-i-start-a-startup/
======
Mz
He sounds twice exceptional -- gifted, but with some sort of learning
disability or handicap of some sort.

Twice exceptional people often appear to be "average" but find an "average" or
normal life enormously frustrating. Because of having some sort of handicap,
it can take a lot to get them going. Once they get going, they often
outperform others. Life is vastly better for them when they can create their
own niche because they simply do not fit in to normal societal expectations
very well, try though they might.

No insult intended. I fit that profile, as do both my sons.

So, perhaps a good summary is if you are bright, but having trouble finding
your niche, then starting your own company is a means to create your own
niche. This is exactly what I have always told my oldest son. From an early
age, it was clear to me he would not make a good employee. But that doesn't
mean he won't eventually be successful. He just needs to grow his own.

~~~
lomnakkus
This article is selling a narrative that you want to hear with a huge dollop
of confirmation bias as andy_ppp points out. It's not very likely that _you_
or your family are that 0.01%[1], but it _is_ very likely that you _think_ you
are exceptional.

(I wish you all and your family all the best, but one needs to be _very_
careful around this kind of narrativium.)

[1] Made up number, obviously.

~~~
jasode
A meta observation around the reaction to the word "exceptional" based on some
posters' comments:

\- lomnakkus: _" It's not very likely that you or your family are that
0.01%[1], but it is very likely that you think you are exceptional."_

\- deepGem: _" , being frustrated with day to day life doesn't make one
exceptional."_

I think the problem here is that Mz's chosen word of "exceptional" makes it
look like a superior attribute and self-aggrandizement. (This triggers a
reaction:
[https://i.redd.it/1sd91qydx16z.gif](https://i.redd.it/1sd91qydx16z.gif))

So it seems like the word "exceptional" has too much _positive connotation_
and that in turn triggers some to "knock the poster down a few pegs".

Can we find an alternative word that doesn't trigger that reflex? For whatever
reason(s), a lot of entrepreneurs can't seem to conform to the typical 9-to-5
job. Maybe it is:

\- ADD/ADHD

\- DRD2 "thrill seeking" gene[1]

\- mild sociopathic disorder[2]

\- rule-maker or rule-breaker personality instead of rule-follower

\- <some other dominant attribute>

Whatever the cause is, don't label it "exceptional" because it will lead to
replies correcting you that "you're not exceptional".

How about another word such as _" misfits"_? If you're a person that sees no
compatibility for careers such as programmer for BigCo, or doctor, or
accountant, or teacher, etc, you'd self-diagnose yourself as a "misfit". Those
careers are all noble endeavors -- but they also all feel "wrong" to the
misfit. In a conformist-economy, the paths for the misfit earning a living is
very different: If you're a "creative misfit", you can write novels or be in a
rock band and people overlook your eccentricities. If you're not artistic but
see business opportunities, you become an entrepreneur.

Is there a better word than "misfit" that captures the spirit above but is
also sufficiently self-effacing to not make people think one has a superiority
complex?

[1]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=drd2+gene+entrepreneur](https://www.google.com/search?q=drd2+gene+entrepreneur)

[2]
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1987....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1987.tb00477.x/abstract)

~~~
rmah
"For whatever reason(s), a lot of entrepreneurs can't seem to conform to the
typical 9-to-5 job."

In my experience (almost 30 yrs of working at all sorts of companies, 2
startups of my own, lots of friends and acquaintances with their own
businesses) the most people I've seen who are most successful at launching and
running their own firms were those who did VERY well at previous 9-to-5 jobs.

That said, I've known plenty who did well at 9-to-5 jobs who didn't do so well
with their own company. So I don't think that's a predictor for success, per
se.

But I do think not being able to handle a regular job is, quite possibly, a
negative indicator. I mean, face reality, MOST people don't like to go to a
9-to-5 job very much. After all, if they weren't being paid, 99% would not
show up.

~~~
SimbaOnSteroids
Perhaps the people that do well at a 9-5 and do well as an entrepreneur don't
do well at the 9-5 because they're a model employee by nature but rather
because they seek to be the best at whatever they do, however they can.

------
andkon
I'd like to fill out the "maybe" part of his "If you answer yes three times,
then maybe starting a startup is for you" bit.

