

Ask YC: So, why are you doing a startup? - hhm

This is a simple question: why are you doing your startup? why did you quit your job, or maybe even why didn't you get any? What is your motivation for doing this?<p>Mine is a personal motivation: I want to do something worth, something interesting. I don't want to look back and see I wasted my time doing worthless projects for money. I believe we have to do some kind of (Spanish) "obra", just like writers, musicians and scientists do: we have to be able to look in the past and say: "I did X, Y, Z, and this has my signature on it".<p>So, why are you doing a startup?
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iamelgringo
I'm in a job that I hate.

I'm tired of working for other people.

I have an insane need to build things.

I get bored very easily.

I want to be the decider.

I love computers.

I love programming.

I want to automate boring tasks.

I want to retire early.

It's an adventure.

I like to hack things.

If I'm not infront of a computer at least once a day I get nervous and
irritable.

It's about building wealth.

It doesn't make sense to work my tail off so that someone else can make money
off of me.

I want to travel after I'm retired, and I don't want to travel with a
wheelchair.

I like working with geeks.

I like to tinker.

gotta go, I need to tinkle...

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mdemare
People were willing to pay $100 per hour for me (of which I got to keep about
20%) while I was working on projects I did not believe in, using a language I
found completely unsuitable, using frameworks that were a configuration
nightmare, while reading blogs for 30% of the time. And they were happy with
me!

Now imagine how much happier I can be and how much more I can earn while
working on projects I passionately believe in, using the most suitable
language and framework I know. I'm working 2 or 3 times as much per week as I
used to, but I don't mind.

~~~
nkohari
Ouch, billed at $100/hr and got paid $20/hr? You got the shaft.

I agree completely with what you're saying. This is what is driving me away
from my job at a software consulting firm at the moment.

~~~
mdemare
That's after dutch income taxes.

But my point was that people were paying 5x more for my services than I need
to live on, even though I was working at less than 10% of my potential (due to
language, tools, motivation, working hours...).

There must be a more efficient way, and I hope this is it.

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mixmax
her: "wow that's a really great site"

me: "yeah, I think it's OK"

her: "wonder who did it.."

me: "well, me and a couple of guys.."

her: "take me to bed you stud.."

:-)

~~~
nextmoveone
That's what _my_ girlfriend says to me all the time...

~~~
imsteve
Mine says that she is jealous of my computer, that I spend more time with it
than her, and she doesn't even let me use it at night when I could be sleeping
next to her. She's going to kill it one day, I know it.

~~~
nextmoveone
OK, I was lying before...but seriously, my girlfriend _really_ says this!

~~~
alaskamiller
you guys have girlfriends? :(

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sanj
Two big reasons:

1\. Right now the leverage that a small group of talented technical folks have
is huge. Much more so than I expect it will be in 10 years, or it was 10 years
ago. I don't want to cede that to the PHBs.

2\. A really useful web startup is a way to touch a lot of people's lives, and
ideally improve them in some small way.

#2 is hugely motivating for me.

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ALee
I'm young and have nothing to lose.

I want to change the world (by making something people need).

I'm nerdy and think there is always a solution in technology. People just
haven't found it yet.

I'll learn a lot.

I see through the veneer of "traditional" paths of employment.

PG says it all. I send this out regularly:
<http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html>

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jmzachary
Because I've always wanted to. I love software and the idea of creating
innovative things that people want to use. Becoming a professor at a research
university was one goal I achieved, and doing a startup is the other.

My situation: I'm 38, I saved up enough money to live on for a year with no
other income, I quit my job, I have two kids, and my working wife is 110%
supportive. As they say in the casinos, I am "all in".

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brlewis
Because no other photo-sharing site does what I want.

<http://ourdoings.com/2007-12-19>

~~~
falsestprophet
Your work has come a long way. Congratulations.

~~~
brlewis
Thanks, and thanks for your feedback way-back-when.

