

Quit your job - breily
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/979-quit-your-job

======
mattjung
The 37Signals model is a valid model and it is honorable that they evangelize
it. I would say, it is the "30-something-model" for people you can't affort to
deal with high risks and prefer to slidely glitch into professional
independence. That said, the "20-something-model" (Google, Facebook et al.) is
particularly attractive for young people that like to play big. Up to you to
decide, which one fits better to your personal situation and your risk
profile.

~~~
gnaritas
The 30 something model is called _reality_ , and is better for everyone,
including 20 somethings. The 20 something model (Google, Facebook et al.) is
called a _lottery_ and though a precious few people do win, the vast vast
majority don't amount to squat and just end up wasting their 20's looking for
the next big thing that isn't going to happen. Like the lottery, it's great
for people who are really bad at math and don't pay attention to the odds. If
you're going to play the lottery and try to build the next big thing, play it
after you succeed at the 30 something model and can afford to waste your time.

~~~
mattjung
It's more than a lottery. It is also a great adventure of which you can learn
a lot. We need those visionary "crazy" people with big ideas that change the
world.

~~~
gnaritas
Yes, "crazy people", because anyone with brains plays the odds and goes for
millions, not billions.

------
redorb
Life is too short to work at a job you hate, but everyone has to do something
someone else is willing to pay them for.

~~~
skmurphy
This is brilliant. Can you please contact me (I can't figure out how to reach
you from your comments and profile) and let me know who I should attribute it
to: it's a succinct insight that I would like to quote properly.

~~~
redorb
added contact information to my profile, the name of the man would be Sid
Emmert

------
mixmax
If you are doing a webbased service, and your plan is to make billions do you
really need outside capital?

I think the answer for a lot of businesses might be no.

By now it is common knowledge that a webbased company can be started by a
couple of good hackers in a few months - just look at some of the Y-combinator
companies. So the next stage after building your product is marketing and
growth. Common wisdom tells us that growth requires a lot of money - but I
think this is often a fallacy extrapolated from a world ten years ago that was
very different than todays. What do you need the money for? If you have a
webservice your income goes up as you gain users (if it doesn't you might need
to rethink your business model) so hardware costs can be paid for this way.
Marketing is often a question of having a good product and being smart in your
marketing - having a lot of money doesn't always help you. Look at how well
pets.com did with all their marketing and contrast it to google that did no
marketing at all but had a great product.

Besides having investors is a timesink, and you will spend time that you could
have spent marketing or making your product better on reports and financial
statements for your investors.

Chase customers instead of chasing investors, unless you are doing something
that truly requires capital.

~~~
cstejerean
The problem is a lot of the advertising related business don't start actually
making money until they get HUGE, for example YouTube. I'm still not sure if
YouTube is actually making money yet. And even if you're lucky enough to make
some income from ads chances are it will barely pay for the cost of living of
the founders at first. So if you want to hire additional employees you
probably need outside funding (if you're going for the get big quick model).

On the other hand I don't understand why some companies raise as much as they
do. What did Xobni need 4 million dollars for?

------
kaens
I like that we live in a time where it is getting easier for people to make
their living doing what they love.

Personally, I think it's pretty obvious that we haven't been able to
practically accomplish this for very long, and there are a lot of factors that
influence whether or not someone will be successful.

Hopefully, society will continue to move in this direction, what with
information about how to do just about anything at just about everyones
fingertips just about all the time.

------
obelix
ok, am I the only one getting a bit annoyed about 37 signals rant about their
mode is the best in the world and no one elses?

They don't have to rant daily about this. For every successful Thai
restaurant, I can show you 4 that failed [or more].

There are many ways to Rome, 37 signals likes to walk to Rome while others
take a lot riskier route. For each his own.

~~~
fendale
I think their model carries a lot of weight, but its not the only way.

Besides, show me 1 successful business and I will be able to show you 9 that
failed (if the 1 in 10 success statistic is correct) - most businesses will
fail, not matter which way you do it.

~~~
cstejerean
While 1 in 10 might be correct across all startups, I'm pretty sure that of
the companies aspiring to be the next Google or Facebook the failure rate is
far higher than 1 in 10. Otherwise all it would take is about 10 tries and
statistically you would have a pretty good chance of being a multi
billionaire.

~~~
pg
When Google and Facebook got started, they weren't trying to be the next
Google or Facebook.

~~~
cstejerean
Can you make a really big poster with that phrase for next year's startup
school?