I answer a very strong yes to all three of those. Always have. But a startup,
despite my always having worked in them and run one of my own for three years,
was resolutely not a good idea for me.

It took a lot of self-discovery to see myself not as an entrepreneur, but as
an artist, and it's frustrating, because it sure took me a while to admit it.
I spent all my time and money and effort trying to be successful as a startup
founder, and expecting that I'd eventually feel the spark that I know can
drive me. But now I look at the creative work I do on my own, even though I
still have a full-time job, and I feel the same connection that Michael
describes here, which I had chased for so long.

The irony is that pretty much every idea I have uses the technical skills i
built as a startup founder. But hey. Time to do what I always should have.

~~~
danek
I feel the same way (though I never ran my own startup). On the surface it
would make sense for me to start companies. I tick most of the boxes, but at
heart I'm more of an artist. Maybe 10 years ago I'd be interested in spending
five years of my life for a 1% chance of getting better returns than working
for a regular salary. Also I'm no longer in my 20s, not independently wealthy,
and most importantly I don't want the stress of being responsible for a
company. But that's just where I'm at right now...

~~~
Fifer82
You seem a little more confident than me but otherwise we are fairly alike.
Maybe the desire comes later in life?

------
nathan-wailes
Great post! I love reading pre-company autobiographical accounts from
successful founders, as I find it to be a great way to get ideas for what pre-
company experiences might best prepare me to be successful myself.

Some additions I would make to Michael's list for "Why to start a start-up":

\- As a founder you get a level of control over what problem you're solving
that you'll rarely have as an employee.

\- You also get a level of control over who you're working with that you'll
rarely have as an employee.

\- You also escape having your income determined by the market for labor, and
instead have it determined by the market for your product.

Those three things are very, very important to me, and I suspect also to many
other founders.

~~~
mynameisvinn124
"\- You also escape having your income determined by the market for labor, and
instead have it determined by the market for your product."

one of the most insightful comment on the concept of value ive read in my 34+
years.

------
agentultra
> 1\. The vast majority of startups are not successful

This alone is why 90% of people will not choose to work at a startup. You will
work long hours, for crap pay, and you'll be waiting in line if there is an
exit.

The odds of there being an exit worth anything to anyone other than a founder
are small enough to not even worth considering.

If you are a founder you're gambling on your chances. There are ways to
mitigate the risk but there's no sure thing.

Don't start a startup if you do not have the financial security to basically
lose everything you put in.

Don't start a startup if you have family that depends on your income. You
could choose to eat ramen and sleep on the floor of a college dorm room. Your
kids (and CPS) might not appreciate it.

I agree the motivation is very important. I disagree that you cannot find the
same motivation in a more stable organization (or can't motivate yourself). I
recently finished reading, Extreme Ownership [0], and I bring that with me to
work. People need to be responsible for outcomes: that's not unique to
startups. You can also find that motivation internally and share it with your
colleagues as you go.

[0] [https://www.amazon.ca/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs-
ebook...](https://www.amazon.ca/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs-
ebook/dp/B00VE4Y0Z2/ie=UTF8&qid=1486489443&sr=1-1)

~~~
Swizec
If you have the entrepreneurial itch and don't have the financial security to
back it up, becoming a bootstrapped micropreneur is a great first choice.

Start your business on the side, when it revenue is high enough to live on,
make the jump. It's slower than a funded startup, but a lot less risky. Does
come with a high social opportunity cost due to lack of time, however. But so
does starting a startup.

If your sidehustle does well, you can even leverage it later to fund your big
startup idea. Or, hell, live a good life on a lifestyle business making a few
hundred thousand per year.

$150k/year revenue won't get you any headlines, but it's plenty to live on and
run a solo business.

Get to $500k/year and you prob have a higher expected ROI over N years than
any startup founder.

Disclaimer: my sidehustle is at the $50k/year level, but that's on 60 hours
_per month_. If I didn't insist on living in SF, I could have a very cushy
life back in Europe.

~~~
moeamaya
Checked out your profile, is your side hustle a combination of books and
teaching or do you have another product?

~~~
Swizec
A combination of books and teaching. I'm experimenting with coaching and a
company is sponsoring my React Native writing on a cobranded blog/yt channel.

