

What drives founders? - rvivek
http://rvivek.com/2011/07/what-drives-founders/

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alexkearns
I think developers found start-ups for different reasons to other
entrepreneurs.

As an employee, being a developer is largely a crap job in which you get
little respect and virtually no power (on the plus side, you get pretty good
remuneration).

The only way a developer can get the respect and power (over what work they
do) they desire is by setting up on their own. This is why so many developers
have side projects, I think.

In short, I think developers are driven by the desire to escape the monotony
and powerlessness of the typical developer role in a company, and they are
prepared to forego a huge wad of cash to do this. Making loads of cash is a
bonus.

~~~
dhruval
"As an employee, being a developer is largely a crap job in which you get
little respect and virtually no power"

Incidentally this is also why having a developer-centric culture is important
in a technology company.

I use the term 'technology company' broadly as one that is attempting to
leverage technology to make a profit.

Big media companies seem unable to do things involving even simple technology
well, even with big budgets, existing audiences, and partnerships. eg the New
York Times' $40 million dollar 'paywall'.

I suspect this is because their management simply view tech as a commodity
defined by its feature set, as opposed to a skilled craft like journalism
where quality matters.

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lowglow
I love building products and knowing people use them and appreciate their
usefulness, but the real reason that drives me is a fear of being poor.

~~~
skrebbel
So why don't you just get a job? Much safer.

~~~
mike_esspe
When you do it for yourself, you spends less time on work and gets a larger
reward.

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rdl
I'm driven by (roughly in this order): 1) Desire to have a minimum standard of
living (basically, $100-200k in the bay area); you could get this from a lot
of sources beyond entrepreneurship. Also, safety (physical, employment even if
a startup fails, etc.). This is basically "satisficed"; $100k and $300k are
obviously different, but the annual salary difference isn't 3x improvement.
Say it is sublinear. 2) Desire to change the world (this can scale, and is
almost superlinear; making a major positive change is worth more than a few
smaller changes)

I think "huge wealth" (>$10mm personal exit, etc.) goes into the latter
category, since it lets you influence a lot of things, including other
startups. Smaller wealth is more like a personal annuity, so if the
alternative were not having a job at all, it would be important, but it's easy
enough to get a great job in the bay area even if you don't have $2mm in the
bank.

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hluska
In the pivoted section, the author wrote, "It’s an unparalleled feeling
interacting with initial users, probably the best way to get high."

This is probably the best description I have ever read for this part of the
entrepreneurship experience. Thanks for posting this article!

