
Why I abandoned my startup - westonmcbride
http://westonmcbride.com/blog/2013/05/06/why-i-abandoned-my-startup/
======
apalmer
'Doing work for money, especially when you have passions and interests in
something bigger, is the most soul-sucking and demoralizing thing you can do.'

You have lived a very sheltered life.

~~~
michaelochurch
He is clearly sheltered, but he has a point. Most people live demoralized,
defeated, horrible lives, and corporate work is the cause because it truly
sucks. But let's remember that exceptions can happen for any of us. May the
odds be ever in your favor.

Personally, I'm OK with working for money as long as I'm actually paid-- at a
consulting rate, not a 40-hour engagement. At $500 an hour, I'll do boring
work (for a couple hundred hours). If I'm going to be spending 40 hours per
week at it, though, for a middle-class salary; the work damn well better be
worth doing.

~~~
apalmer
I am all for doing what makes you happy etc... i just found the comment
hilarious.

People on earth are getting killed, raped, enslaved, women are stripping to
put clothes on their kids back, etc etc etc

working for money is not the most soul sucking horrible thing ever.

Everything doesnt need to be over the top melodrama, dude didnt like his job,
quit it to pursue something he found more meaningful, good for him... i hope
the angle he is on does lead to some improvement in the world. but the writing
style is annoying.

~~~
unclebucknasty
OTOH, if those living "sheltered lives" do not have this "melodramatic" sense
of purpose and passion for changing the world, then who will help those being
killed, raped, enslaved, etc?

------
mgkimsal
==== She went on: “If you have conviction and the right solution, you can get
in front of anyone [to raise money, strike a partnership, build a team, etc],
so what are you waiting for? You’ve already shown you can build a team and a
product, you have the technical background to solve this problem. How does a
liquidity event really make a big difference? Why continue being miserable?”
====

You've also now demonstrated that you'll drop everything - that investor
money, staff, customers, etc, because you don't like something. How will
potable water investors react knowing this story? Part of being successful is
sticking through with something.

"How does a liquidity event really make a big difference?" If he was really
going to exit at $200MM, I'm assuming a decent portion would have gone to him.
Having a bank of, say, $10MM should be more than enough to start his potable
water business _without_ having to go to investors to get things started the
next time (assuming, that is, he believes enough in it to invest a chunk of
his own money, not just someone else's).

~~~
robryan
The article states that he transitioned out of the company over 4 weeks,
presumably the company was able to go on without him.

I don't think investors will take it badly, I don't think they really want to
have a founder who's heart isn't in it anymore slaving away at half pace in
the hope of making something from the business.

------
ChrisNorstrom
Oh Weston, I'm in your shoes.

I'm dreaming for a day when I can start a business that installs high powered
vacuum suction motors and large hoses into 20 foot utility box trucks so I can
help clean the billions of tons of trash that plague our cities.

When I had time I created a hobby of cleaning up small forests and unclaimed
land from trash. I'd show up in a green construction vest so people thought I
was official and didn't ask questions and would bag all the trash I could find
and weighed the bags on a scale. I've got an excel sheet with all my stats.
I've picked up over 570 lbs of trash to date. Just in wrappers, McDonalds
cups, styrofoam. It's heart breaking to see an area trashy 5 months after I
cleaned it up. I stopped doing it because I started wishing death and
destruction to the people who littered. It made me angry and bitter towards
humanity. I was picking up its trash and it didn't give a damn. I try to
ignore it but every time I see trash on the side of the road a part of me
keeps saying, "You should invent something that makes it easier to clean that
up, think of how clean the whole world could be". The little voice keeps
saying "Imagine a giant movable vaccum cleaner mounted on a truck with large
hoses sticking out. It could work. Just try.". I can't stop thinking about it.

Your story has actually inspired me to try to go ahead and pursue that dream.
If it's one thing tax payers are willing to pay for it's less trash in their
neighborhood.