I publish monthly breakdowns on swizec.com and that lists all revenue streams.

~~~
metalliqaz
Did you leverage a mentor to get started on running something on the side? If
so, where did you find one?

~~~
Swizec
I never had an official mentor, but plenty of people helped and nudged me in
the right direction and answered questions. You can find most of them on the
internets.

It all boils down to this: Make things. Add "Pay For Thing" button. Tell
people.

I started with following Ramit Sethi's emails for a few years (he's great to
drive home the point that yes you do deserve to get paid), then Brennan Dunn's
emails and content (he's great for "you totes can make shitloads"), then
Nathan Barry's book Authority which is great for "Here are concrete steps to
start making bank", and I went to Dunn's DYFConf which is like a baby
MicroConf (to which I want to, but haven't, go), oh and of course I listened
to all mp3s of all past talks from MicroConf. Patio11's writings helped a lot
as well. I used Bryan Harris stuff for ideas on growing an audience, and Kai
Davis is great for being a cheerleader and giving good ideas on positioning
and writing.

Somehow I got invited to the Slack group where many of these
micropreneur/microconf celebrities hang out and that's been superb as well. A
lot of inspiration and great ideas.

Oh and I used Ken Wallace's MastermindJam to join a mastermind of likeminded
peers. That helps with keeping you accountable and actually shipping stuff.

I also used Amy Hoy's 30x500, but I bought that too late (or too early, hard
to say) and it didn't help super much. I should revisit.

Oh and levelsio's twitter stream is just a huge bundle of inspiration.

~~~
metalliqaz
Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Plenty to look into.

I get the sinking feeling that achieving many of these things requires being
charismatic and/or attractive and/or extroverted, of which I am none. Of
course my marketable skill is not in communication but rather in engineering,
so hopefully that won't matter.

~~~
patio11
_I get the sinking feeling that achieving many of these things requires being
charismatic and /or attractive and/or extroverted, of which I am none._

This has not been my experience of running a software company and, while
speaking for others is always risky, most of the people mentioned in that list
are personal friends of mine and I think would react to "good thing you are
attractive and extroverted" with gales of laughter.

------
falcolas
So, does "personal responsibility for [...] failure" really apply when there
is a 90% failure rate? Seems like short of failing to execute, it's more a
game of chance than something you can influence.

That is, it's seems like its a lot like video poker: you can cause yourself to
lose, but you can't make yourself win.

I would also think that getting into an industry with such a high failure rate
would be terrible for someone who takes such personal responsibility for the
outcome: most of the time they're going to consider themselves a failure. In
the worst case, serial failures.

~~~
mwseibel
"you can cause yourself to lose, but you can't make yourself win" \- I like
this - maybe I would restate this as "you can cause yourself to lose, but a
lot of things outside of your control need to go right in order to win"

~~~
porter
or as pg says if you don't want to die then don't quit.

------
seddona
"there is a certain type of person who only works at their peak capacity when
there is no predictable path to follow, the odds of success are low, and they
have to take personal responsibility for failure (the opposite of most jobs at
a large company)."

I have never really stopped to consider my own motivations for doing a startup
but this sums it up. Do a startup because you have to, not because you want
to.

------
jaypaulynice
I like this post. I wish I really started a startup in college or right after.
A regular corporate job turns you into a zombie and you become out of touch
with reality especially if you're well paid and well fed. A lot of people are
unprepared for the hard life.

If anything, you'll learn more about life in 6 months than you will in
decades. It's not just the technical stuff. You'll learn who your real friends
are. Being broke and thinking you might go homeless will make you sympathize
with the homeless. Co-founders will try to screw you. If you're married,
you'll soon find out if your spouse really loves you or just the regular
income. Fake people pop up everywhere trying to take credit for your hard
work.