------
JaredRad
Perhaps I'm more selfish than the rest of you, but I am starting my company
because I want to Win. I want to make a better product than you, have my users
love my product more than yours, make more money off it than you, and get more
positive press than you. I want to Win, and unlike most people, I really
believe I can Win.

~~~
edw519
I hope you do.

And here's the dirty little secret that makes programming startups the best
"sport" of all: we all can.

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bayareaguy
I currently work for a startup where I'm not the founder. The company's
success is important to me for multiple reasons but I don't have nearly as
much at stake as the founders do. Their opinion is that there are lots of
things we have to "own" and so I currently spend a lot of time creating new
technical things. I don't think this is the best way but I don't question it
too seriously. Right now I'm more motivated by flexibility.

That said, when I get around to doing _my_ own startup I plan to create as few
new technical things as I possibly can until it is safely out of the startup
phase. To me creating new technology is more often than not a huge risk which
you only want to do when you _know_ the reward is worthwhile.

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jyu
Doing a startup is more pain, stress, and trouble than the alternatives.
Unfortunately, after trying a majority of the attractive options, I found
myself unable to work on anything else except in start ups and my own personal
projects. Even if I had billions in the bank, I couldn't imagine myself
deriving greater self-fulfillment than pushing myself to the limits in a start
up environment.

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Hexstream
1\. Acquire knowledge; 2\. Develop technology; 3\. Have fun; 4\. Maybe change
people's lives for the best; 5\. Maybe get rich.

Even if my startup proved to be an utter commercial failure, the 3 first
points apply. I can't lose, I've already won! Of course I can win even bigger
than now...

Those are my kinds of scenarios: a win for everyone and/or a success no matter
what.

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bsaunder
Because I believe I can create much greater value (through programming) than
I'm allowed to at my current day job. In a very pasionate way I _need_ to do
this. I'm tired of wasting my time and efforts in a corporate environment.

I can get more done in a day on my code than I can in a month of day job work.
Also, (at least in the initial stages) I can structure my work in efficient
manner so that I'm accomplishing more and more every hour I spend working.

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pmjordan
I love creating stuff, especially through programming. I almost started my own
"Web 2.0" site while at university, but my study time eventually took over.
Then, no longer funded by my parents, I needed a job. I worked for a games
company which, one year later, was slowly draining the passion for coding out
of me. So I quit, moved country (again) and now I'm living off savings and odd
jobs while building a prototype and hunting for co-founders. Woo!

~~~
copenja
Could you elaborate on why you didn't like the gaming industry?

What title(s) did you work on?

I just switched to the gaming industry so I hope the same doesn't happen to
me.

So far though, I've just been stoked having an xbox360 on my desk...

~~~
pmjordan
> Could you elaborate on why you didn't like the gaming industry?

Whoa, Pandora's box! :) I'll try not to break any NDAs and still be
informative. Apologies if this degenerates into a rant. A lot of this stuff
depends on the developer/publisher pairing you happen to work for, although I
talked to quite a few people at Rockstar and it seemed even worse there.

* The publisher is always right. Even if they request illogical, stupid things, which clearly won't work, you have to implement them, only for them to withdraw them later. I spent weeks on stuff like that.

* Even 'obviously' good development practices seem to be considered purely theoretical, at least at the studio I worked at. The code was terrible, the bug count was astronomical throughout the project, because there was never time to fix them, everyone always had to add new stuff. The whole thing didn't even get any serious QA until AFTER the original intended release date. (which eventually slipped by almost a year; I blame all of the above for that)

* Uncompensated overtime is bad enough, but the attitude with which it was handled was the worst part. "No, I'm busy this Sunday" was treated as a serious problem and you had to have a 1-on-2 "chat" with senior management where you'd effectively be bullied into agreeing to working yet more overtime. They even tried to talk one guy out of being best man at his friend's wedding.

* There was always promise of that vaporous concept of bonuses, but to me it was pretty clear that the publisher had no interest in promoting the game, or even in it being a good game. I think everyone else was either lying or wearing their industry-standard rose-tinted-glasses. I left shortly before it was released in the US but as far as I can tell, it never made it into any top-10 sales list. It's not even out in the ROTW. (yet?) I suspect that nobody is getting any bonuses. (if the studio is even still alive by then)

* At least in the UK, game industry jobs are terribly paid compared to other programming jobs; specifically, about 30-50% less. And that's baseline salary, many "real" jobs pay overtime or give TOIL. Non-programming game jobs pay even less; my salary wasn't even enough to cover cost of living, even after being promoted pretty rapidly.

Sure, some of it is pretty cool.

* I personally really enjoy engine programming, which is what I was hired to do, even though I only did that until the engine/tools work was done.

* You tend to work with some pretty smart, if highly cynical people.

* I got to play with a Wii devkit a couple months before the Wii was out.

* You're making games!

I think I'd only work in games again if it was either for a very small
company, or it was a company that has made >50% really awesome games that I
personally enjoyed in the past. I'd definitely "test drive" the company before
I stayed there, i.e. quit within the probation period if it felt iffy. EDIT:
Yes, it's possible to be that choosy if you're any good. The industry greatly
overhypes how hard it is to get in. Having been involved in the key parts of
the hiring process (CV screening, interviews) at the company, I know how
difficult it is to hire programmers.

Published game I worked on: Battalion Wars 2.

YMMV.