Anyone interested shoot me an email chris at norcophoenix dot com. I know an
electrician, a guy who knows where to order the trucks from, and some really
cheap office space for startups. I'm in St. Louis Missouri btw.

~~~
Uchikoma
I might totally misunderstand you as English is not my native tongue, but in
Germany - and I assume in many other parts of Europe - there are large trucks
that go around streets and smaller ones in parks that have vacuums and suck up
the trash.

Not sure if your idea was the invention or starting a service business to
offer street cleaning services.

~~~
bandy
Even in St. Louis (Missouri, USA) there are street sweepers that basically
look like this <http://cityofgrandterrace.org/images/pages/N278/image002.jpg>
with brushes that move dirt and small items around and a (weak?) vacuum
cleaner, as well as little trucks that are used to vacuum-clean things like
parking lots like this
[http://bestservices1.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/7684...](http://bestservices1.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/768481_1_400.258170309_std.jpg)
(from the name, I'd guess that it's of German manufacture). Therefore, I'm
guessing that our young friend here has something else in mind.

~~~
ChrisNorstrom
They only clean the streets. Not the grassy areas around which is where the
trash accumulates.

------
kamaal
>> I just have to sell this mobile shopping company for $200M

And then..

>>But my girlfriend challenged this: “How does selling a consumer app company
help you disrupt the potable water market?” She was right, and I knew it.

In the same way Bill Gates can solve problems like Polio, Hunger and Poverty
by using his fortune. You need money to solve the world's problems, Is this
really so hard to understand?

If you have no money you can't solve your own problems. Let alone the world's
problems. Without money you will be left working crazy hours to solve your own
miniscule problems which aren't relevant beyond house's front door.

You were right there, if you had sold that start up for $200 million. You
could take your cut, then spend rest of your life focusing your time, energy
and passion on the problems you are interested to solve without worrying about
mortgage, debts or anything.

~~~
cmdkeen
Bill Gates didn't become that rich by thinking "I'll build this software
company, sell it and then do what I'm passionate about". He became successful
by following his passion, and was then able to be philanthropic. People who
are passionate about saving the world will be far more likely to change the
world by focusing on that and use other people's money to do so.

The point is if you're miserable in your job, and you could be doing something
else anyway you should change. Which is what makes it different from the other
soul destroying examples mentioned. Go back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and
self actualisation. It could be arguably worse to look back on a squandered
life when you know it could be different, those who have no opportunity to
change their fate do suffer, but in a different way - they aren't the ones
causing their misery.

~~~
mgkimsal
He was still doing philanthrophic stuff well before stepping down, and it was
that much easier to do because he'd stuck with making MS a success first. One
can have multiple passions in life, and still prioritize attention to each.

------
guylhem
It is both funny and sad to read.

So you decided to shed away your chances of success and the financial capacity
to back up the projects you believe in +5 years, +10 years, +15 years from now
(etc.) for the time preference of working right now on a project - because
there is a water problem in this world.

Tell me, what are you going to do about hunger?

If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part of
your (steady) income for that?

If you prefer to fix the problem yourself, what are your special skills or
experience regarding water?

What are you going to do if your project is deemed "interesting" but not worth
investing on - especially now that you won't be able to finance it yourself?

You must certainly place a lot of trust in the goodwill of the future
investors, but basically, here you showed that you didn't care about what you
were doing, so why should I or anyone else take your word that you won't drop
your next project just as quickly as this one?

Unless there is some missing information (ex: you have a 10 years lifespan due
to some disease), it doesn't look like refusing the deferred life, but more
like taking unneeded risk to get social status (saying you presented at this
"Solve for X" conference) under a bleeding heart pretense. Sorry if that's
hard - that's just the way I see it.

Anyway, it really seems like a bad decision indeed. If you really hated the
job so much, it then begs the question - why did you started it in the first
place?

I really hope you can turn around successfully, and find more meaning in your
projects.

EDIT: it is good for him, and he will be more happy, but it's not logical.
Something sounds out of place in the original post. While he will be more
happy, using a charity purpose as the excuse and justification, while it is
unlikely to be the best outcome for society, seems phony. Say that you want
some fun or social status, that I can believe in. If you really care about
solving a problem, who solves it (yourself or someone else) is irrelevant. How
it is solved is irrelevant. You just want that fixed. Caring about not getting
rich is just as pointless as caring about getting rich. It is a byproduct. You
should want to solve the f __ __ __problem, not want or look for ways to spend
your life working on it.