I think a startup is akin to the street life without the street creds.

~~~
scottLobster
As a counterpoint: My spouse's ongoing education is currently dependent on my
regular income. Once she graduates it'll effectively double our collective
income and hopefully give her her first good career. I'm not sure how I could
sell gambling all of that on a 90% chance of failure even if I wanted to.
Sounds like the act of a gambling addict.

Also, if you need to gamble your family's livelihood to find out if your
spouse really loves you or not, why are you married? Similar sentiment for
your friends. Being able to sympathize with the homeless sounds like a
horrible return for sacrificing your livelihood. Dealing with backstabbing co-
founders doesn't sound all that educational, just miserable. Fake people are a
thing in all walks of life.

I don't come from the rosiest background in the world, I've had enough severe
instability and drama forced upon me in the past to know there's nothing
romantic about it. It should be avoided unless there's a tangible payoff, and
certainly greater than a 10% chance of success.

My regular corporate job is currently giving me a stable platform upon which I
can save, build up my household and consider launching a business on my own
terms. It's also giving me valuable professional experience as I see how a
large company ships product. I'm so glad I didn't go the startup route
straight out of college, I've learned so much about business on the job that
my engineering degree never remotely touched. It's hardly my dream job but I
don't dread my work, nor do I feel like a zombie.

In 10 years I'll likely have enough saved up to seriously consider my own
business, and enough contacts/professional clout to go back to regular work if
it fails. I'll also have 10 more years of business experience to draw on,
likely from at least 2 more companies. Why do a startup now, or God forbid
right when I graduated, when I have/had the fewest resources and the fewest
advantages?

~~~
jaypaulynice
You don't think financing your spouse education is a gamble? Who is to say you
won't get divorced right after she's done? That's honorable, but at the same
time a huge risk.

~~~
true_religion
Whilst anything is possible, it ought to be much easier to gamble on staying
married than gamble on a fickle market of consumers liking a product that you
haven't built and is in no way similar to anything else.

~~~
jaypaulynice
This is not true for even the best entrepreneurs of our times...many are
divorced multiple times so gambling on staying married is a bigger risk. Elon
Musk and Sergey Brin are just a couple examples. Your spouse can dump you at
any second no matter how secure you think your relationship is.

~~~
true_religion
That's an example of entrepreneurship being hard on your relationship.

So if you go into a startup, you might end up with both a failed business
_and_ a divorce.

It's only tenacity, talent, and good timing that lead to Musk and Brin having
the good luck to be divorced.... _but_ successful.

------
eriktrautman
A lot of replies are focusing on the outcomes implied by the OP's checklist --
if you answer "yes" on all, you'll be more likely to succeed financially. As a
founder, I think it's far more important to focus on the journey aspects of
it. Meaning, if you check the boxes, just maybe you have the mindset that will
make you happiest when you're in the midst of all that hustling and struggling
in the game. That mindset is what keeps you in it... if you're reward-focused,
then you're going to burn out and lose direction.

So let's reframe the discussion from "do you have what it takes to be
successful in a startup?" to "do you have what it takes to love the sufferfest
grind of each day along the way so the outcome is just a nice reward at the
end?"

------
mwseibel
Hey folks - happy to answer questions here

~~~
vba
Did anyone ever question your academic background/track record. Did anyone
deny you funding and/or not work for you upon inquiring about your track
record?

In absolute honesty, do you think achieving good grades makes sizable a
difference to people wanting to work for you or investing in your company?

~~~
mwseibel
No one ever asked about my grades - coming from Yale probably helped a bit -
but more importantly, Yale allowed me to meet my first co-founders.

------
TheAlchemist
Very interesting post ! The 3 questions really resonate with me. Usually when
talking startups, people talk about changing the world, having and impact etc.
Your take seems much more personal, and also that's the way I feel it
(although I can't explain that to me rationally).

The 3rd is so true - in big corps, you think you're responsible for this and
that because you're the tech lead, project manager or whatever. But most of
the time, that's not really true - nothing bad will happen to you if you don't
deliver. When you're starting a startup you suddenly realize what personal
responsibility means.

Anyway, thanks for a great post !

------
nurettin
Why create a startup?

Because you have a product and the development and marketing skills to
persuade people to keep on using it. It's easy to get sidetracked with
colorful terminology and complex definitions.

------
gravyboat
I would rather just run small businesses and side projects. Still a pretty
high chance of failing, but if they do fail you still learn and it doesn't
impact your bottom line that badly.

------
nnd
> Do I seek the hard challenges that most people shy away from?

Arguably, you can find much harder challenges working for a bigco, at least
when it comes to engineering challenges.

Also, surprisingly one of the biggest factors involved when it comes to
starting a startup is not mentioned: idea itself.

