

Ask HN: Entrepreneur Excuse: "I dont have enough experience"? - jpd750

I&#x27;ve been working on an IT-Sec company for some 6 months now, solo founding it. I recently met a guy at a networking event who advises startups - we met 1:1 for coffee, and then he sent me a really lengthy email basically being really frank on what I was doing.<p>I have a number of years of IT experience already (primarily in programming) and some IT-security (some of the experience hands-on out in the world)<p>He stated he thought that I:<p><pre><code>   &quot; didn&#x27;t have enough experience in the field I was creating a startup in&quot;

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and also stated I should:<p><pre><code>    &quot;Go back into the working world for a number of years to gain more real world experience&quot;

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I&#x27;m just really trying to distinguish out what said whether its signal (frank, legitimate feedback) or just noise.<p>Do you have to BE AN EXPERT in a field to really make a nice dent in it?<p>Personally, I just think its noise more or less, but wanted some other opinions.<p>Thanks
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T-A
Wild stab from an idiot: it depends on what you're trying to do. Generally
speaking, if you want to advance a field, or just do top-of-the-line work, you
need to be an expert; but if you spot an ignored or underserved group of
potential customers who could benefit greatly from a more basic implementation
which the experts might find pedestrian and uninteresting, you might be on to
something. In that case, your lack of expertise could even be a strength; you
might understand you target group's difficulties better than the experts.