~~~
7Figures2Commas
> If you really cared about the water problem, couldn't you have donated part
> of your (steady) income for that?

This.

There are tons of great organizations (non-profits, etc.) that are already
doing wonderful things in a variety of areas. Even the ones with considerable
human resources, knowledge, relationships, infrastructure and donor bases
usually typically have a need for more support. What these organizations need
less of: duplicative efforts that produce fragmentation and are likely to see
good ideas die quietly because those trying to do their own thing couldn't
obtain the resources to execute.

It's sad that so many well-intentioned, idealistic people apparently fail to
recognize or refuse to believe that minute for minute and dollar for dollar,
their time and money will almost always produce a far greater ROI when
invested in existing efforts.

~~~
gruseom
I strongly disagree. People ought not to let themselves be talked out of
unreasonable dreams of greatness. Your comment reads to me like depression
distilled into words.

~~~
7Figures2Commas
This isn't about being talked out of trying to do good. _It's about finding
the best way to actually do good._

Most organizations rely on outsiders who contribute their time, money,
expertise and ideas, and they gladly welcome such contributions. By getting
involved with an established organization, individuals can often take
advantage of its existing resources, increasing the likelihood that whatever
is contributed will produce an ROI.

Obviously there's no absolute guarantee of this, and I wouldn't suggest that
there's no room for new organizations, but new non-profits are a lot like new
businesses: most do not "succeed", and a lot of the ones that don't fail
outright plod along and never achieve what was hoped for. It doesn't take more
than a quick read of a few random Form 990 filings to see this.

So to put it simply: you _do not_ need to start your own thing to help solve
big problems. People who have the itch to save the world would be wise to
consider that they are far more likely to make a bigger impact by channeling
their time, money, passion and ideas to organizations that have been saving
the world for years.

~~~
owyn
Yep. I think individuals can choose to work directly or indirectly on a
problem and both are worthy. But Buffet didn't start his own foundation, he
gave a bunch of money to Gates because duplicating all that infrastructure
would be wasteful. I really respected that...

------
speeder
Heh, sometimes doing now what you can, is right.

But sometimes, you cannot do it.

I have great life plans, but I am moneyless (in fact, having money to by my
own food each month is a small victory already), mostly friendless, and
powerless (in the sense I do not have political power, or economic power, or
friends to leverage, or any other external power).

So I am very sure, that doing something else other than my goal, as a step to
do my goal, is not wrong...

By the way, what I do right now I still love to do anyway :) (I make edu apps
for little children... not my life goal, but still a noble thing to do, and I
hope, profitable)

------
tks2103
"The question left me sick to my stomach." "I went to bed that night with my
head spinning." "...I had been living... in the 'trance of fear.'" "I knew
that I was powerfully unhappy..., but I was powerless to do anything about it"
"That revelation liberated me." "I was buying my life back."

dude, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelax.

sounds like you are about to do some cool stuff. excited to see what you come
up with.

but, just so you have a different perspective, this is what i heard: you are
leaving one company to start another company. the new company does water
stuff, and you really like that.

------
westonmcbride
A raw, introspective recap of why I left my last startup. I hope it helps some
people realized what I did - that it is not worth it to do something that you
don't love. Would appreciate any feedback!

~~~
cocoflunchy
While you're here, just a quick heads up: the prices on the front page of
crowdtest.io is not showing up on my computer (win7-chrome latest).