~~~
mwseibel
Engineering challenges I certainly agree. Life challenges though? I think we
can have a good argument about that one.

~~~
nnd
No argument here, I totally agree.

------
tristanho
Loved this post, thanks! You mentioned the 3 constraints under which you (and
many founders) thrive in:

* Being the underdog

* Hard challenges most people shy away from

* Personal responsibility for outcomes

Why are some people best under those conditions? Is it something trainable, or
inherent?

~~~
BjoernKW
I'd say most people would be. If you don't take responsibility and if you're
not challenged, you can hardly expect to excel at anything.

Many people either are too comfortable with their lives or are in too
precarious a situation to ever get to try.

That's probably also why we so rarely hear about rich kids with large trust
funds accomplishing anything meaningful.

~~~
MaxfordAndSons
> That's probably also why we so rarely hear about rich kids with large trust
> funds accomplishing anything meaningful.

Interesting theory... but could perhaps be due to reporting bias? The trust
funded who do succeed are unlikely to highlight that fact when telling the
story of their success.

------
abhikandoi2000
Should one also do a startup, when a startup seems to be the only possible
path to "see something happen"?

------
graycat
For someone considering a startup, again, once again, yet again, over again,
one more time, the probability of being successful in a startup, say,
estimated from all the startup efforts, is at best useless and otherwise
misleading and, thus, worse.

Instead, what matters for an estimate is the conditional probability of
success given other information. It's quite possible for the probability of
success to be quite low but the conditional probability of success, given
other facts, events, situations, etc. that hold, quite high.

The OP's nice words about working in a big company are also deceptive. In
fact, especially in technology, those jobs can be darned unstable, vulnerable,
and short lived. If by then have a house mortgage, three kids on the way to
college, maybe some kids who need some help like the author of the OP, getting
fired at a big company can be one heck of a bummer.

So, ASAP, while young and making good bucks in tech, look all the time for a
startup opportunity. Maybe get one going in your house den, basement attic,
garage, wherever. Pay attention to, learn about, at least dip toes into
startups. Start small, don't invest more than pocket change, and LEARN.

Then think of your kids: What are they going to do? Are they going to have to
start all over, from zero, like the author of the OP did? Or, pay attention to
a family with a good, stable family business (e.g., with a geographical
barrier to entry and a very broad customer list), hopefully not much to do
with anything unstable like tech, where the kids can learn the business and,
thus, at least learn about business and, hopefully, later move into the family
business. For having a good life, that can beat the heck out of anything can
learn in political science at Yale.

With high irony, my experience is that the families that can afford to pay
full tuition, room, and board at an Ivy League college didn't go to an Ivy
League college and, instead, made their money in small-medium business -- ran
10 McDonald's well, was the leading plumbing supply house for a radius of 50
miles, owned a lot of rental property, had a really good independent insurance
agency going where they knew nearly everyone in town relevant to the business,
etc.

If want a child in law or medicine, likely it helps a lot for at least one
parent to be in law or medicine.

Startup? Really, in the US, for a full career, there really isn't much
alternative but to do a successful startup. The question is not whether but
how. So, learn how. If really know how and are determined, then the chances of
success should be good, not bad.

------
ashwinaj
> I cannot promise that doing a tech startup will make you rich (in fact the
> odds are against you becoming rich), but I can promise that it is one of the
> most challenging things you can choose to do. It will push you past your
> limits, force you to learn faster, and maybe show you that once in a while
> the impossible is possible.

Couldn't have said it better! Bookmarked, thanks for explaining it in simple
terms. I find myself fumbling to explain this to my non-startup friends.

------
taurath
I do find it rather hilarious that he dropped interest in yale for being too
academic, but during my (failed) interview as a web developer at Twitch about
5 years ago, the questioning had to do with only academic subjects like graph
traversal algorithms - they proudly stated when I applied that 90% of their
employees come from an Ivy league background.

Here's who I think should start a startup:

\- People with the backing of their families and resources to get into Yale
and every other college other than Harvard (thank god!), and have the means
that failure is not so much of a risk.

\- People who really need to do this thing, and can maintain their passion and
drive and make it the largest part of their lives. And if that thing requires
a lot of money to do, the ability to raise money, or already have money.

Both of the above need to be able to physically and mentally handle the 90%
failure chance. The author clearly could.