~~~
copenja
Thanks for the in depth response! It was informative!

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david927
I felt I had a better way to do something, and that it would be wrong not to
find out if I was right.

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edw519
Because the guy who wrote this:

if (MonthNbr == 1) {MonthDesc = "January"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 2) {MonthDesc = "February"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 3) {MonthDesc = "March"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 4) {MonthDesc = "April"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 5) {MonthDesc = "May"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 6) {MonthDesc = "June"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 7) {MonthDesc = "July"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 8) {MonthDesc = "August"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 9) {MonthDesc = "September"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 10) {MonthDesc = "October"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 11) {MonthDesc = "November"} ;

if (MonthNbr == 12) {MonthDesc = "December"} ;

is a retired millionaire while I'm still cleaning up his mess.

I think I can do better.

~~~
hhm
But really, is that it? Are you in a startup for the money, or is there
another motivation?

~~~
mrtron
Money is not a bad reason.

With money comes freedom in aspects of your life, you no longer would need to
work a normal job to get by.

~~~
iamwil
If your wants and standard of living balloon, you'll always think you need
more money to gain freedom.

~~~
mrtron
Absolutely.

The key to getting freedom financially is living well below your means. That
starts before you get rich, and has to continue at that point.

Money can either be a tool used by you to build freedom or dig yourself in a
little hole.

------
marcus
Because I got tired of retirement after a year or so...

Because every evening before I fall asleep I ask myself "What have you
built/learned today?" and when the answer is nothing for too long I go crazy.

~~~
Hexstream
Yeah, I can't wait to get rich and retire so I can finally work more (on
projects unconstrained by financial considerations)!

------
gibsonf1
My "hair was on fire" for a tool I desperately needed for my architectural
firm that was not available anywhere, and I realized the tool would be equally
powerful for any business.

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npost
1\. Ego 2\. I relish the idea of creating something new 3\. I love the idea of
serving a unique niche and helping promote startups and entrepreneurs 4\. Ego
5\. Working out of coffee shops, drinking decaf mochas all day long is my idea
of LIVING it up 6\. Because I never want to have to say "I wish I had!"

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pistoriusp
I read some advice from a lot of people, one of them that made the most impact
was Steve Jobs:

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked
myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am
about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in
a row, I know I need to change something...almost everything - all external
expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things
just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap
of thinking you have something to lose.

------
cperciva
I wanted efficient and secure remote backups, and nobody else was providing
them.

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imsteve
It's the most fun I could possibly have while working and I feel that I have a
lot of power while doing it. Since I'm not rich, I've got to work so this is
the natural choice.

Were money no issue then I might focus on some exciting
programming/engineering projects that aren't as certain a way of making money
but would certainly help change the world.

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rms
We want to do scientific research. We need to make a bunch of money to be able
to run a private research lab and cure AIDS, and working for the man will
never pay off well enough.

(to cure AIDS, midway through this post)
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751>

------
davidw
I want to work for myself, and with the right people (I'm always on the
lookout), and I want to make things that don't suck.

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endlessvoid94
I write code that does convenient things for myself. Then, if someone happens
to see me using said tool, I think "maybe i can get other people who would
also use this".

And it happens. It's wonderful. I'm glad to be in a field where hobby projects
can blossom into business.

------
paulhart
Because I believe I've come up with a novel method of handling user
participation in a relatively mature market; it's far stickier than many sites
currently in the space, and avoids some of the issues that other
'unconventional' sites have.

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paul9290
1\. To work around like minded individuals, where I learn invaluable skills
and we jointly create cool things! (bummer my most desired goal even amongst
my startups relative success is still not fulfilled! ) 2\. Create technology
that enriches our daily lives 3\. Have enough money to continue creating new
things and enough to own middle class income type property & goods.

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wumi
Guy Kawasaki once said that the number one goal of any startup (or any
organization for that matter) should be to "make meaning."

I wholeheartedly agree

He also goes on to say that you should be able to fill out this blank with
your company.

If ___________________ did not exist, the world would be a little worse off.

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ardit33
it is all about the money, and doing something fun at the same time.

If you do something you like, at home, it is a hobby. If you do something you
like, and try to get rich, than it is a startup. If you do something you don't
like, just b/c to get rich, you will either fail, or be miserable and quit.

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terpua
Building something cool and useful is just doggone fun!

------
Neoryder
Money And to escape the Boredom !

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robmnl
I enjoy making computers better.

------
mattmaroon
To make the world a more fun place, and hopefully make a boatload in the
process.

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twoghost
To speed up the coming singularity.

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sharpshoot
to make an impact on humanity

~~~
icky
A positive one, I hope! ;)