See <http://prntscr.com/14u0i7>

~~~
mlebel
Just went and fixed this. Thanks for the heads up.

If you've got an app you want to test, shoot me an email and we'll cover your
first test.

------
dools
I'm pretty sure that having a lot of money would give you a head start in
solving the world's water problems (or whatever problems you happen to care
about).

Elon Musk didn't start off founding SpaceX, his first big hit was PayPal
right? So I'm sure that "online transactions" was about as boring to an
aspiring space entrepreneur as "online shopping" is to you, Weston.

Anyway, decisions other people make often look weird to people observing from
the peanut gallery - most of all when you make a decision that feels so right
it's almost impossible to "unmake" you usually know that, for whatever reason
and with whatever reasoning, you've made the right decision for you, now.

On the topic of solving the world's water problems, I'm reminded of a
documentary I saw years ago by a Ghanaian national in Nigeria, the name of
which escapes me and which I can't find anywhere. It was around the time of
the "make poverty history" campaign. This guy went to Nigeria and tried to do
a few basic things like get a house, find a job, etc. and found that at every
turn he was faced by rampant corruption. He even setup an NGO and started
accepting foreign aid with very little trouble.

The final line in the film is "If you want to solve poverty, you first have to
solve corruption" which has always stuck with me.

I'm mentioning this because it may be the case that "solving the water
problem" for the majority of people won't be a matter of the (relatively)
simple application of technology, but a matter of the much more complex
application of political will, diplomacy and grass roots activism. You might
already have considered this, but since I remembered the doco I thought I'd
mention it, too: sometimes there are problems you have to solve before you
solve the problem you really want to solve.

~~~
Mz
Gates has said something like "automation multiplies effeciencies in an
efficient system and multiplies inefficiencies in an inefficient one." The
same can apply to money. I have read that 70% of lottery winners are bankrupt
within five years.

Money can grease the wheels but cannot buy a solution that does not exist.
That is bought with things like blood, sweat and tears, so to speak.

------
tlb
Please say more about the new problem you're solving. I think lots of people
would like to help if they understood how they could make a useful
contribution. An article explaining the root of the problem (which is more
complicated than "there isn't enough water") would be well received here.

~~~
westonmcbride
Yes sir, more to come on that. Happy to chat about my rough hypotheses in the
meantime. Feel free to e-mail me at westonmcbride at gmail dot com.

------
akrymski
I've felt like this many times in my career, especially when work gets hard.
One thing I realized though is that one has to do what he does best. If it's
selling a web-app - that's fine. Look at Elon Musk - he sold PayPal and then
went on to use the money to fund world-changing initiatives. You shouldn't
underestimate how many smart people there are working on world changing
initiates, even in places like university labs. Unfortunately world-changing
research doesn't pay well. Elon Musk on the other hand is a great example of
hacking the system - making money the capitalist way, and then fund
initiatives you want to be remembered for. It's a risk-reward trade-off of
course, but something tells me if you'd think you could walk away with 100M in
2 years from your startup and use the money to solve the world's water problem
- you'd probably do that. As usual it just comes down to your estimate in the
gains in your startup over the next several years, versus what you think your
time is worth.

------
nhangen
My guess is that you're in your low to mid 20's, a time when most have
achieved some modicum of independence, feel they have the world at their
fingertips, and usually, that they deserve said world.

I remember it well, not with fondness, but regret, because decisions like
these cost me the better part of 7-10 years of my life.

Perhaps this is a great decision, only time will tell, but there's something
to be said for patience and persistance that leads me to believe this could be
a dangerous decision. Here's why...

Your chances of a 200m exit are the same as most, and I don't think it's
something you could or should have banked on. On the surface, this looks like
a lateral move, and my guess is that the occupational differences won't matter
in the long run.

What will matter is the behavior you have exhibited in making this choice.

We gain what we grant ourselves, and in this case, you've granted yourself a
rush of impulse, which can lead to addiction and a selfish nature that can
become toxic. I don't know you and I can't judge you for it, but from the
outside, it seems to me like you are used to always getting what you want, and
haven't had to struggle for much.

It's OK to want more, and to believe that you should have it. What isn't OK,
is being selfish in your path to get there.

It's strange because we live in this society that celebrates impulse and
selfishness as if it were our birthright. I'm talking to you, lifestyle gurus.
On the other hand, we also celebrate steadfast determination and 'grinding it
out.' In my experience, success comes as a result both in concert together,
but because 'grinding it out' takes long-term effort, most throw it out the
window.

What I'm getting at is that regardless of what you want, and how quickly you
believe you should have it, each and every one of your decisions affects other
people. In this case, your decision affects friends, family, founders,
investors, and customers. Perhaps there was minimal collateral damage, and it
sounds like you were mature in the way you handled this decision, but do
remember that it's not just 'your life' at stake. It's everyone's.

I'm sure this was a difficult decision, and I applaud you for having the guts
to make it and follow through. Just make sure you don't spend the next portion
of your life repeating the same behavior because it suits the selfish gene.
Now that you've acted on impulse, it's time to stick to it and make that
decision count. It's time to do the work.

------
dmor
Awesome to see "The Monk and the Riddle" referenced, it should be required
reading for startup people.

------
untog
_I actually said out loud: “My name is Weston McBride, and I can do whatever I
want to. I will approach this problem with enthusiasm unknown to mankind, and
I feel sorry for anything that gets in my way.”_

Were you looking in the mirror when you said it?

I'll admit that comment is kind of facetious, but I've long wondered whether
these sort of self-motivational things ever have a meaningful effect on
anything.

Anyway, the core truth that this post runs around is that running a startup
isn't for everyone. If it was for you, you'd still be doing it. Running a
charity might not be either, but it is healthy to re-examine your life at
regular intervals and evaluate whether you really are doing the right thing.

------
epynonymous
this reminds me of a quote from the opening for "this week in startups" hosted
by jason calacanis <http://thisweekinstartups.com>, he quotes ruby on rails
founder, david heinemeier hansson, "if you're not working on your best idea
right now, you're doing it wrong."

ideas are a dime a dozen, but think about the one idea that you'd be willing
to lose sleep, money, time, life, over. the fact that you're passionate about
it will probably justify all that.

there are always exceptions, but i think it makes sense, life is short.

on the flip side, i think experience gained doesn't hurt one bit.