~~~
vabmit
I think there's some truth to the family support part of this. I was just
racking my brain trying to think of any founder I knew (and I know a ton of
them) that was in the position of "success or potentially homeless". But, I
can't. I think there's some variable confounding going on when YC and others
talk about people in their early 20's being better positioned to do startups
because they're less risk averse due to youth. I think they're less risk
averse because it's not such a big deal for them to move back in with their
parents if they fail. And, their parents are usually still working and
therefor able to handle the strain of that.

Nearly every successful founder I know of had either very wealthy parents,
very supportive family and friends, or both.

I don't see any shame in admitting that it's not about some romanticized risk
taker ideal alpha geek, but rather about upper class kids lucky enough to have
a bunch of built in risk arbitrage supports that they lucked out on being born
with.

~~~
guimarin
My dad was not a successful founder. He quit his job at 40 or so to start a
company. He failed miserably, and despite us being fairly well off, went into
a downward spiral. He is divorced, alone, and living in a trailer park. Every
time I visit him in his doublewide in Campbell, still same furniture as person
who died in it had, I expect him to be hanging from the rafters. He was a
serial startup employee with over 20 years tech startup experience before
starting. His startup destroyed his life. the YC, anyone can become a founder
mythology is toxic. My dad was rich from previous exits, had everything going
for him, and had a good idea/execution. He just couldn't boil the ocean and it
destroyed him.

~~~
vabmit
Something similar happened to my dad. He had a pretty successful company
providing security guard services mostly on government contracts. It wasn't
very lucrative. He wasn't rich. But, it paid the mortgage and the bills and my
siblings and I were well taken care of. Then, when I was around 9 or 10 or so,
Wackenhut kind of raised a lot of money and became the Amazon of security
guard services. They Amazon'd his company and everything he built just kind of
slowly disappeared over the next couple years. He could have done OK getting a
job as a security guard himself and working his way up or even changing
careers (he was reasonably intelligent). But, something about his company
failing broke him and he just kind of never did anything after that. My teen
years were absolute chaos until I dropped out of high school and got a job
driving a fork lift around 17 and moved out. I remember there being absolutely
no food in the house for days and days. It was crazy.

I've had a bunch of friends/acquaintances that killed themselves
(hung/shot/jumped off the GG) after their start-ups failed. But, they all did
it during the first boom (90's). I haven't personally known anyone that's done
it during this boom, yet. I think the difference might be that the bubble
hasn't popped yet this time. People who fail can still easily go find work.
Back then all the companies were laying people off. So, if your start-up
failed there was basically no where to go but back home. Probably the majority
of the people I knew in SFBA back when the bubble popped did that. It was
crazy how suddenly highways that were packed with traffic could just be
cruised down at the speed limit during rush hour with out touching your breaks
until you got to your exit. It seemed surreal.

------
sna1l
"About 2 months after being kicked out of school I suddenly felt pissed off
again. I realized that my school, some of my friends, and even some of my
family members thought I would never graduate from college. My motivation came
back instantly." \-- this passage seemed kinda weird to me. Seems like he got
his motivation back due to spite?

His 3 questions at the end also seem to point to him having a chip on his
shoulder.

------
quadcore
I like it. Though I don't think that's the answer I would give. From my
experience, I wanted to start a startup because it was like god himself gave
me a mission. And I couldn't turn away from that responsibility. I fucking
deeply cared about what I was gonna do. It was so much more important than
everything else for me. I was freaking Frodo bringing the ring to mordor.

So yeah, everything he said, plus the quest.

------
rahimshamsy
Is the desire to transform as a person a good enough reason? Very few
endeavors are as challenging as solving a problem by building a profitable
business around it, and having the pleasure of meeting and working with a
variety of people.

~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
The problem is that you are entangling the lives of a lot of other people
(your family at the very least, your co-founders, your employees, potentially
your customers) in this quest for personal transformation.

------
throw4141
I've tried to start a startup, 2 times. I failed both times.

And now I have 0 money left, the family that cannot help me, I don't have a
job and can't find one and thankfully I have some friends that are giving me a
place to sleep.