------
cellis
I am sorry, but I have to be the bearer of an antithesis to all this "Start a
small little business, produce good products, and live a happy life" talk that
has, of late, become more accepted on news.y.

I think all of you need to go back and read wealth.html . In short: If you
don't want to create a lot of wealth, chances are, you won't create any.

~~~
run4yourlives
Most people don't want to create a lot of wealth. Most people just want to
create _enough_ wealth, and enjoy life.

It comes back to: Will I be any more happy with a billion over a (few) million
in the bank? For _most_ people, the answer is no.

------
wallflower
Two conflicting quotes:

"If all you get from your job is a paycheck, you're underpaid."

"Work doesn't necessarily make you happy but it may give you means (money) to
do the stuff that makes you happy"

------
edw519
Let's not lose sight of the fact that bootstrapping and seeking investment
don't have to be mutually exclusive. Any bootstrapped business, well executed
with passion, can find itself in the position of needing capital to further
expand the founders dream. What a nice problem to have.

~~~
wanorris
I would say that there's a continuum based on what you're trying to build.

If you're trying to build something that needs huge networking effects to
succeed (general-purpose social networks have been an obvious example in the
recent past), trying to bootstrap it past a certain point is going to be
counterproductive. You _have_ to try to shoot for the moon.

Other types of businesses are likely to never have a use for significant
financing: the blog includes an example of a pet daycare. Starting a web
design consultancy is usually in this same category.

Of course, many tech startups are somewhere in between. The company could blow
up huge, but it can also be sustainable with gradual growth and limited
capital. Then it's basically a tactical decision when and if to seek capital.

------
goodgoblin
People are natuarally drawn to the 'life is to short to do X' line of
argument. But is it really? I'm in the middle of a startup, following my dream
so to speak, meanwhile putting off my career, and not taking VC. If it
succeeds, great. If it doesn't, I'm 3 years behind where I could be, an
opportunity cost, and I've lost a bunch of friends and family money. Life is
too short to be miserable all the time, which is sometimes what I think the
'life is too short' line of argument is all about - making people feel
miserable if they aren't living up to some exalted paradigm of meaningful
existence. Sometimes I wonder if my day job is really that bad or if I am I
just being made to feel miserable b/c of some appeal to an aspect of human
nature that will forever be restless.

------
Fuca
I was just amazed of a good idea I just saw: they charge you 10 usd a month
for being in the front page of about 50 small search engines, so the result is
that you get a good amount of traffic and these guys have a mini adsense and
probably making a decent living.

------
procyon
More I read posts like these, more I appreciate what Paul Buchheit had said
during startup school speech - "Listening != Obeying".

------
Mistone
there is a great series of papers published by Intuit and the Institute of the
Future called the Future of Small Business, the third paper is called the
Artisan Economy - it speaks directly to the trend they are referring to,
exciting stuff, especially if your targeting the fortune 5,000,000.
<http://preview.tinyurl.com/38r7us>

------
Tichy
"Some of them will make millions of dollars each year "

And some will go broke...

~~~
fendale
And then they will go out and get a new job and probably be more employable as
a result of their experiences ...

Clearly a few will make millions, some will make enough and most will go
broke, but that's the way business is.

Now, to some how figure out a product that people want and get the courage to
quit my job ... not easy!

~~~
Tichy
I just didn't like that he made it sound as if everything was so easy. Most of
the time, it is not.

Not saying that it is wrong to quit your job, but doing so is no guarantee to
become a millionaire. Why did he even write the "some of them making millions"
line? It's dishonest, in my opinion (he probably didn't mean it like that, but
it draws the wrong picture).

Also, will people be more employable after quitting their jobs? It depends
what employers are looking for. Some of them want "stable" employees who won't
go leaving soon again, when the next best opportunity shows up.

~~~
fendale
"Also, will people be more employable after quitting their jobs? It depends
what employers are looking for. Some of them want "stable" employees who won't
go leaving soon again, when the next best opportunity shows up."

Yea I guess that is true. It gives you a lot of things to talk about in an
interview though, and you will no doubt have polished your dev skills nicely.

------
sabat
Dear 37Signals,

Quit telling me how to live.

Love, Sabat

~~~
gnaritas
Dear Sabat, if you don't like them, stop reading their blog. There's nothing
wrong with them giving advice on their own blog.

~~~
sabat
There comes a point at which their public prescriptions for the world become
annoying. Since their blog posts are publicized in places (other than their
blog) that I should not have to avoid, a little feedback is in order.

------
elai
DHH: Hacker Crack