~~~
mgkimsal
For people who come up with ideas _all the time_ , "work on your best idea
right now", taken literally, is paralyzing. And determining what "best" is is,
at best, difficult to do.

------
wellboy
Without money or credibility it's quite likely that you'll find yourself still
doing the startup grind in two years, without having raised money or not even
having a company with paying companies. During these two years you'll also
find yourself only being able to work on your dream startup 30% of the time,
because you have to get money in for the remaining 70% with things you don't
love doing.

So probably better selling that $200M startup and then start your dream
business with $10M in the pocket?

------
bdcravens
Pursuing your passion: bravo.

In reading this, however, I can't help but read into it a belief of the
"inevitability of success". Instead of a $200M exit, you might not see $200.
(In which case your decision looks even better.) However, your pursuit of
clean water might not be successful either: inability to raise money,
technologies issues, uncooperative or greedy governments, etc.

------
mattln
I disagree wholeheartedly. Money, a reputation and a tract record are equally
important to enthusiasm. Look at what Elon Musk has accomplished with his
reputation and money multiplying his enthusiasm. Look at what Bill Gates has
done with his money. Who has that kind of impact with conviction alone?
Deferred plans can still be plans.

------
ilamont
I understand why you left, but what do your cofounders, investors and team
members think about your sudden departure?

------
patatino
your story is basically about a guy who quit a job which doesn't make him
happy. adding the unlikely possibility of making $200MM by selling the company
and starting working for charity doesn't really change anything?

------
macspoofing
Isn't the "potable water market" saturated with startups and NGOs?

------
iagomr
Thanks for this. As someone thinking about doing the similar, I was very happy
to hear about someone else's story. Keep up!

------
kumarski
Weston what's your hashtag or email address?

~~~
mlebel
weston [at] crowdtest.io

------
SatvikBeri
Good luck!

------
alekseyk
Sounds to me like his girlfriend got him jealous.

Seriously, if he could quit a start up and go into charity over night I don't
think his bank account was hurting.

It always amusing to me how people try to pet their egos, oh hey guys I'm
loaded so I'm going to quit my job and sell water to poor kids.

Please look how kind I am, everybody else is so selfish and stuck at work
because they are not loaded!

~~~
gruseom
Yes, perhaps there is ego involved. But at least it's blended with some wonder
and some love. That's better than the form of it that you're expressing here,
which is black bile. I wonder why people don't see that when they pour this
stuff on others, they're pouring it on themselves as well.