Should I start another startup? I wish. Will I do it? I don't know how.

I wish I had a magic idea and some people to invest in it, but not living in
the Valley and not having a clue on how to find great ideas I'm kinda stuck.

I'm already looking for a job, the problem is that I have the fear that the
more I wait for the next startup and the more it'll be harder to build a
product from scratch because the expectation from all markets will be higher.

Ideas?

~~~
xiaoma
I'd get a job and go the more conservative "sidehustle" bootstrapping route of
making a site or YouTube channel and then selling something for money. Stay
focused on your job and don't quit until a sidehustle has momentum.

If you have no idea what to sell then just teach everything you know (about
one topic), try to make something useful for people and make it in public (e.g
sharing your progress on your blog or YT channel). Worst case scenario, you'll
have a job, be saving money and build a small audience / reservoir of
credibility.

Also maybe start hanging out on Indie Hackers instead of here.

Edit: as the sibling commenter said, get your life in order. That's number
one. Until you find a job and can cover your rent, don't even spend time on
news aggregators. I wouldn't worry too much about timing to be a founder.
Everyone feels like they're too late and they've missed all the opportunities
but there's always a next big thing. Keep your spirits up!

------
elmar
Why Most Startups Fail and How To Avoid The Same Fate

[http://www.brianhonigman.com/why-startups-
fail/](http://www.brianhonigman.com/why-startups-fail/)

------
tanilama
The startup starts up because of money is often time uninspiring. It is a good
thing that we have fewer startups like that. If you don't have a good problem,
plz don't make a startup for it.

~~~
mwseibel
Our problem was how to create a reality tv show with Justin Kan wearing a
camera on his head. Is that a good problem?

~~~
brucephillips
Are you arguing that startups shouldn't ensure they're solving an important
problem?

Creating a reality show out of Justin's life probably wasn't an important
problem to solve, but drawing some conclusion based on the successful
Justin.TV -> Twitch pivot would be selection bias.

------
jcroll
> I cannot promise that doing a tech startup will make you rich (in fact the
> odds are against you becoming rich)

Ok, so what path has the least resistance for getting rich for a skilled
developer?

~~~
jerrre
depends on your definition of rich

~~~
jcroll
$1m/yr

~~~
globuous
If you want to remain an employee maybe some hedge fund / investment bank
quants ? A (senior) partner at mckinsey ? something like that maybe ?

But yeah, 1m/yr is hard if you don't own stakes in the business. And if you
make that much as a partner at mc or EY for instance, it's because you have
boughts shares of the firm when entering the partnership and that you've
worked looong hours for over a decade.

Maybe being super high up at big tech firms through earned stocks ? Well, once
you've had a high position at a big tech firm, you can easily go into
consulting / start doing conferences and start making real cash. But that'll
hardly be before 35-45 years old I don't think.

------
polpenn
Okay! Let's do it! I want to start a start-up. What do I do?

~~~
mindcrime
Read _The Four Steps to the Ephiphany_ by Steve Blank, and _The Art of the
Start_ by Guy Kawasaki for starters...

~~~
mindcrime
"Epiphany". Grrr... I hate that you can only edit HN posts for a short period
of time. :-(

------
yousifa
What does your data show regarding success rate for people like you vs those
who build companies because of the need to have something exist?

What are specific challenges you see in each case?

------
blizkreeg
You should not start a startup. I like to think of it differently. It's
semantics but I find that it aligns my thinking better. You should start a
_business_ if:

\- you are strongly driven _by the idea_ of doing business, i.e., at some
point in your evolution, you become Walt Whitman. A business, which

\- solves a problem, makes a product, or offers a service, that

\- you think can you do better and make money while doing so, and

\- you would rather face the uncertainty of it not working out than be
employed working on a thing you are not motivated by.

You should not start a startup if things such as exits, raising VC, optics of
_running a startup_ , or some such affair is of primary concern to you. They
should be in the service of running the business and serving its needs, not
the other way around.

This is not a script that applies to just some lifestyle, sustainable
businesses, in the parlance of SV. This is the same script that even the
largest, most profitable, and most impactful companies (cue the disruption
adjectives) on the planet have followed.

~~~
CryptoFascist
This! Especially the 'solves a problem or offers a service'. Any company
without a viable plan to create surplus is a failure waiting to happen. It's
why most startups fail... their purpose is to be a startup first, create a
surplus if they luck out, or be flipped into a bubble market.

~~~
timr
The key word there is "viable plan", and you don't know that you have one
until you do it. Many of the biggest, most successful companies are pivots
from some lame initial product.

There are plenty of bozos who don't try to solve a problem or offer a service,
but there are plenty of dead startups who did all of that and still failed.

------
idlewords
The casino explains why you should play dice.

~~~
justin
reading comprehension fail

------
jokoon
Didn't bill gates say something like "startups are needed, because you need
failure so that some startups can succeed".

------
raresp
If you're asking yourself the question "Why Should I Start a Startup?" than
you sholdn't start a startup.

------
crb002
Garage. It worked for Apple, Google, and HP.

------
basic1point0
I really like the way intellect is defined in this post. It's mostly
persistence that guides you to success.

------
desireco42
Because I can. Also, bootstrap if at all possible. Independence can't be
valued enough.

------
Windson
This article got so many upvotes just because it's wrotten by Twitch's
founder.

------
jondubois
Building a successful tech startup is easy but extremely unlikely.

------
known
When you can/will dismantle a "Pyramid scheme"

------
keeptrying
You shouldn't .

------
_ao789
Fucking great post man. Really hits home.

------
rjurney
You shouldn't. Work in open source instead. If that project takes off, start a
company. This way you benefit everyone instead of just yourself if you fail.
Which you probably will.

------
sophiamstg
Well, this is so motivating for a specific population, but I don't think
majority thinks this way... after all paying bills come first..

------
gaius
The only way to win is not to play

------
CryptoFascist
This is nothing but a pitch by YCombinator to get rubes to work for pitiful
amounts of money and likely fail, so that YCombinator can capture the vast
profits from the few that succeed. It's YCombinator's business model.

~~~
graveThrow56
I thought the same. If if was genuine, he would suggest another option:
starting a small/medium business in tech. You know, a business that helps you
escape corporate life, and make money for yourself in the process.

Only problem: there is no way for YC to make money off of it...

So let's ignore S&M businesses in tech and as a valid entrepreneurship route.
Let's pretend that the only options are a startup or corporate life.

~~~
jasode
_> if was genuine, he would suggest another option: starting a small/medium
business in tech._

It's an essay relating his _personal_ experience. (Notice that Seibel wrote:
_" Here is how I learned this about myself. [... rest of text ...]"_

He didn't cofound a small-medium-lifestyle business so he wrote what he was
familiar with: justin.tv/twitch.

Lastly, I didn't see any advice that didn't also apply to small-medium
businesses. (See the 3 questions to ask oneself at at the end.) He's not
advising anyone to start another billion dollar Youtube clone or a company
that requires YC funding. One can take his questionnaire and apply it to
starting a small bootstrapped 5-person consulting firm if that's what your
idea of a "startup" means to you.

~~~
graveThrow56
Paul Graham goes to extra lengths to differentiate startups vs other type of
business: it's all about growth.

So this essay talks about startups under the YC brand, I assume we're talking
about hi-growth business, not small and medium ones that have no goals to grow
double digits every month.

Finally, we should stop adding a condescending "lifestyle" qualififier to
businesses that are not trying to become a unicorn. It is most businesses
actually.

~~~
jasode
_> stop adding a condescending "lifestyle" qualififier to businesses_

"Lifestyle" is a neutral label and is not a condescending perjorative unless
you insist on perceiving it that way. See:

\+
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle_business)

\+
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4053554](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4053554)

~~~
graveThrow56
If someone wants to start a business and call it lifestyle, great for them. It
usually tells their business is not all their is in their life, and that's
great.

When someone else calls a business "lifestyle" just because it is small, i
believe it is condescending.

If I called the CEO of the 20-employees plumbing company i sometimes use, and
asked him "how's your lifestyle business doing?" he would probably hang up on
me.

------
carsongross
Here is a practical reason to start a startup:

You are married to someone who makes enough money to push your marginal tax
rate on income to the point (it can hit 55%+ in places like CA) that you might
as well take a flier on a startup rather than pulling a W4.

